Fenway conspiracy theory

Perhaps the Red Sox are using water to gain an advantage over the Angels. That's right ... water. Some members of the Southern California media remarked after the Angels' workout Thursday that the grounds crew hosed the infield with an extraordinary amount of water. Water actually collected on top of the dirt and took a while to absorb into the ground. The Angels are a running team and running on a wet track certainly can make a difference. Just ask any horse handicapper how different results are when the race track is wet with rain.

Granted, it seemed like a stretch to think the grounds crew was ordered to flood the field to slow Angels baserunners. Heck, after Game 1 it isn't like the Angels have had than many baserunners to worry about. But then this happened: One member of the Boston media, overhearing these flooded infield comments, admitted that he had never witnessed that much water on the Fenway Park infield. Hmmmm. Very curious.

It seemed like the moisture would have had plenty of time to dry in 24 hours, but looking at the infield right now (5 p.m. Eastern time and 3½ hours before first pitch of Game 2) it still looks very damp. It's not muddy my any means, but the dirt only seems to be dry around the edges of the infield, far from the baselines. It is a much deeper shade of brown in the baselines.

Maybe there is nothing to the infield issue. But there was a problem in the Diamondbacks-Cubs series with dirt that was heavily watered. It might be something to watch tonight.