Hardball Heaven

Red Sox took game 3 in their best-of-five hockey playoff series against the Seattle Thunderbirds today. The scores have been truly hockey-like -- a 2-1 Schilling/Papelbon win Friday night; a frustrating 3-0 loss yesterday; and today, behind the golden right arm of Josh Beckett, a 3-2 squeaker over Jarrod Washburn and the Mariners.

On the glass is half-empty side, the Sox' pitching rotation after Schilling, Beckett and Wakefield looks awfully suspect right now. Wells is on the DL, Clement got racked last time out, and Lenny DiNardo gets the ball tomorrow morning in the Marathon Day finale vs. Seattle. If Theo knew Wells was still hurting, he might not have traded Arroyo to the Reds.

On the glass is half-full side, two points: 1) If ever a situation was tailor-made for Roger Clemens, Boston is shaping up to be it. I know, I know - call me a dreamer. Maybe so. But I remember how important Roger's legacy is to him - he always kept track of stats and milestones - and what better stage to exit from than Fenway in the heat of a pennant race and hopefully some additional games into October? One thing's for sure -- Roger is coming back. He won't let a loss to Mexico in the World Baseball Classic go down as his swan song. My second point: It's nice to see the Sox winning 2-1 pitchers' duels -- because you know this offense will come around at some point and be a force.

Tomorrow is one of the great days on the Boston sports calendar - Sox play the Mariners starting at 11:05 at Fenway. An hour later, the gun goes off in Hopkinton for the 110th running of the Boston Marathon. A good day to get drunk and cause general mayhem... if you're 21 and single. I, on the other hand, will be most likely taking a trip to Home Depot, then to a local playground, and then home to find out which Ethiopian/Kenyan runner won this year.