Hardball Heaven

Finally - a chance to kick back and actually watch a ballgame. Because we work for a living, Monday's Red Sox-Royals 4:00 start was tough to catch. And waiting for tonight's 8:00 start - after a day off - has been excruciatingly long. Thankfully, the Sox and Royals are finally playing again, and the good guys have pulled out to a 3-0 lead in the home half of the 3rd. Papi, Manny, Drew and Lowell all figured in the scoring; Josh Beckett - who's under big-time pressure to perform this year - is looking pretty sharp and mixing his pitches more than I remember him doing last year. Right now, Beckett is mostly known as the guy we traded superstar-in-the-making Hanley Ramirez for. Bad trade to this point, but something tells me Beckett's out to prove something in '07.

And I can't believe what my eyes just saw -- back to back errors by the surehanded Mike Lowell. Royals have men on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, and a good hitter in Mark Teahen at the plate. Full count. Beckett with a huge K! Knee-high smoke that could have gone either way. Now it's up to Mike Sweeney, and Beckett just froze him with a curveball. 1-1. Sweeney smashes it to right-center and lo and behold, J.D. Drew makes an impressive running catch. Good jump, good speed. That would have been a gapper if the ol' Dirt Dog was out in right field.

Anyway, enough play by play. Gainful employment will again prevent us from watching one of the biggest stories in the majors this year when Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his much-anticipated debut tomorrow at 2:00. Definitely a TiVo event. Here's a good story from mlb.com talking about the Dice-K circus hitting Kansas City.