It’s my birthday today and it should be a good one. I’m going over to my friend’s house to play some MLB 2K7 on XBox 360, and then it’s back home to watch the most exciting Mariners match-up in recent memory before heading out for a nice, birthday dinner at PF Chang’s. Boo yeah!

Others celebrating today: Mark Teixeira, Kelvim Escobar, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, Bret Saberhagen and USSMariner Super-Reader, Paul Covert.

It happened today:
1962: The New York Mets played their first game and lost 11-4 to the Cardinals in St. Louis.
1969: The Seattle Pilots played their first game, with Gary Bell shutting out the White Sox 7-0 at Sicks Stadium.
1985: Seattle's Gorman Thomas crushed three homers and drove in six runs to lead the Mariners to a 14-6 victory over the Oakland A's.
1990 California's Mark Langston and Mike Witt combine to no-hit the Mariners 1-0 for the first combined no-hitter in the major leagues since 1976. It is Langston's first start for the Angels since signing as a free agent in the off-season.

It’s happening today:
Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his Fenway Park debut…vs. FELIX HERNANDEZ! Mmm. Seriously, it doesn’t get better than this.

Derek Zumsteg will be at Third Place Books talking about his awesome, new book, “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball.”

The Greenville Drive, the low-A affiliate for the Boston Red Sox, are having Shoeless Joe night and all season-ticket holders will receive replicas of what Joe Jackson’s Hall of Fame plaque might look like. The connection, of course, is that Jackson was from Greenville and I thought this was a really great idea for a promotion.