Hardball Heaven

Hey, can the Easter Bunny hit? If so, please report to 4 Yawkey Way at around 1:45 today. The Sox continued to slump at the plate yesterday, going down feebly to the Mariners, 3-zip. To be fair, the lineup didn't exactly inspire memories of Yankee Stadium circa 1927. Adam Stern led off, with Alex Cora in the 2-hole. Snow, Pena, and Gonzalez were your 7-8-9 hitters. Manny in particular is off to an extremely slow start - it's just a matter of time until he chops his reddish-orange dreadlocks off and goes with another look for good luck.

Despite the lack of run support, Tim Wakefield pitched valiantly, going the complete nine in the loss. Sox try to snap out of it today at 2 with Josh Beckett against Jarrod Washburn. The Mariners, living on West Coast time, have to deal with four different start times this weekend: 7 Friday night, 1:20 yesterday, 2:05 today, and 11:05 a.m. tomorrow on Marathon Monday. Which means those hearty M's fans will have to be in front of their TV's at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning with Starbucks in hand.