I guess I have to give credit to the Mets for getting two out of three, as mad as I am at them for turning into the old Mets tonight, handing the yanks a game that the yanks tried to hand them.

The yankees scored their first run on a TYR (Typical yankee Rally, a term my dad coined decades ago and has been using ever since): an error, an infield hit, a walk, and a fielder's choice, to tie the game.

And in the late innings, more walks and a balk by Mets pitching led to the yankee comeback and eventual win. Joe Morgan talked about how the yanks don't quit. Uh, the Mets just gave them the game, dude. They weren't even guarding the line on A-Rod's not-that-hard-hit grounder that went down the left field line in the ninth. And a failed hit-and-run cost the Mets another run.

There were good moments, with the yanks' using their comedy-of-errors style baseball several times. But, like I said, the Mets wanted to give this one away a little more than the yanks did tonight.

Too bad the one yankee win had to be the final game of the series. But we'll have to settle for the yanks being SEVEN back of us in the loss cloumn. And the O's are 2 1/2 back now.

I wonder if Gary Sheffield will hold a press conference so he can tell us how much class and restraint he showed tonight when throwing his helmet and nearly punching an umpire in the face, and then having to be held back (by others, mind you), while yelling obscenities. Maybe Bob Watson will give him some kind of "golden rule citation" for his behavior.


In Red Sox news, even after we blew the lead, I had confidence we'd win, which is a good sign. A better sign is that we actually did win, and easily.

Why rest Edgar? A little wrist problem? Come on, he gets every Thursday off this month. I still don't see why any of these guys ever need any extra rest. So I was quite pissed when that lolligagger/slack-jawed gawker, Vasquez, missed that potential double-play grounder. And I'm still a little confused on the whole "bringing in Embree in a big spot" thing.

But it's good that we're sweeping entire road trips while we iron out these little kinks.

The "Native American Stereotypes" and "Jays, Blew" come to town now, while the yanks head to "yankee Stadium at Camden Yards" before going to Michigan to play Samara's Thigh-gers. I think we can gain over this stretch. At the very least, we know either the O's or yanks have to lose a game each night over the next three.

Tomorrow I'm going to Rebecca's, while I'm up in CT to close out some bank accounts, tie up some loose ends, hide some evidence, and pay my last respects to inland Connecticut. So I'll get to watch the yanks and Sox at the same time, with the computer screen and the TV side by side. My lifelong dream, played out for the second time this month.

Did you hear that Shaughnessy predicted the Sox will win the division by ten games? You know, I've noticed it's been hot 12 of the last 13 days. I predict it will be hot for a while longer.

Have some guts. If you're gonna make a mid-season prediction, pick some team on a losing streak, and tell me they'll turn it around. I made the same prediction as Dan, actually, only it was for '04, and I made it right after the Aaron Boone home run. (Right before my 14-hour slumber, which I only came out of momentarily to call in "sick," the truest meaning of a "sick day" in my entire working life.) The Sox didn't even win the division as it turned out, let alone by ten games, but I think the World Series win proved that at least I had the right idea.