I was at the Ballpark at Arlington nine years ago, in June of 1997, when the first regular-season, interleague game was played between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. The Rangers ended up losing that game 4-3, but there have been many exciting episodes of interleague play in the past nine years.

One of the most marketable aspects of interleague play has been the meeting of so-called natural rivals. There are the major-market showdowns, such as the Mets-Yankees Subway Series and the Dodgers-Angels Freeway Series, and, of course, the North Side Cubs vs. the South Side White Sox. I even enjoy the “Lone Star Series” meeting of the Astros and the Rangers. However, some of these “natural rivalries” are a bit of a stretch. For instance, there is no battle in Pennsylvania since the Phillies and Pirates are both National League teams. Instead, we get the Phillies hosting the Red Sox.

Boston and Philadelphia are over 310 miles apart, which is only about fifty miles longer than the drive between the ballpark in Arlington and the Astros’ orange juice dome. Still, the northeast and New England are a different world than Texas, and three hundred miles there span several states. You have to drive past New York to get to Philadelphia and bypass two teams with stronger claims to a rivalry against the Sox than the Phillies have. Of course, they have their own battle this weekend, but other than seeing a team that they have little chance of meeting otherwise, there is not much substantive benefit to this annual diversion. The occasional trip to an NL park allows a glimpse at how well some of their pitchers can hit or if their designated hitters can hold their own in the field for a few days, but most managers don’t bother altering their strategy (if you can call American League ball strategic at all).

Friday night’s game between the Sox and the Phillies certainly did not resemble traditional NL ball. Of the eight runs scored between the two teams, only two (and none of the Sox runs) weren’t driven in on homeruns. The Sox got on the board with an early lead in the second with a two-run shot from Mike Lowell. Jason Varitek added another with a solo homer in the fourth.

The Phillies picked up their first run in the bottom of the fourth with Shane Victorino hitting a homerun of his own. They picked up two more runs with Alex Gonzalez and Jimmy Rollins scoring on Chase Utley’s double against Keith Foulke in the seventh. The two were inherited runners for Foulke, who took over for Matt Clement with two on and two out. Clement had helped himself to a bit of run support in the fifth, though, leading off with an infield single that he stretched to second on David Bell’s fielding error. David Ortiz brought him home with the Sox’s third homerun against Philly starter Jon Lieber.

Boston’s concessions to National League play were negligible. Terry Francona employed one pinch hitter in the entire game, with Dustan Mohr batting in the pitcher’s spot in the top of the ninth. The excitement of a double switch was absent and the word bunt scarcely whispered. It may (or may not) have been interesting for fans in Philadelphia to see the Red Sox come to town, but for Sox fans watching on television, it was business as usual.

The Rangers, on the other hand, did not manage to get their heavy-hitting, potent offense going at Minute Maid Park. They did manage to get eleven hits and two walks against Roy Oswalt in six and a third innings, but they also stranded nine of those runners. The Rangers led three times, beginning in the third inning, and retaking the lead after Houston tied the score up, first with a sac fly from Preston Wilson and later with an RBI single from Brad Ausmus.

In the seventh inning, Gary Matthews, Jr. scored on a Michael Young single to give Texas a 3-2 lead. The hitting may have lacked its usual force, but there was another familiar theme for the Rangers with the bullpen blowing the lead in spectacular fashion. Joaquin Benoit walked the bases loaded and then gave up a two-out, three-RBI double to Adam Everett. Although Brad Lidge has been less than golden this season with a 5.23 ERA thus far, he managed to get the job done for Houston in the ninth, striking out two and getting Hank Blalock to pop out for the final out.

And, oh yeah- Lasorda for Commissioner.