Tonight was the new usual, or as I call it as of this moment, the nusual: We win, they lose. The lead is 14 1/2 and my giddiness level is at a similar 14 1/2, on a scale of 3 to 14 3/4.

We had the Yanks on the computer on mute tonight. In the seventh, we glanced over to see that the crowd was on its feet, and the Jays had taken the lead. We readied ourselves for the replay, and as it started, I knew exactly what was going on: A Blue Jay had stolen home! Aaron Hill came sliding in with the go-ahead run, after sprinting toward the plate while Andy Pettitte stood on the mound, clueless. The coolest thing, by far, though, was visible on the replay from the angle behind A-Rod. As the runner is headed home, A-Rod is literally scratching his ass. Talk about taking the fielders by surprise: Pettitte's looking the other way, Posada's blocked by the hitter, and A-Rod's scratching his ass. Really hilarious stuff. A-Rod didn't do his showpony trot after that one...

When the Yanks came up in the next inning, though, Jeter and A-Rod reached on two consecutive errors, and they re-tied the game on Posada's bloop hit. In the past, this would've been the key to another cheap Yankee win. But this is 2007, so the opponents got the run right back in the bottom of the eighth (off of a pissed-off Proctor, aka the Assman), and shut the Yanks down in the ninth. Tonight's game-ender was Damon. It's fun when any Yankee ends a game, but some guys are more fun than others.

We won without Big Papi again. 31-15, nice. Youk has a 21-gamer, but even more impressive, nine straight multi-hit games. Beckett is back and is now 8-0. The Coco play in the first inning: Coco totally deeked (dec'd?) the runner, and got no credit from Remy and DO. He came in with his glove down. Had he raised it, the runner would've known to get back to first. Instead he kept it down, and even made a basket catch. That runner didn't know Coco would catch the ball until it landed in his glove. By then, he was screwed, ad Coco threw to first for an easy deuce. This begins a new feature here at RSF/PT. Coco gets the "Jere's Player of the Game" award, and gets the special "J" on his uni. This award will be given to the player who makes a cool or underrated or key play in a Red Sox win. This will also allow me to use some pics I've taken that didn't make it into a gallery. (And not always because they were blurry, like this one!) The award will be given either every win, or whenever I feel like it.

You know what I hate? When people say, "This is boring, it's not even a race." This isn't boring. It's fun-tastic.

Who was it in my comments section who said "15 game-lead when Clemens pitches at Fenway"? You may be right about the lead! However, as we all suspected, it looks like the Yanks will keep Roger out of the series this weekend. TC had a great line tonight: If they're going with three other starters against the Sox, when Roger is ready to pitch, doesn't that mean they're paying all this money for a number four starter?

Maybe they'll have Roger come in from the bullpen in the series, or have him start Sunday night as a last-minute replacement. That would be their last-ditch attempt to get some kind of dramatic boost. The most dramatic moment of Suzyn Waldman's life hasn't helped them yet.