There is No Justice in Interleague Play (and some VMart talk)

You know how NESN wants to get you fired up for the next series and shows you some vignettes of the Red Sox playing whoever is coming up next with some intriguing voice over? Well, last night they had a whole commercial devoted to the interleague play coming up and my first thought was that wow, there is a lot of interleague play coming up and then I was angry about the inequity of our interleague schedule all over again (and I had just gotten over it recently too). How is it that the Red Sox play the Philles and the Dodgers (the Phillies twice no less!) while the Dvil Rays get the Marlins and the Yankees get the Mets. Sure we've got the Giants and the Diamondbacks in the mix too but that really doesn't make up for the Phillies and Dodgers. I know these match-ups are based on "natural rivalry" but the Devil Rays and the Marlins are rivals at what? Competing for fans in a market that has no fans for either of them? And why are the Red Sox and Phillies "natural rivals?" Because they are both awesome teams? I can see the rationale behind the Yankees/Mets but it seems more like the big class bully beating up on the younger, wimpier kid. Either way, I don't think I like it. Beyond the novelty of seeing pitchers hit, there isn't much in it for us.

In other news on my mind lately Victor Martinez is not only back to kicking butt in the lineup but apparently he is just a really nice guy as well. Gordon Edes has this story about Victor and his host family from when he was playing in the minors and living in Cleveland. Then there is this article about Victor on mlb.com which I also really enjoyed. And then there is this, I really enjoyed this.