Hardball Heaven

The Sox needed a spark, and tonight Clay Buchholz provided it by becoming the first-ever Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter. Buchholz - with Jason Varitek at the steering wheel - befuddled the Orioles all night long with an assortment of sinking fastballs, curves, and change-ups and ended up with a no-no in his second MLB start. Not too shabby.

There were three threatening moments during the game, at least from what I saw. Coco made nice plays on two line drives headed for the left-centerfield gap, and Dustin Pedroia made a sick play behind second base, beating out a sliding Miguel Tejada at first. Other than that, the Orioles had no clue what to do with the baby-faced Texan.

Oh yeah, the score. The Sox' bats also came alive tonight, as they thumped Baltimore 10-0. Good thing Orioles skipper Dave Trembley signed his contract before his team began circling the drain. They've been horrible the last few weeks, beginning with that 30-3 debacle against the Rangers.

The big hit tonight - once again - came from the bat of David Ortiz, who banged an opposite-field double off the wall to clear the bases and make it 4-0. Youk also added a three-run homer later on.

The Yankees also won, 9-6, against the Devil Rays tonight. Fun sidelight to this one: Joe Torre cowardly requested that the umps confiscate a D-Ray player's bat, and Tampa manager Joe Maddon "retaliated" by asking them to confiscate A-Rod's bat. A clever ploy by Maddon to hint that Torre's request was ridiculous. By the way, this was the second game in a row the Yanks didn't have Fat Joba at their disposal. The lords of discpline at the MLB offices evidently agreed that Joba's intentions the other day weren't quite pure.

But screw the Yankees, right Mikey? Today's a day to celebrate a true baseball rarity, filled with the superstitions that we all know and love. I was watching the game up in Maine with my wife, and she asked me what was going on. Knowing I couldn't verbalize the words 'no hitter' for fear of jinxing young Clay, I wrote it out on the computer, and told her not to say it. Good girl that she is, she respected the ways of tradition and we both got to watch something pretty damn cool. One weird thing that only interests me: I've seen the last 2 Red Sox no-hitters in the same house in Maine, sitting in the same spot. Derek Lowe was the last one to do it in April 2002.

The lead stays at 5. Jon Lester takes the mound tomorrow.