Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

Christine hoped it was an April Fools' joke. But it wasn't. Alas, coming off a stinging opening day loss thanks to an awful Tom Gordon, the Phillies went out and got the best arm they could - 39-year-old Rudy Seanez.

Actually, he had a pretty good season last year for the Dodgers, but he has been injured and didn't pitched well, or much, in spring training. I can't imagine he will be much help to the Phillies, but I guess he's better than another go-around with Jose Mesa.

And, Seanez has a place in SoxandPhils lore. He made nine pretty poor appearances for the 2003 Boston Red Sox - one of them came in one of the better games we've seen played between the Red Sox and Phillies, a 6-5 nail biter that went 12 innings and ended with a Todd Pratt walk-off home run at the Vet. Mesa got the win. Pedro Martinez and Randy Wolf dueled. Seanez entered the game in the 12th, with one on and the Sox up by one. The game ended on his second pitch to pinch-hitting Pratt.

Seanez fared a bit better in his only other SoxandPhils appearance in 2006, but that too was a loss. The Phils won 10-5 behind another typical Cory Lidle start. Seanez pitched 1 2/3 scoreless to end the game.

We were at both games.

More predictions: I should have given a predictions form to David Ortiz to fill out. In an interview with the Globe, Papi gives clues to what some of his picks would have been:

World Series: Detroit Tigers
AL Cy Young: A.J. Burnett
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez

Payroll: Speaking of 2003, it's the first time since then the Sox don't have the second-highest payroll. They're now fourth. Phillies are 13th. The Empire still outpaces the next closest team (Tigers) by $70 million.