Hardball Heaven

Sox have strung a few hits together tonight and have a nice 4-0 lead over the Nationals in the bottom of the 2nd. Wake's going against the king of all rubber arms, Livan Hernandez. The guy's made 30 starts in eight straight seasons.

Last night's 6-3 win in the first game will be fondly remembered for the Gabe Kapler ovation, a Manny faux pas, and a Manny home run. Oh yeah, Kyle Snyder, too.

Kapler made his first appearance after rehabbing from an Achilles tear, and played his usual hard-nosed brand. He got multiple loud ovations, which must make John Damon cringe. Manny's goof came on a play when Mark Loretta was trying to score. Manny was in the on-deck circle and should have signaled to Loretta whether to slide or come in standing. Loretta guessed wrong and came in standing. (Tito, on the radio today, said "Manny just got caught doing a little spectating there...") Of course, Manny redeemed himself later with a patented moon shot over the Monster.

And Kyle Snyder? The guy was waived by the worst team in baseball, the Kansas City Royals. A six-foot-eight Bronson Arroyo lookalike. And he did his job to a T. Five innings, a handful of K's, and he kept his team in the game. Well done, Kyle. Now be on your way...

Live update: Sox have stretched lead to 6-0. Rubber Arm Livan has been pulled by his skipper, the great Frank Robinson. Robby's not shy in giving his opinion on all the steroid cheats the game has seen over the past few years. He was quoted in the Globe today saying, "If it's proven that they did steroids - and we can't prove that yet - but if it is proven, they should wipe out all the numbers. All of them." He's got a right to speak up: his 586 total home runs once had him pretty high up on the all-time list. Now he's been leapfrogged by a bunch of frauds.