That's the question, isn't it? Legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who makes everything sound better, especially baseball, also can make the word "hashtag" sound like some kind of illegal activity. He was curious about hashtagging, along with a new television channel called "Dog TV" that a satellite company is starting, so he worked both constructs into the broadcast of the Dodgers-San Diego Padres game Wednesday night. Naturally.

Scully is like a person who was born in, say, 1875, and lived until 1970. They came in before the telephone was invented and went out after men had walked on the moon. (Yes they did, Carl Everett.)

Not that we're about to lose Vin, who is 85 years old but still sharp as a tack. Yet, some of the modern marvels (and silly stuff) we take for granted just sort of pass people of his generation by. For example: the social media microblogging website known as Twitter, which has a feature called hashtagging, where one adds a "#" to a word that "tags" the post and makes it easier to find in a search. Tags are used for polls, or for dumber reasons that will only confuse you and Vin.

So, after Scully did his duty in announcing an online poll that asked fans if they preferred watching games in a pitcher's park or a hitter's park — topical, considering the Dodgers were playing at Petco Park, which was just reconfigured so it wouldn't play so big — he went off on a tangent.

Vin goes:

(AP)The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

On a night Boston’s record-setting home sellout streak came to an abrupt end, the Baltimore Orioles brought a 5-3 ninth inning deficit to an equally abrupt end as they rallied for five runs off Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan.

Chris Davis, who opened the season on a historical hot streak, started the rally with a solo home run. Then, after two quick and harmless outs, Hanrahan allowed a single and back-to-back walks. As they say, that’s a recipe for disaster, and sure enough, a wild pitch was uncorked to even the score at five and then 20-year-old Manny Machado pulled one over the Green Monster giving the O’s lead and eventually an 8-5 victory.

''It was a huge win for us,'' Machado said after his first homer of the year. ''To come out with the victory is just going to give us the big boost that we needed to get this show rolling.''

The Orioles were the best in baseball at stealing games late and winning close ones last season. In fact, in games decided by two runs or less, they were 55-23. This year, however, they began 0-4 under those circumstances, and although the three-run win doesn’t exactly fit the criteria, it could be a starting point to get back on track.

The other big news Wednesday night from Safeco Field, besides the Houston Astros beating the Seattle Mariners 8-3 to win a three-game series, was this guy. Recently we've seen a man holding a child and catching a home run. We've also seen fans holding a beer in one hand and catching a ball with the other. Sometimes we've seen 'em lose the beer. We've even seen fans catch a ball with their cup of beer and drink the beer. It's happened at least three years in a row.

And yet, stylistically, the man who uses his cup of beer to catch a foul ball by Seattle's Justin Smoak and then chugs the beer like he's completing some sort of ballpark drinking game is in a league of his own. Mmm — barley, hops, cowhide. Am I tasting seams?

Here's an amusing animation of the guzzling, captured by Crawfish Boxes.

There was no baby to hold or shield, though. That's the Final Frontier of catching a foul ball: Doing it while holding a baby and a beer, and spilling neither. Perhaps, someday, this fan will return to Safeco Field with a family in tow and go where no fan has gone before.

(via Fox Sports San Diego and @ccaarrllooss)

Yonder Alonso should consider changing his name to Wander Alonso after what he was asked to do for the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.

A first baseman (and occasional outfielder) by trade, Alonso went from first base to second to third and back to second in the ninth inning of a strange but memorable 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had a chance to keep the odyssey of musical positions going into extra innings, but Alonso flied out with two runners aboard against Dodgers closer Brandon League to end the game.

The defensive switching was like nothing Alonso had done, and probably seen, before.

"Hopefully we won't have to do it too often," Alonso told Fox Sports San Diego after the game.

Padres manager Bud Black found himself a little short of infielders because of injuries and certain tactics — notably pulling Alexi Amarista, the starting second baseman, for pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay (yes, he's still playing) in the eighth. Rather than shifting rookie Jedd Gyorko to second base, where he has some experience, and moving Alonso to third, where he's logged a whole nine innings in the majors, Black put Alonso at second for the first time in his professional career. Alonso implied that his experience at second base consisted of messing around during batting practice.

Hey, defense is defense, right? Even if you're 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, as Alonso is listed. So he traded his first baseman's mitt for a regular glove and scooted to his right. Only, Black wasn't done. Instead, he mixed and matched, pulling strings on his players like they were marionettes.

You stay versatile, San Diego!

Jorge Soler. (Getty Images)

There are ways to resolve your differences with an opposing team on a baseball field. Last among them: picking up a bat to make your point.

Our scene: Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Fla., home of the Class-A (Advanced) Daytona Cubs. The Cubs, affiliate of the Chicago club of the same name, were in the seventh inning of a game against the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies' affiliate.

Bleed Cubbie Blue reported that Daytona was leading 9-7, and top prospect Jorge Soler was on first base. On a ground ball, Soler and Clearwater second baseman Carlos Alonso made contact as Alonso wheeled on a double play. Soler and Alonso jawed at each other while both benches cleared. The fight didn't turn physical at that point, but it did momentarily thereafter.

Soler grabbed a bat from his dugout and raced toward the Clearwater bench. Cubs player Javier Baez and hitting coach Mariano Duncan hauled Soler back into his own dugout. Initial reports indicated that Soler hit the walls of the

(USA Today)All speculation surrounding Nolan Ryan's future with the Texas Rangers came to an end Wednesday evening.

In statements released by both Ryan and Rangers co-chairmen Ray Davis and Bob Simpson, it was announced that the 8-time all-star pitcher and current Rangers CEO will continue in his role going forward.

Reports began surfacing in early March that suggested Ryan's relationship with the organization may be deteriorating after general manager Jon Daniels was promoted to president of baseball operations while holding on to the GM title, and Rick George was named president of business operations while remaining the the club's COO. It's believed Ryan was concerned about losing power in the organization despite holding a higher position and fully intended on walking away. But those concerns have been squashed now and all parties are comfortable continuing on with the partnership.

[Also: Red Sox's historic sellout streak ends at 794 games]

Here's what Ryan himself had to say via the Rangers' press release:

"After productive discussions the last several weeks with Ray Davis and Bob Simpson about the structure of our organization, together we are moving forward. In my role as CEO, I am focused on working closely with ownership and with Jon Daniels and Rick George to build on the success of the past five years and to bring a championship to Arlington."

Sam Sianis with his goat in 1984. (AP)We've all heard the story before. During the 1945 World Series, Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis placed a curse on the Chicago Cubs when the team denied his pet goat Murphy entry into the famed Wrigley Field. Since, the Cubs have not appeared in another World Series, let alone won one, so the "Curse of the Billy Goat" is still referenced to this day.

It's ridiculous, I know, but the urban myth lives on and on and on, sometimes thanks to the Cubs themselves.

Sadly, I think too many people buy into the idea of a curse to begin with. And even sadder, I think too many people take the idea way, way too seriously. That has to be the only way to explain what happened at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, when a package containing the severed head of a goat addressed to owner Tom Ricketts was dropped off at the ballpark.

Yes, the severed head of a goat. Your eyes did not deceive you.

[Also: Red Sox's historic sellout streak ends at 794 games]

Here are some additional details on the incident courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:

A package with a goat’s head was dropped off at Wrigley, 1060 W. Addison St., addressed to Ricketts, Cubs team spokesman Julian Green said.

The package was dropped off at Gate K at the field, Green said. The delivery was reported to police, he said.

Police were called to the ballpark about 2:30 p.m. because of an "intimidating package," and officers filed an appropriate report, said Police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala. News Affairs did not have information on details of the incident, but police are investigating, Zala said.

Fans file in on Monday — sellout No. 794. (USA Today)The Boston Red Sox knew it was coming, and now it's official. The 794 game sellout streak at Fenway Park — 820 when postseason games are included — ended on Wednesday night as the team's second home game against the Baltimore Orioles — which they dropped 8-5 — drew an announced crowd of 30,862. That's nearly 7,000 short of Fenway's current capacity of 37,499.

The streak began on May 15, 2003, and ultimately surpassed the Cleveland Indians 455 consecutive sellouts from 1995-2001 to become the longest sellout streak in Major League Baseball history. As Matt Snyder of Eye on Baseball notes, when including the postseason games, it becomes the longest sellout streak in professional sports, passing the Portland Trailblazers mark set at 814.

[Also: Oakland's Nate Freiman caddies, studies history, defies logic in MLB]

Pretty remarkable numbers, and a record the Red Sox organization and their fans should be proud of. And it appears they are. Here's what a few of the important figures within the organization had to say in statements released on Wednesday.

Owner John Henry:

“The streak is a reflection of a phenomenal period of baseball in Boston and of America's greatest ballpark. But more than that, it is a testament to the baseball passion of New England fans. As we close the book on this incredible era, we look forward to another with a renewed certainty that the next couple of generations of Red Sox fans will also be enjoying baseball at the ever magical Fenway Park.”