Hardball Heaven

Thank you, Mr. Remote Control inventor, whoever you are. Thank you Sony. Thank you Verizon high-def. Thank you Captain Morgan. Thank you sister-in-law, for inviting my wife and kids up to Portland tonight for a play date. I'm here at home having my own little play date.

Holy crap, what a sports day! A quick rundown: Red Sox vs. Yankees at Fenway kicked it off. The game started at 4 and is actually in a rain delay right now. Situation was Sox up 4-3 in the top of the 8th... Yanks have men on first and second... Papelbon facing A-Rod. So, um, it kind of was stopped at a crucial time. We'll see what happens.

Next, the venerable Masters. Nothing like watching Augusta National in high definition. Tiger's 4 shots back, I believe, after doing some nice catch-up work today. Trevor Immelman is in the lead. Tonight, you've got the Bruins playing Montreal in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. B's lost Game 1 and are trailing 2-0 right now. I want to get behind the Bruins, but it's so hard not to be a cynic about this team. The Celtics are also in action tonight, playing the Hawks in a meaningless game. And you've got the NCAA hockey championship going on between BC and Notre Dame. BC, which incredibly has been in the last three title games (0-2) is in command so far with a 3-1 lead.

The post-Super Bowl sports dead zone is so dead.

I'll end on this note, since the Sox and Yanks are playing this weekend. It's uncanny how the karma between the two franchises has shifted since Grady Little's brain fart in the 2003 ALCS. Of course, the most obvious evidence is that the Sox have won two titles this decade, while the Yankees have won zero. But consider these other forces at work: Roger and Andy were fingered in the Mitchell Report. A red hawk that lives at Fenway attacked a schoolgirl named Alexa Rodriguez last week. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada are injured. They paid Randy Johnson millions and decided not to pay the price for Johan Santana. George is old and frail and hopefully about to die (kidding, Lord). And just when you think that's it, there's this beauty. Evidently, when the new Yankee Stadium was being built, a Red Sox fan on the construction crew buried a David Ortiz shirt in the foundation to cast a spell on the Yankees. Because the story came out in the New York Post, there was some back and forth over whether it was true or not. The stupid Yankees actually came out and said that it was a late April Fool's joke. Today, the Post (three reporters no less!) followed up with a story quoting the guy who buried the shirt, some mid-40 worker named Gino who's been a lifelong Red Sox fan. I think he may have been lurking somewhere in the picture above, looking for a shovel. Something tells me Gino might want to move to the woods of Idaho pretty quickly, or he may be swimming with the fishies.

And how's this for a finish to the post - the Sox and Yanks just resumed play, and Papelbon struck out all four guys he faced for the victory.

Okay, back to my play date.