Beware of larcenous Canadians!

(Photo from Yahoo! Sports)

If there's anything more delightful than the dulcet sounds of Dennis Eckersley's commentary coming from the booth during a game at Yankee Stadium in which the Red Sox are winning, it may be the unexpected and still understated play of everyone's favorite Canadian, Jason Bay. I mean, from the Red Sox side of things, of course. When Bay swiped second late in the game last night, I referred to him as a surprisingly larcenous Canadian while HJ, the Yankee fan boyfriend claimed, "You know those Canadians, always wanting stuff for free. Health care, bases..."

You can't say he doesn't have a sense of humor about these matters.

Then, of course, there's Eckersley. Why NESN has been messing around with the likes of Buck Martinez while our dearly beloved Jerry Remy recovers from pneumonia is beyond me. When they have a gem like Eck in their midst? We could have been listening to this brilliance the whole time? Oh, Dennis, where have you been all our lives?

Now don't get me wrong, I love Remy more than is probably healthy and wish him the speediest of speedy recoveries, but Eckersley is nothing short of a national treasure. The man simply says what he thinks, whatever pops into his head, regardless of appropriateness or tact. It's simply delightful. His assessment of certain Yankee players being scrubs is fantastic such as his comments in re: third base sub Ramiro Pena. "This guy already got his bloop single. He's not a hard out. He has no business hanging in there against someone like Beckett." And his steadfast assertion that Chamberlain drilling Bay was intentional: "That's just bush. That's bush league. You're gonna do that in a one run game? Come on, now, no one in that dugout likes you to begin with."

Basically, Eck says what we're all thinking. And our lives are the richer for it.

Now that I'm writing for NESN.com and Eck and I are technically paid by the same people, Chrissy is angling for an invite to the annual Christmas party (which thing I don't know if it exists). I suspect she just wants an opportunity to touch Eck's flowing locks and bask in the commentary he's sure to deliver on junk ball pitchers and leads off first. In the meantime, I'll do what I can to make sure Eck is a part of our daily baseball lives. Of course, when Remy comes back, we shall embrace him with open hearts, but a little Eck never hurt anyone.