HAHA RED SOX !!!

The Sox and Indians played a Rembrandt of a game this afternoon, before a small gathering at Progressive Field. Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona matched brushstrokes through seven. In the eighth, "Madam I'm Adam" Everett led off with a walk, stole second, was sacrificed to third, and squeezed home by Asdrubal Cabrera for the game's first run. 

The tying run -- pinch runner Darnell McDonald -- took a wide turn around second, fell, and was tagged out to end the game. 

The Carmines head home winless in six road games. A disappointing total for a team expected to go 162 and 0 this season, that takes the shine off this weekend's renewal of The Rivalry played out on the Fox Saturday Red Sox-Yankees Game Of The Week, and ESP Red Sox-Yankees N Sunday night game.

Alex Avila's Night

He'll remember the stolen base more than the single, double, and homer, and the five runs batted in. 

In the eighth inning, when the O's forgot he was on first, off he went, leaving a vapor trail in the cool Baltimore night air. He died on second, but that was okay. His bat had already helped give the Tigers a 7-3 lead.

Pitchers, pre-DH, bragged about their hitting.Sluggers remember the day when, late in the game with their team out of substitutes, they filled in at a strange position and made all the plays. Slow catchers never forget that base they stole. 

Usually, batting averages don't mean much until mid-April. An exception can be made for Avila, the Tiger starting catcher who went from .100 (1 for 10) to .375 in one night.

HAHA YANKEES !!!

It's never too early in the season to say that. And it can't be said often enough. 

HAHA YANKEES !!!

Up 4-0 after seven, with So, and then Mo (Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera) waiting to finish off the Twins. 

Three walks, single, three-run bloop double (by Delmon Young) of the sort they always seem to get when they play the Tigers. Tie score. One in the tenth wins it. HAHA YANKEES !!!

Buddhists believe that one can experience extreme joy and sadness at the same time. That's how the baseball fan feels when he reads CC Sabathia's pitching line: seven innings, two hits, one walk.

A great game down the drain, but HAHA YANKEES !!!

The Undefeated, First Place Baltimore Orioles

All that they are, winners of their first four after this afternoon's 5-1 victory over the Tigers in the 2011 Camden Yards opener. Picked up right where they left off in the second half last year.

Brian Roberts homered off Rick Porcello with two on in the fifth. That was all the Orioles needed to win a game otherwise distinguished only by the presence of two participants whose full names, when spoken aloud, are complete sentences: the Tigers' second baseman (Will rhymes) and the O's manager (Buck, show Walter).

It's too early to push the panic button, but you have to wonder what's up. Are the Orioles really that good, or are we that bad?

JV goes on Wednesday and, as the number one starter, it's his task to kick some butt and give the Tigers a chance to win after a disappointing Yankee series, and the lifeless effort turned in by his teammates this afternoon.

Strange Days

Max Scherzer got the W despite allowing four home runs; two Jorge Posada blasts and the weekend's third Tex message. 

Two Cabrera homers, and one Boesch blast, gave the Tigers an early lead. Boesch's 5 for 8 in the opening series foreshadowing a return to the Brennan Bash we saw in the first half of 2010.

In the middle of this afternoon's homer fest, snow began to fall, in big, fat, wet flakes. For a while, the mess outside became a white-out, punctuated by the occasional crackle of T-storm static on the radio.

Phil Coke allowed one run in two innings, but actually restored order. He got the game to Joaquin Benoit, who pitched a scoreless eighth in his Tiger debut. Jose Valverde got the save to preserve a 10-7 win. For this relief, much thanks (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1). 

Everything that isn't cement now wears a thin coating of snow.The calendar page says April 3. Didn't Al Gore say that the earth is getting warmer?

Penny's Debut

In 4 1-3 innings, he allowed eight runs on seven hits -- among them Mark Teixeira's second three-run homer of the series -- and was consistently behind the Yankee hitters. 

I don't think anyone expected him to throw seven innings of three-hit ball.

But today's pitching line was more than disappointing. He's the unknown quantity in the rotation; the newcomer who was out most of last season, signed to a one-year deal in the hope he still has some major-league years left.

One hundred and sixty games remain, but there remains the fear of falling too far back in the standings early, as the Tigers did in 2008 when many picked them to win the division, when they sank to the bottom and stayed there.

Having It All

Helen Gurley Brown, the former Cosmopolitan editor who told her female readers they could have it all, would love MLB Gameday Audio.

You get every game, both teams' announcers, in sharp, clear 32K mono. Much better than tweaking and turning antennas, or a night's listening washed out by bad DX. 

On an audio tour of day two action, I touched base with some old friends.

Former Indian Ben Francisco is the new Phillies right fielder, replacing Jayson whose Werth increased dramatically during the off season. 

Carlos Pena plays first for the Cubs . . . and you'll miss Ron Santo even more once you get an earful of his replacement, another ex-Tiger, Keith Moreland.  Starting at first for the Pirates -- where players go to never be heard from again -- was last year's Blue Jay fan favorite Lyle OHHHHHH - verbay!

In Cleveland, yet another former Bengal, Jack Hannahan, homered and singled twice in a losing cause, as the Bears beat the Browns 15-10 in perfect football weather at Progressive Field.

Later that night, Gameday reunited me with Rick Rizzs, who went back to the Mariners some time ago, after accepting the job at which no one could succeed: coming from out of town to replace the fired Ernie Harwell. I liked Rick Rizzs. He wasn't Ernie -- no one could ever be -- but sounded pleasant, his play by play easy to follow, and never came off as bored like that former Tiger pitcher who still calls White Sox games. 

But, after eleven hours of having it all, even Mme. Brown might seek diversion, in the form of something as un-baseball as it gets. Baseball's antipode. It's right here.

Love these Goon Shows ...