So, my pal Harry Diez has an intimate connection at George M. Steinbrenner Field, home of the New York Yankees spring training games. Harry recently palmed a ticket to me, for last night's matchup with the Boston Red Sox - a feisty rivalry any time of the season.

Perfect place to wear Tampa Bay Rays gear, just to rub in that A.L. championship like Yanks and Bosox fans have at the Trop for years. The fact that our seats were front row behind the Yankees' dugout made it even sweeter. I was probably the only person at the game who was hated by everybody but that's how I roll.

Nice way to spend a night off from thinking about movies but, of course, it never works out that way, thanks to Harry.

We had access to the private Dugout Club under the stands behind home plate where the food and beer never ends and the walls are adorned with trinkets like a couple of the Yankees' World Series trophies. Harry remembers Yankees lore almost as well as he recalls trivial movie stuff, as he proved again when we headed to the Dugout Club for the first time.

"There's a couple of movie stars over there," he said. "You can do a story." Before I could ascertain where he was pointing midway up the stands, Harry was off to retrieve two blonds in Red Sox jerseys, pulling out a couple more Dugout Club wristbands and better tickets behind home plate.

Their names are Jessamy Finet and Erin Nanstad, both from East "Bahstahn" and a couple of "wickahd pissahs." Jessamy and Erin were profiled in a 2004 documentary on Red Sox fans titled Still, We Believe, produced when the team hadn't broken their World Series futility streak. Peter and Bobby Farrelly watched the movie while preparing their Red Sox comedy, Fever Pitch, and hired them for minor roles requiring three weeks of work.

"It was the accent, blond hair and we drink a lot," Jessamy (the shorter one) said, explaining their break. How Harry recognized them, I'll never know.

Jessamy plays the old friend Jimmy Fallon greets in the stands, who brags that she got her stomach stapled and lost 300 pounds. Erin's greatest moment - getting a bloody nose from Lenny Clarke - was cut from the movie but made the DVD's extras.

The ladies were spending the final night of their 10th anniversary spring training road trip together, pounding Steinbrenner's beer in the womb of Yankee pride, loving every ironic minute of it (until the Sox lost, 7-1). We spent the middle innings chatting about the celebrity that Fever Pitch brought them in New England. Last year, they attended the Triple-A All-Star Game in Pawtucket and were mobbed by autograph seekers. Jessamy threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game. Both sneaked into the Red Sox clubhouse once, which they still talk about in confessional booth tones.

"It kind of felt like we were violatin' or somethin'," Erin said. "We knew we shouldn't be lookin' but we couldn't help ourselves."

I had to ask: Did you steal anything?

 "We got gum," Jessamy said. I wouldn't be surprised if it were already chewed.

The women also told me about taking a road trip to watch the Sox play an interleague game in St. Louis, a spur-of-the-moment decision without tickets, travel or lodging plans made. They found a cheap flight to Chicago and rented a car they planned to sleep in after a four-hour drive to St. Louis.

When they got there, the women ran into the Farrelly brothers, unaware they were shooting a bit more of Fever Pitch. The Farrellys were amazed to learn about their impromptu trek. "I told 'em: 'This is what we do,' '' Jessamy said. The Farrellys then arranged for game tickets and a hotel room for their part-time actors. One more curse reversed.

(Images: Boston.com and Steinbrennerfield.com)