That was superfun watching Nava blast a grandmother slamfather on the first pitch he saw in the bigs. I didn't feel like the ghost of Dick Stockton or Tim McCarver made a big enough deal about the whole "first itch" thing. They kept saying "first at bat." I looked it up, and the Kouzmanoff first at-bat grand dong was also on the first pitch--and they said it was "believed" to be the first time that happened, meaning nobody knows if Frosty Bill Duggleby did it on the first pitch in 1898. The fourth guy to hit a grand slam in his first at bat was Nava's teammate, Jeremy Hermida. When Bobby Bonds hit a grand slam in his first game, the AP article said how Duggelby held that page in the record book by himself for "70 summers." I love that--if you say "70 years," it sounds like...a bunch of decades. If you say "70 summers," people think of the carousel and Vecchitto's Italian ice at Old Lyme shores.

On the second at bat for Nava, the dude comes up again with the Steve Sax toasted, and Fox actually misses a pitch. Completely misses it, as they're showing Nava's dad--and you could see Rosenthal sitting right next to him, giving away the fact that Ken would soon be interviewing the parents. That was really cool for them--and hey Jeter's parents--eff you! There's a new "set of parents that get shown every five seconds," and their name is Reggie Hammonds. Did you see the fleece Nava's dad was wearing? Sorry, that was a Jose Feliciano joke....the first in this blog's 6.5 year history.

Speaking of stuff Fox missed, they also missed the throw to first on a Varitek K.

So, I love hearing Stockton do our games, because it makes me feel like I'm watching the '75 World Series. But he's kinda losing it--so I don't expect him to get everything right. Like when he talked about all the Yankees-Dodgers World Series, then said how the Red Sox and San Francisco Giants have never played each other in the WS. Which is technically true, but that implied, based on his comments on the Dodgers which included both Brooklyn and LA, that the Red Sox and Giants franchises have never met in the WS, which isn't true--the 1912 Series was one of the most dramatic of all-time.

And he had a little trouble with balls hit down foul lines, but whatever. Fox did so much else wrong, I'm sure nobody noticed.

Great job by Castiglione for telling Nava to hit the first pitch out! And a rare good job by McCarver for passing on that story. Bad job by McCarver for again bringing up Manny "forgetting which leg to limp on," a story that was debunked by Allan Wood a long time ago.

How key was it to get a pressure-free win with Itchison & Scratchison getting the start? What the H is up with K? We stay 4 back with the 10-2 V.

Worst baseball jersey I saw in Providence today: Yanks--Irabu 35. Get a goddamn life, lady.

Okay, so I went and saw Chapman pitch at McCoy. I will post pictures tomorrow-ish. The Lil' Sox won in a five-inning game, and they gave me a free ticket to another game for sticking out the rain delay....