Red Sox Nation welcomes one of it's favorite sons back to Fenway Park tonight. No, not Johnny Damon. Far more important, Doug Mirabelli is back!

The brief experiment with Josh Bard is over, as the passed ball king is being shipped to San Diego along with minor league reliever Cla Meredith for Mirabelli. Bard will no doubt fare much better in sunny Southern California, where there is not a knuckleballer to be found.

The happiest man in New England today has got to be Tim Wakefield. I don't have them right here, but the difference in Wake's stats between when he was pitching to Mirabelli and when he was pitching to Varitek last year were startling. He was a different pitcher with Mirabelli behind the plate. Wake has pitched pretty well this year, even given Bard's problems, but lackluster offense has left him with a 1-4 record after the first month of the season.

Wakefield, ever the consummate professional, defended Bard to the end. He even told the media to back off of their criticism after Bard had four passed balls in Wake's last start. Coming to the defense of a teammate like that is one of the reasons we love Wake so much, but you have got to think that he's relieved.

On the subject of our erstwhile center fielder, here's my opinion on how he should be treated, based on something I heard Jerry Remy say. Damon should get a standing ovation during his first at bat for his contributions to the 2004 team and the way he played hard during his four years with the Sox. After that, he should be treated like any other Yankee. The Fenway crowd has been a bit more harsh and has pretty much booed him every time up, although it was more of a mixed reaction on his first at-bat.

Finally, the best news of the day (even better than Mirabelli!). I got invited by a vendor at work to sit in the new State St. Pavilion for game 2 of the Yankees series. I'm very excited to check out the replacement for the unlamented .406 Club and I'll post a full review on Wednesday.