The Red Sox should do away with the Patriot's Day game. What is Patriot's day? It isn't about New England's football team. The holiday celebrates the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the rides of Paul Revere and Henry Dawes on April 19, 1775. Hey, what other baseball site will give you real history?

Anyway, Massachusetts and Maine are the only two states that celebrate this particular holiday. Why you ask? Maine was a part of Massachusetts until 1820 when it entered the union as its own state. Now you have history AND geography. The Boston Marathon is traditionally held on Patriot's Day and for many years, the Red Sox have played a game at some rediculous time like 10a.m.

In some ways, it's charming because the kids are off from school and can go see a game (at $45 a pop) and then have the rest of the day with the family. But the early time always means that the Red Sox will rest at least one of their stars. Garciaparra was that start today and the Red Sox got whacked by the Blue Jays. In a scene right out of The Natural, Toronto's Chris Woodward homered just as an F-15 fighter jet was flying over to start the marathon down the street.

Okay. the game and its start time are quaint, but if the Sox lose the wildcard by one game, blame it on Patriot's Day.



The Yankees, Royals and Giants have all started really strong, but one of the most surprising teams is the Colorado Rockies. At 12-7, they are still in waving distance of the Giants and are right in the hunt for the wildcard. It has become hip to believe that the Rockies will never be able to contend because of their ballpark and the atmosphere. But they have learned that power pitching and speed in the outfield helps enormously and they are playing well. They need to play better on the road and that is the other criticism of the team and where it plays. Statistics seem to bear it out too.

Larry Walker is amazing. Helton is great but Walker has been doing it a long time. If he could have stayed healthy in his career, there is no telling what he could have done. Even so he has 337 lifetime homers and 806 extra base hits in his career. His career average is .317, his career on-base average is close to .400 and he is a career slugger of .575. Listen to this streak of years he's put together from 1997 to 2002: .366, .363, .379 (he flirted with .400 all year along with Gwynn), .309 (an off year with terrible injuries), .350 and .338.

Walker has only played one year without extended time in recovery. In that remarkable year, it shows what he could have done if healthy his whole career. In that year, he .366 in 153 games with 208 hits with 99 of them of the extra base variety (46 doubles, 4 triples and 49 homeruns!). He scored 143 runs while driving in 130! Remarkable.

It will be interesting to see how he is ranked once he is finished. He is 37 so his time is running out. He has been a truly special player who probably won't have enough stats to make the Hall of Fame. And the best thing about him? He seems like one of those guys that it would be fun to go to a bar with.

The Fan will watch and see how long the Rockies stay in contention.