The rivalry

Yankees-Red Sox has been the most compelling rivalry in baseball for a long time. But there's a question about it staying that way, now that the Sox are World Series champs.

"The curse is over," Yankees manager Joe Torre said the other day from his office at Legends Field in Tampa. "I don't know where it goes now."

Well, it doesn't look like it's going far. Monday's meeting between the two teams, the first since the seventh game of the classic American League Championship Series last October, had as much hype as anyone would want to see for an exhibition game. (Though, admittedly, it fell short of last spring's first Boston-New York game, with Alex Rodriguez in tow.)

The game was sold out, as all Red Sox games in Fort Myers are. Fans camped out for standing-room only tickets before the game. The Yankees won, too, getting in the first tweak of the new season.

And all the hoopla for a game that pitted Boston's Abe Alvarez against the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang. It wasn't exactly Schilling vs. Johnson.

The Yanks and Sox kick off the season with a game Sunday night, April 3, on ESPN. Six of their first nine games are against each other -- three in Yankee Stadium and three in Fenway Park.

Camping out

The Devil Rays got two scoreless innings out of Rob Bell in their exhibition opener Friday, and two hitless innings from big Mark Hendrickson. Unfortunately, that may say more about the punchless Reds early this spring than the Rays' pitching staff. ... What's with the supposedly super-cheap Twins? If the signings of Brad Radke and Johan Santana this offseason didn't show folks they're not all about saving a buck, the re-signings of setup man Juan Rincon and closer Joe Nathan ought to have done it. ... Talk about the fast track. (OK, we weren't, but now we are.) John Gibbons was a Blue Jays bullpen catcher just three years ago, was named the first base coach the same year and now, if you didn't know -- and many don't -- he's the Jays' manager. ... With teams constantly maneuvering for better deals with their spring training homes, it's nice to see the Twins settling down. They signed a lease the other day with the Lee County Sports Complex that will keep them coming back to Southwest Florida through the year 2020. ... Barry Bonds danced around the issue of steroids use again the other day, coming darn near to a confession before pulling up short. The problem is, he continues to send out mixed messages. On one hand, he said he'd "bust up" his son if he found him using steroids. On the other hand, Bonds maintained, "We're entertainers. Let us entertain," and "There are far worse things. ..." This is all pretty simple, folks. Either it's wrong or it's not. ... Reggie Jackson got into an automobile accident the other day in Tampa, which should not be surprising to anyone who's had to navigate the roads around that town. ... Submarining Boston pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim is still struggling. Against the Phils on Sunday, he walked three and gave up a pair of runs in little more than an inning of work. ... And, finally, a farewell. I grew up listening to Chuck Thompson calling Orioles' games. My whole family spent many days (yeah, day games) and nights listening to Chuck and Bill O'Donnell on the radio from our home in rural Delaware. (For the too-young-to-realize out there, think of that: A family, together, listening to a ballgame. Heck of a concept, eh?) I look back on those days with a lot of fondness and a more than a little bit of melancholy. Brooks, Frank, Palmer, Cuellar, Blair, Boog, Belanger, Davey J., Etchebarren, Weaver and the gang on one end. The Donovans and millions of families just like us on the other. And Chuck right there in the middle, bringing us all together. It was great.