Sorry, but what's the sense of wasting this kind of sporting entertainment on a cold April night?
"These are baseball games," said Boston's Jason Varitek, a batting star in last night's 8-5 triumph over the Yankees. "If you don't enjoy watching these games, you don't enjoy baseball."
The problem is we've already played one-third of our allotted 19 Red Sox-Yankee games before tax returns had to be filed or the starter's gun was fired at Hopkinton. This is absolute criminal scheduling.
A game like this should not be played on a frigid April night. A game like this should be played on a sweltering August night. It just should, and if you have to ask why, you just don't get it. But it sure was an interesting evening, and the 35,251 in attendance will have something to talk about at the workplace today.
Such as . . .
Mild-mannered batting coach Ron Jackson and Terry Francona each banished before the end of the fourth inning by home plate umpire Greg Gibson, whose conception of the strike zone didn't seem to match theirs.
Randy Johnson giving up three home runs, including the first as a Red Sox by both Jay Payton and Edgar Renteria.
Tom Gordon getting rocked again by the team for whom he once registered 46 saves in a season.
Keith Foulke throwing a staggering 53 pitches in two innings of work to pick up the victory.
And the wildest moment . . .
Gary Sheffield pausing to take a swipe of sorts at a fan he believed had punched him before making a throw back to the infield on an eighth-inning Varitek shot that hugged the right-field wall, the ball rolling all the way to the Mohegan Sun sign in front of Section 1.
This Sheffield/fan business caused a lot of commotion. The Yankees came charging out of the bullpen in support of their right fielder. Security men appeared from everywhere. It looked menacing. But the truth is, this was nowhere near the top of the list of bizarre fan happenings at Red Sox-Yankee games. I mean, can a guy taking a halfhearted poke at Sheffield compare to someone throwing a bolt at Mickey Rivers or a dart at Chris Chambliss? You'd almost have to say that things have seldom been more civilized around here.
As far as the actual baseball is concerned, we are, predictably, right where we started a week ago Sunday. Each team has won two of three at home. The Yankees beat Boston ace Curt Schilling. The Red Sox hit the aforementioned three homers (the third being a shot onto Lansdowne Street by Mr. Varitek) off the Big Unit to deprive him of a decision. The A-Rod saga continues (last night he was 1 for 5 with a bloop single and an RBI). The Mariano Rivera saga continues. The Yankees still can't hit Tim Wakefield. We haven't learned anything new.