As BSM pointed out, it's Rich Gedman's birthday today. America celebrates. My most recent Gedman score currently sits at the post office. They tried to deliver it today, but, surprise, I was at work. It's an autographed ball. It was inevitable I'd break the bounds of "just cards." In fact, I've long since scrapped the original idea of only collecting Red Sox Geddy cards. I've got one of Rich on a KC Life Insurance 1992 St. Louis Cardinals card.

I forgot to mention this: At the last game I went to at Fenway, I got to see, in person, a fly ball nail that ladder on the Monster and shoot off to the left. A Royal hit it, but I was still glad. In fact, being in the first base pavilion, we had a perfect view of it, even having time to think "this might hit the ladder!" And it did. That ladder rules. For non-Red Sox people, the ladder was put there so grounds crew could go up and get any home run balls out of the net atop the wall. The net has been replaced by seats, but the ladder remains--in play.

Remy has been going nuts on that kid in the brown shirt, from the NESN Store ads. Every night there's new talk of his "modeling" career. Somebody put that kid on a sign and held it up in Toronto. Last night they had him superimposed in the crowd, and in the booth with Don and Jerry. Even these Red Sox games that don't matter are so fun to watch, because Remy is so entertaining.

My mom took a picture of Hansack's first pitch. Look for that here soon. She also took a picture of the first pitch ever thrown to Kelly Shoppach, at my request, when we were at Yankee Stadium last season. She's in the two-debut-snap club.