With spring, the blogs of summer

Exhilarating, goofy, heartbreaking -- these are all words that can be used to described the fast-approaching state of mind that is baseball season in New England.

Local bloggers hit their keyboards to mark the occasion with their own bits of prose, marvelling at both the sublime (like the jolt of optimism that somehow annually seeps into the region's Calvinist soul) and the ridiculous (like Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez selling his neighbor's grill on eBay).

In Newton, the black llama faction blog (blackllamafaction.org) welcomes the time of the year when New Englanders "become about fifty percent less rational." (Note: black llama doesn't do capital letters, so don't come crying "typo" to us.)

"i just can't help but look forward to the true sign of spring," black llama wrote in a March 21 post, "even if some april nights at fenway can feel colder than the worst that january has to offer. there's just something about seeing the local nine decked out in resplendent white and red, ensconced in the welcoming green walls of our beloved cathedral, even if the fans are bundled up in dark winter coats.

"but it's more than the standard dopey poetry so many of us are prone to resorting to when expressing our love for what is, truth be told, a deeply silly game," the blogger continued. "it's more than the box scores and the games, it's the six-month-long storyline of a movie that changes its genre from day to day. a lunatic soap opera with characters we like and dislike, who make us mad and make us laugh. take for instance the latest story of manny ramirez' neighbor's grill. we couldn't make this stuff up . . ."

Over in Waltham, blogger Andrew Teman (andrewteman.org/blog) also posted about the latest Manny-being-Manny saga, in which the mercurial left fielder admitting to telling a little white lie (that the $4,000 Jenn-Air grill was actually his) in order to help his neighbor unload it. The auction was cancel ed by eBay when the ruse was uncovered.

In another sign of spring, the Newton-based Kosher Blog (kosherblog.net) had the lowdown on the latest trends in food to help observant Jews get through the culinary deprivations (no bread or leavened products) of the Passover holiday. In a March 21 post, the focus was on cheese.

"Online options are also abundant this year. Cabot sells OU (Orthodox Union) cheddar exclusively at their website, and KosherItalia.com has 31 Passover-friendly products. In fact, they've just announced the arrival of both fresh cow mozzarella and fresh buffalo mozzarella, made in Italy on March 11 in preparation for the holiday," the blogger wrote.

"With the simple addition of petite matzah crackers, a variety of jams and chutneys, some sliced vine-ripened tomatoes, and several bottles of fine wine, you're ready to have a swanky and fully pesadik wine & cheese party," the blogger wrote. "I've often remarked that any holiday on which you can have steak and French fries every night isn't really such a hardship. A well-stocked cheese drawer is yet another reason to believe that Passover could actually be a lot of fun."

Finally, the Wellesley swells at the Swellesley Report (www.theswellesleyreport.com) had a laugh at the expense of their neighbors in Natick, who recently gave the high school's "Redmen" sports nickname the boot in a belated bout of sensitivity toward Native Americans. A task force is now considering a replacement.

"Save your time, task forces," the blog opines. "The obvious choice is 'Mallrats.' "

Cyberscenes is a biweekly look at blogs written by people in the western suburbs. Ralph Ranalli is a staff writer and Web producer for Globe West. He can be reached at rranalli@globe.com.