Hardball Heaven

It's a beautiful night here in Boston. The Sox and Yanks are just getting underway. Dice-K's on the hill for the Sox. A-Rod's on fire for the Yanks. National TV. Two continents watching. And goddamn Joe Morgan - the same shit that hit a bloop single off Jim Burton in the '75 World Series to win it for the Big Red Machine - is still haunting us by being just plain BAD. His badness - color commentating-wise that is -is at its apex right now. He is unlistenable, and it absolutely boggles the mind to think that he somehow won two Sports Emmys for his work. His game "commentary" should be piped into the cells at Guantanamo or any other hellholes in the world - that'll get people to cave and spill their guts...

Anyway, I digress. Sports' greatest rivalry is out there for all to see, I'm looking forward to watching the Yanks try to solve Dice-K, and I'm not going to let Joe Morgan ruin it for me. I'm stronger than that. I'm turning the sound down.

Dice-K starts off by getting Damon and Jeter and now has two strikes on Bobby Abreu. One early trend so far this year: the umps aren't being very generous to the Diceman on the corners, and he seems to get pretty frustrated if he feels he's getting squeezed. Abreu draws a walk.

Hey, this guy's alright. He just hit A-Rod in the shoulder on his first pitch. That's one way to keep the ball in the park. Now Giambi hits a double between Manny and Coco and just like that it's 2-0 Bombers. Cano grounds out to end the inning. Here's hoping the Sox can handle young lefty Chase Wright. It's about time for a certain dreadlocked #24 to get hot...

Sox start things off the right way in their half of the first. Lugo walks, and steals second, and Youk draws a walk. First and second, nobody out, for Big Papi. Cool to see Ortiz wearing No. 42 tonight - brings back memories of Mo Vaughn. The Sox were rained out the night they were scheduled to recognize Jackie Robinson so they're doing it tonight. Papi pops up. Manny's turn, and if ever a guy was due...

Young Mr. Wright is mostly a junkballing lefty, with a low 90 mph fastball. And Manny just missed a fat pitch and flies out to right. Two out for J.D. Drew. Single would be nice here. Strike out. End of first, Yanks leading 2-0.