Red Sox

PaulSF ponders whether the rivalry is, finally, dead:

In the end, this was bound to happen, wasn't it? We all suspected the passion with which Red Sox fans hated the Yankees would dissipate once the Sox got the monkey off their backs. The manner of disposing of the monkey in 2004 pretty much ensures it will never return in our lifetimes.

Boston Police report a Vermont woman who jumped into the Red Sox bullpen last night looking for a Sox pitcher to hug her instead found only the long arm of the fist-bumping detail cop, who arrested her on a charge of disturbing a public assembly.

Don't even think of calling him Elf.

It's probably a good thing baseball players aren't hockey players when it comes to landing punches.

WBUR reports the death of Dick Williams, 82.

Poor little Philadelphia columnist (who thinks Bostonians pronounce "waiting" as "wahtin"):

The people in Boston have become obnoxious, arrogant, condescending. And those are just my friends up there.

Wouldn't it be something if he wore it during tonight's game?

Joanna sums it up in her Tale of Two Timmies:

It was the best of times ... and it was the best of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of whoop ass, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of in your face, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Unbearable Lightness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of dope, we had everything before us (101 more games), we had nothing before us (2-2 tie in the Stanley Cup Finals) ...

BosGuy reports the Red Sox have become the third major-league team to announce plans for an "It Gets Better" video aimed at bullied LGBT youth. The announcement comes after 9,000 people signed an online petition by a 12-year-old Sox fan from New Hampshire.

Entries here.

And hit home runs - and in the same game.

Hooray for .500 ball!

UPDATE: See, see ya, Sabathia. 6-0 does remove some of the pain of watching these two.

Watching the Sox on Fox instead of the Bruins tonight because, well, I'm not one of those fair-weather bandwagon pink hats. For some reason, they have Sarah Silverman on and they're making her sound like the losingest loser of all losers, ever. They even bleeped her saying "Masshole." Twice. The only thing more painful than watching Sarah Silverman sitting between Buck and Ol' Man McCarver as Buck explains why she should become a Yankees fan is watching Smacky McBluelips chewing roughly 7,000 pieces of gum - and three packs of sunflower seeds - at once with his mouth open.

What's a big father gotta do to get a hug in that town?

Via KC Downey.

Youk, meanwhile, spent part of his day off serving drinks to Sox fans stuck in NYC.

That was one sweet pitch he threw to Kevin Youkilis.

A South Weymouth man faces charges in two states for allegedly trying to sell stolen Fenway equipment - and Dustin Pedroia's cleats - on a sports-memorabilia auction site.

Jamie Pritchard-Holland, 32, is charged in Boston Municipal Court with two counts of receiving stolen property, specifically, a 380-foot marker from center field, a home plate from the visitor's bullpen, the cleats and Kevin Youkilis's glove, all stolen in April 2010, our Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Pritchard-Holland faces separate charges in New York's Suffolk County, where he was arrested on May 5. The auction site is based there.

Innocent, etc.

The Legend of Jed Lowrie has collected more than 800 Chuck Norris-ish notes about the Sox infielder. All ad proceeds go to the Jimmy Fund.

Faced with a sub-.500 team, Beth resorts to other means to enjoy games, such as Entertainment Value Above Replacement:

As an example of this metric in action, Dustin Pedroia's epic at-bat on Monday night gave him a high EVAR, regardless of whether it led to a win.

Tonight's team EVAR leader never picked up a bat or glove -- but he did chuck some gum onto the field on his way out. Of course, I'm talking about Terry Francona, who went Full Metal Jacket on umpires Angel Hernandez and Joe West after Hernandez called a run-scoring balk on Tim Wakefield in the second inning.

Listening to Fergie without Auto-Tune.

The Sox color commentator tweeted today:

I will not do Red Sox game tonight-except for a very bad flu I'm OK-my previous health issues have everybody concerned-please don't be-Jerry.

As Celtics 24/7 notes, the Celtics swept their series, the Bruins went up 3-2 in theirs and the Red Sox dismantled the Angels.

Today on "What Can We Make Heidi Eat?" the NESN stadium reporter was pushed in front of some garlic fries and a chocolate-cherry shake in Anaheim. Unlike in Texas, where she was ordered to eat a four-pound pretzel, Watney took only a nibble of one fry and what looked like maybe a teaspoon of the shake.

She also denied, again, that she was gagging when presented with fried chicken and waffles in Cleveland, only laughing at a joke by her cameraman, but neither Remy nor Orsillo appeared to believe her.

Can't keep up with what Heidi's eating? Don't worry. Phoenix Music Editor Michael Marotta is tracking her every on-air bite on What Will Heidi Watney Eat Today?

Bruins take a 3-2 series win with a double-OT victory and Sox win behind Dice-K's second straight great performance.