Steven King approves, shakes teenager

In a name that will surely join the Pantheon of Spectator Participation giants like Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier, there was a little fan interaction at Fenway tonight.

As I'm sure will be reported ad nauseum by Saturday morning, a foul ball off the bat of Manny Ramirez was taken from Angels catcher Jeff Mathis' mitt along the first base side with one strike and one out to keep the at-bat alive, eventually leading to the tying run that inning when Dustin Pedroia notched the third run for the Red Sox.

Below are screen caps from the TBS broadcast and no, I have no life - thanks for asking.


After the play, the section was pretty jacked up to have a bona fide hero in their midst, including Stephen King, who cheered and then shook the hell out of the kid.


When this guy turns 21, he'll never have to buy a beer within Boston city limits.

(Images from TBS)

It's not the end of the world... yet

Say it with me Cubs, Phillies, Angels and (more than likely) Indians fans - "It's a five-game series for a reason."

And while Chicago and California fans can at least shrug off losses on the road, judging by the game so far in Philly right now, that fan base - known for it's cheeriness - has a legitimate reason to start losing their minds.

As for everyone else, take a deep breath trust your team and maybe get ready to pee your pants if the next two days don't go very well.

Cubs fans, I'm looking at you - relax. Well, as much as you can with this shit starting up again.

We're watching you, Mariotti.

(Image from: ImpAwards.com)

See Joe Run

Last night I saw my first inside-the-park home run in person when Joe Mauer turned it on, got a favorable bounce and crossed home plate standing up to take a 2-2 tie with the Angels
and flip it over to a 5-2 win with the rally in the eighth inning.

The things I'll remember most are whacking my Dad in the leg as Mauer approached second and yelling, "I think he can do this!" before springing up to see two runs cross the plate ahead of Mauer. I'll also never forget my dad laughing and clapping as he watched the play - I think it's the most excited I've ever seen him for a sporting event.

Considering he's a moderate baseball fan who honestly watches more games to have something to talk about with my brother-in-law (a White Sox fan) and me, it was a fun game to see.

What I'll remember most, though, is that it was probably the biggest "first" he and I were able to see together. His first game was years before I was born, my first game was an exercise in patience for him and made for a long, long day of batting practice, the game and hanging around the players' lot hoping to see three seconds of Ryne Sandberg before he slipped into his car.

It was the first inside-the-parker for both of us and that was a cool thing to share. It makes me hope that I don't see a triple play or a no-hitter before I have kids so I can share that with them.

* As a quick side note, I was happy to see a Twins-o-gram on the big screen at the game welcoming Batgirl and Baby Dash to the game. It's nice to see she got home for a game. I was the nerd who clapped as people looked at me like I was nuts.

I was OK with that, though I have to admit, I didn't stand up to claim Justin Morneau as my boyfriend for the game. Sorry if that let here down.

(Image from Minnesota.Twins.MLB.com)

Everyone's a winner on Opening Day

Opening Day - It's like Christmas, only I don't have to put up with my family... I think it's pretty cool that you say "Opening Day" and it's pretty apparent what sport you're talking about. I'm not really sure what the NFL's Week One is known as, other than Week One.

Aside from that, who cares what you call basketball or hockey.It usually takes a few weeks for anyone to really notice those sports have started.

* The big question I have when I see pictures of Pete Rose at Opening Day is whether or not he has to watch his mouth around the ballpark - well, in public, really - when using the word "bet."

Like, let's say Adam Dunn comes up with two homers already and some know-it-all in the section chimes in with, "Dunn is automatic! Here comes the third homer, baby! Woo!"

Can Rose still say, "Wanna bet?" without serious repercussions?

I bet he can't... Damn, I would make a sub-par Pete Rose.

*One of the common refrains that I'm seeing in league previews is that the top two guys in most rotations are solid starters and the three through five guys are where you separate the men from the boys.

This is pretty self-evident as you look at the top-tier teams and work your way down to the Mariners and Royals of the world. Hell, just look at the cash commanded for very average pitchers in the offseason.

The capper might have been on-air speculation tonight about what Dennys Reyes would command on the open market. It was done in all seriousness.

My gut tells me that as we get into the three, four, five guys in every team's rotation, you'll be able to see which teams are in for a long season and which ones are ahead of the pack by virtue of having normal pitching depth.

* All told, from the highlights I'm seeing and the bits of games I caught live, it was a pretty predictable day around the league, with the top-shelf starters performing the way they're paid to and competition being pretty equal for Opening Day. The exception is the fluke blowout by Cleveland over the White Sox, which had more to do with the first game than talent levels.

I refuse to believe that the Sox are that bad or the Indians are that good, but I could be wrong.

* Ben Sheets got off to a hot start and as he goes, so goes Milwaukee - which should have been the case for years now, save for his injuries and under performing from year to year. A two-hitter out of the box certainly bodes well for the Brewers.

* Manny Ramirez apparently has a tough time getting things going every year according to the announced at the Royals/Red Sox game from Kansas City today. I'd never really noticed, I guess, but just add it to the list of Manny's quirks.

One player who has no such problems is Vlad Guerrero who until he just ripped a shot down the left-field line in his first at-bat had hit home runs off the first pitch he saw in 2005 and 2006.

OK, that's pretty cool.

* My new goal for this season is to try and get a more accurate read on which sleeper teams that start hot are for real and which ones will fall back to earth. Last year, I picked the Brewers and panned the Tigers after hot starts by both... yeah, that worked out well.

This year, I don't even need to pick the sleepers, I just want to be able to call it one way or another more quickly than I usually do.

By that, I mean before the second week of October.

(Photo from the Associated Press, via ChicagoTribune.com)

Thanks, Tim - We appreciate the vote

According to Tim Kurkjian's breakdown of the best rotations in baseball, the Red Sox are his winners by default.

It's akin to handicapping the presidential races right now, where we really need to see more from each rotation, not to mention that injuries and other fluke things come up in March to hamstring teams that look pretty strong on paper - remember the ESPN the Mag cover in 2004 that had the Cubs rotation as the prettiest girls at the dance?

In any event, the lineup of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield is being seen as the best of a down year in terms of team pitching, with Kurkjian pointing out it's not like the old days of the Braves rotation that was always the prohibitive favorite heading into Grapefruit League play.

When it's a Japanese rookie with no experience in the majors - much less Boston - an injury-plagued young guy coming off a down year, an older power pitcher, a former closer with a season-ending injury last year, a pitcher who just finished chemo (not going for the cheap laugh here, only stating the facts) and an aging knuckleballer as your rotation, I'm not seeing how this is seen as the staff to beat.

I do, however, see the plot to Major League 4 coming along quite nicely.

Rounding out the Top 5 are the Tigers, Angels, Dodgers and Yankees.

On that list, I see at least two rotations I'd bank on ahead of Boston. It's also interesting to note only one National League team in the mix.

I think this only serves to prove two points. First, that picking a top rotation this year is a total crapshoot (can you honestly make a case that Contreras, Garland, Buherle and Vazquez couldn't be substituted into that five?) when pitchers and catchers have yet to report.

Second, it'll be an interesting year again with no big dog in the majors lurking to take everyone's lunch money and walk to a championship.

* Odds were posted the other day on Deadspin.com and I'm seeing things differently after reading The Wisdom of Crowds which pointed out that the Vegas lines aren't really there to pick who will win, but rather to provide an attractive line to get an even 50/50 split among all the bets being placed with the bookmaker.

Seeing the Cubs near the top of the list was jarring in that regard - all sorts of suckers place bets on the Northsiders every year just for the hell of it and the recent additions make the team that much more attractive to stupid gamblers.

I'm pretty sure they Cubs could be listed as triple-digit odds underdogs and still see plenty of action on the Vegas line. No need to fuel the fire with 9-1 odds this early in the process.

* Just as a housekeeping note, I'm still (I know, I know) deciding on how to handle the preseason previews and when. Obviously, working full time puts a dent into the process, so last year's team-by-team breakdown won't happen again.

Be patient and I'll more than likely start rolling these out by division once the spring games begin.

(Image from: SpringTrainingPhotos.com)

Not to pile on or anything...

So, ESPN has a quick hit piece today about the"Five teams that failed in 2006" targeting the Indians, Red Sox, Angels, Braves and Cubs as losers for the season that's wrapping up.

The Indians young team fell apart, the Red Sox were decimated by injuries, Angels couldn't field the ball, Braves couldn't pitch well enough to contend and the Cubs were crushed by the weight of Cubdom.

Uh? What about the Champs? Not even a mention?

I'm more than willing to accept the list at face value for teams that didn't achieve as much as conventional wisdom would have suggested they might in May, but just because it was a late-season collapse does that make it any less of a failure in expectations?