"Here comes a pebble, or at least what looks like one, traveling on a straight, perfect line from somewhere on the playing field.

It's pregame stretch last month at Fenway Park, and the Yankees are spread out in foul ground near the third-base line, grabbing, reaching, twisting their muscles, as they do virtually every day from February to October. Lost in the monotony, bullpen catcher Roman Rodriguez looks out into space as he stands in front of the dugout, waiting for practice to begin. Which is why he doesn't see that the pebble, cutting ever so slightly now, is headed straight for his chest, at a spot beneath the "NY" script logo embroidered on his shirt.

Only when it bounces off Rodriguez and falls to the dirt is it apparent the object is not a pebble, but a misshapen piece of pink chewing gum. Without looking up, Rodriguez knows the perpetrator. If he had even a sliver of doubt, it is obliterated by the unmistakable sound of total satisfaction. It's drifting in from 40 feet away and it's coming from Mariano Rivera, who can't stop laughing.

"He's like a child," Rodriguez said, shaking his head."