Hardball Heaven

It had been a tough game to watch until Wily Mo Pena stepped into the batter's box in the top of the 8th against Orioles closer Chris Ray. The Sox had been leaving men on base seemingly in every inning. Bases loaded, couldn't capitalize. Leadoff doubles, nothing. The Orioles were up 2-1 and the Orioles decided to walk Jason Varitek to load 'em up again with one out. Wily Mo's been a whiffing boy lately, so the immediate thought was 'we have to hit for him.' Would it be Eric Hinske? Christ, Doug Mirabelli? Alex Cora? Tito Francona chose to stick with Pena and once again, his decision paid off in a big way. Pena took Ray very deep (the only type he hits) to left center. Grand slam. 5-2 Sox lead. Papelbon warming up. O-v-e-r.

The boys now have the best record in all of baseball, and I have to say, I'm liking what I'm seeing even if it is late April. Oh, and the Yanks lost to the Jays tonight.

All the talk before the game revolved around some inane comments made by Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne during last night's game. In a nutshell, he claimed that Mirabelli told him that Schilling's bloody sock in Game 6 of the ALCS was a fraud. I shall not dignify Mr. Thorne's comments any further by writing about them. As my buddy Lebeau would say, that was just STUPID.

Speaking of the Spankees, the Sox fly from Crabland to NYC tonight where Daisuke makes his debut tomorrow night on the big stage - weather permitting. Could this finally be the year that the Sox win the goddamn division? The Yankees are circling the drain (which I'm sure I also declared last year at this time). Hell, it's fun to say. Just imagine how red Georgie Porgie's face must be right now. A $200 million payroll and they're raiding their minor league pitching staffs.