Kevin Youkilis is smuggling golf balls in his face

Did you see that thing bubble up on poor Youk's face yesterday? What did it take, like, 15 seconds? He misplayed a throw and - BAM - his cheek blew up like a balloon. I wish I could describe the phenomenon with some sort of medical jargon, but I can't. Instead I found myself starting at the TV, mumbling outloud to nobody, repeatedly - Look at Youk's face! I thought maybe he and Manny had another sparring match between innings. What's perhaps most amusing is that the injury was suffered by our gold-glove first baseman, he of the longest errorless streak ever at the position, during warm-up tosses prior to the top of a frame. The dude handled everything hit and thrown at him for more than a full year - scorching liners and off-target throws alike - and lets one of his teammates tag him during break time. He looked like Rocky Balboa at the end of the first Rocky movie.

One can only assume the throw came from Julio Lugo.

At the very least, we got to see Brandon Moss make his debut at first base. And what a debut it was - he kicked a grounder around long enough for me to make a sandwich and a run to score from third, a critical tally in such a tight game. But, alas, we must forgive young Brandon. He's still learning. And, to be honest, I like the kid. He was always the afterthought in the "Outfield of the Future" discussions about Ellsbury, David Murphy and himself. He's got a long way to go to catch up to the two of them - Ellsbury has already earned Freddy Lynn status among many Sox fans, and Murphy is more than holding his own in Texas - but Moss has a solid stroke. And he's just likeable. If only we could give JD Drew some of whatever personality Moss has, we'd have one heck of a rightfielder.

I kid, of course. I'm coming around on the JD-meister. The numbers certainly help (after all, we paid $70 million for them), but I also saw him react in the dugout the other day. I mean, he actually showed some human emotion. I think he even smiled and pointed to the camera! I had to pinch myself to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep. Perhaps it's the fact that he's finally raking again, but he seems to be a bit more personable than he was last fall, when he avoided a painful death from Red Sox fans by rocking the grand slam against Cleveland. But JD's been the man this year - with Papi out of the lineup, we'd be screwed with a capital S if it weren't for him. So I'm letting him slide on last year a little, and looking forward to a few more outbursts in the dugout that prove he's still alive.

So we've got the D-Backs again tonight, on Jerry Remy day, no less. There's no way we lose on Remy's 20th anniversary. It just wouldn't be right.