Just as the Red Sox and Yankees are battling it out in the Apple, this press release came across the transom:

"The non-profit American Gerbil Society will hold its 5^th annual New England Gerbil Show at the Nashua Holiday Inn on Northeastern Boulevard on Saturday May 20^th from Noon-5:00 PM. Gerbil owners are invited to bring their gerbils (in a secure carrier) to this family-friendly event, which includes several contests and pet competitions."

So what do the Red Sox and Yankees have to do with this? Well, I’m thinking the group should hold a Don Zimmer look-alike contest. Although, that’s kind of a cheap shot at the poor gerbils.

(OK, anyone who thinks Bucky Dent’smiddle name is "Bleepin’" can stop here. For the rest of you, thehistory lesson goes like this: Zimmer managed the Red Sox in 1978, whenthey suffered one of the greatest collapses in baseball history.Zimmer’s Captian Queeg-like direction of the local nine in the late ’70s led free-spirited Sox pitcher Bill Lee to start referring to him as "The Gerbil," which actually is an accurate physical description.Adding insult to injury, the now-retired Zimmer was a bench coach forthe hated Yankees during their recent World Series run. Zimmer’s ghostwas finally excised from New England’s soul in 2003 when Pedro Martinez drove him to the ground during a brawl at Fenway Park.)