SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

REGULAR JOE

Not to turn this from Side Salad into Sports Salad, but there's a nice mini-profile of new Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon in Sports Illustrated this week. He's listed among "20 To Watch" in the majors. (To see a readable version of the page, click here.)

Maddon is also the source of my favorite food story so far this week. This is from a notes column by Ed Encina at the Tampa Tribune, the new Rays beat writer. Ed's doing a great job at spotting little moments that make the game great:

BALTIMORE - Beanie Maddon packed a lunch for her son for his first day on the job.

She walked down to the corner of the visitor’s dugout at Oriole Park and peered in looking for her son, holding a bag that contained a hoagie with ham, salami, cheese, onions and hot peppers.

Joe Maddon then caught the eye of his 73-year-old mother, who had made the 2 1/2 -hour drive south from their hometown of Hazleton, Pa., to see her son’s first day as Rays manager. His sister, Carmine Parlatore, was also along for support.

The rule, Maddon jokes, is that any visitors from Hazleton - population: 25,000 - must bring a hoagie from the Third Base Luncheonette in Hazleton, where Beanie still works as a waitress, or a steak and cheese sub from Bellhop’s, or some cold pizza from Senape’s.

“Especially if I’m leaving them tickets,” Maddon said.