SWEEPING MR. APRIL...AND A LESSON IN TRASH TALKING

In case you missed it, the Red Sox swept the Spankees and Mr. April, Alexis Rodriguez, in Boston this weekend--the first time that's happened in 17 years. Alex, the Kobe of the baseball world, got off to quite a start on Friday night, however, with no pitching and no bats surrounding him, the Sox ultimately got the last laugh. And, with the game in Alex's hands in the top of the 9th on both Friday and last night, he choked as we've seen him so many times before.

Roy (formerly Rory) provided us with a hard lesson in trash talking last night during the early parts of the Spankee game. Roy, who unfortunately fell on hard times as a child and began rooting for the Yankees, texted me in the 3rd inning when the Spanks had gone up 3-0.

ROY_TEXT: "3-0...respect"

Minutes later, I text:

J3_TEXT: "Dont get ahead of yourself homie. 3rd inning"

Another two minutes later, Manny steps up and cranks a solo homer into the Boston night. 1-3, Spankees still lead.

J3_TEXT: "Let the floodgates open"

Next hitter, J.D. Drew also puts a long ball into the stands with an absolute blast to right field. Yankees still lead 2-3.

ROY_TEXT: "sh''''*t 2..." (what seems to be a distressed Roy expressing his concern over the back-to-back longballs)

Next hitter, Mike Lowell also drives a Chase Wright pitch over the Green Monster with a laser shot. After that, Jason Varitek walks up and also punches a pitch over the Green Monster. Not but 5 minutes after Roy, who I haven't heard from in a month or so, first contacts me to gloat over a 3-run lead, the Sox became the 5th team in history to hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homeruns--shutting down the Yankees and shutting up Roy.

Baseball is a long and sludgingly slow game and, at Fenway, no lead is safe (something that I'm surprised that Roy failed to realize before texting in the third inning). Talk trash when the game is over. Some wait until the end of the series, others even wait until the end of the season.

I'll just say this: Spanks got swept. Sox are up on the season series 3-0. Big series next weekend in the 50,000-seat urinal called Yankee Stadium. Oh the fun we'll have!