Sunday at the ballyard

A gray sky is hanging over McKechnie Field today. But the world champion Boston Red Sox are in town to play the Pittsburgh Pirates, so regardless of the weather, this place should be packed.

This is John Lembo, staff writer with The Bradenton Herald, and I will blogging my head off this afternoon.

(Seeing as how I an battling a cold, blogging my head off and getting a new one would be fine with me.)

Is it me, or have the Red Sox morphed into their hated rivals, the Yankees? Thanks to the Red Sox winning two world titles in four years, people who wouldn't know Bill Buckner from Bill Gates are now sporting Sox jerseys. The Red Sox open their checkbook as frequently as the Yankees. And similar to former Yankee skipper Joe Torre, Boston manager Terry Francona is being hailed as a genius, despite his penchant for piloting losing teams before Boston hired him prior to 2004.

We're less than three hours from first pitch.