Where to even begin, dear readers. So much has already been blogilized about one of the most intense ALCS games ever played. For some good posts, go here, here, and here.

I'm not willing to get quite so worked up about Saturday's game. Perhaps if I was a Sox fan, I'd be pretty agitated, a victim of my own heroes, Petey and Manny.

But their colors (make that "color," as in yellow) were evident a long time ago, it's just that the Boston fans were able to wearily smile, shake their heads, and say, "that's our Pedro, that's our Manny." Maybe not anymore, and by the sounds of things being said -- and not said -- in the Boston dugout, maybe their fellow Sox players are not so forgiving anymore, either.

If the Yankees are able to hold on to the Serious, I think the Boston fans will look at the fourth inning of game 3 as the moment of the team's latest unraveling. It was classic Red Sox: Pedro, getting knocked around in a tighter than tight ALCS game, gets mad and throws at a guy's head rather than try to get him out; Manny, thinking only about himself and his machismo, starts bailing out even before Clemens has nodded approval of the catcher's sign. Then angrily waves his bat at Clemens for throwing a pitch that went over Posada's head, not Ramirez's.

"[The dugouts] emptied in Boston Saturday after a similarly unsprightly advance on the mound by manna Ramirez of the Red Sox, who took offense to a pitch by the Yankees' Roger Clemens that was so far inside it may have actually missed the inside corner. Ramirez, waving his bat and screaming obscenities, advanced on Clemens with the ferocity of a tectonic plate with a toothache. Clemens advanced also, shouting a two-word greeting at Ramirez."

Difference was, Clemens, who was blown out at Fenway in game three of the 1999 ALCS, stayed calm after falling behind 2-0 in the first, and just pitched a wonderful game, his last (if he makes good on his promises) in Fenway.

Actually, the weather has me more annoyed than Boston antics ("Cowboy Up Yours"). Boston players and fans must be singing, "Love That Dirty Water" as water just bubbles up from The Charles in that dilapidated old relic. The rainout lets them skip a shaky Burkett and go with Lowe in Fenway tomorrow, rather than in The Stadium, where the Yanks regularly beat him like a drum.

Nevertheless, the quote of the day -- the quote that just sums up the whole Boston nuttiness has to be from the concerned father of the third hero of Saturday's game, who says "He's doing as well as can be expected." Geesh.

There there's the Boston police incident report. The "muscular" Yankees just attacked the poor guy.

Great stuff.

And all the tut-tutting from concerned sports columnists is just a little over the top. I am as surprised as anyone that the players would start emulating the fans and team owners in violent behavior, but this is supposed to be "the bitterest rivalry in sports." Is it surprising that there'd be a fight? Yes, I know, not one between a 72 year old man and an active pitcher, but keep in mind that Zimmer was the only guy on the field smaller -- and crazier, perhaps -- than Pedro Martinez. The columnists' hypocrisy is ripe; this sort of stuff is like having their columns write themselves! As for the MLB and FOX, you think they mind the increased attention this will bring to an already great post season that has the TV ratings to match?

And the expected "bad for baseball" laments, that the ump should have made some ejections are ridiculous; well, maybe Pedro, but only because I could clearly read his lips as he was pointing to his head. Looking at the Yankees catcher, and pointing at his own head, he said, "I hit you here." That's a bad thing to do in baseball, and part of the reason Zimmer lost it as he has titanium in his head due to a beanball during his playing days. No, in general, let the players play. I am, however, beginning to rethink my support for the DH. It would have been fun to watch Pujilist Pedro in the batters box against Clemens. Think Puny Pete would have dug in?

*****

But if you want real nastiness, violence on the field, sucker punches, and kicks to the back of the head, then we must turn our gaze to the White House, a place where there definitely should be some ejections.

When it was announced that Condi Rice was taking "authority" over reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, a lot of people's first response was, isn't that already her job as National Security Advisor? Well, apparently not. Or maybe, the former university administrator is not very good at administering.

But now that we have very specific budget line items for the two countries, it's clear what needs to be done, no? Well, turns out a big chunk of that $87 billion, is just a huge slush fund for Rumsfeld to bribe other countries with, at his discression, according to Fred Kaplan at Slate. It's money for Iraqi hospitals that gets cut because Congress can say to constituents, "No, see, we didn't put Iraqi healthcare ahead of yours." But a quick thank you bribe to the Paki-turkeys of the world is a-ok.

And apparently there's money for P.R., but at least in this case, it's failing. "Six soldiers reached by [Gannett News Service] directly or through their families said they agreed with the letter's thrust. But none of the soldiers said he wrote it. One said he didn't even sign it."

And John Ashcroft's P.R. campaign isn't going too well, either. At least not according to Coleen Rowley, the FBI agent who blew the whistle on the agency's screw-ups prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Rowley takes aim at Ashcroft's assertion that America is "freer today than at any time in the history of human freedom. Rowley disagrees in an opinion piece in Saturday's Minneapolis Star Tribune.

If he could talk, Jose Padilla would probably agree with Rowley's assessment.