AP

I love August. The way the crowd reacted to Bronson coming off the mound tonight said not only "We appreciate you," but also "These games are getting important." Maybe it's just because it's been a while since I'd seen a Sox game on an actual TV. But seeing the fans all excited on a summer night is just one of those things that makes you realize what this whole baseball thing is all about. Makes me think of Friday nights in the summer when I was little, when we'd get the TV-38 games on the CT affiliate, after some minor antenna adjusting on the roof. These summer baseball games will always be special, whether your team is going for their first title in 80 years, or their second in two.

That's what Michael Kay should have realized all those times when he said that winning the World Series would be the "worst thing to happen" to THOSE Red Sox fans. Tonight, when the ESPN announcers were telling the country how Sox fans have come out and packed Fenway every night this season, I started thinking of Kay (his team has 18 consecutive sellouts!) and his ass-ery. I went on a little rant to Chan. It went something like this: Michael Kay should stand atop a mountain, apologize to all of New England, then commit hare kare, and roll down the hill, into the city of Boston, apologizing while rolling in his final moments. Actually, choking himself to death might be more appropriate. "Then, and only then," I told Chan, "would I forgive him."

5 1/2 up.