I still don't know who to blame on that play where Coco got caught off third. They never showed a replay and we were watching in a bar with no sound on the TV. How does DeMarlo allow that? But maybe Coco was just assuming there'd be a throw to first. Either way, we could've had more than four that inning, and because we didn't, we had to do a little sweating.

We ended up holding the lead, and opening it up on a play almost missed by the world. After a play that should have been the third out had the first baseman not come off the bag to allow Pedroia to reach, NESN cut to commercial. The weird thing was, even if it had been the third out, shouldn't they have waited for the end-of-inning music and linescore to come up before hitting the button? So I'm sitting there, knowing the game's going on, yet I'm watching commercials. And losing my mind over it. (Adding insult to injury, it was one of those local commercials that blows your eardrums out.) A second, then a third ad comes on. I call my dad in Connecticut to see if this is a local problem. He answers the phone with "Isn't this unbelievable?" Yes. That's what I said. Right after that, the game's back. We're barely able to look at the count, which is 1-2 on Ortiz, before Papi launches one to center for a run-scoring double. Someone needs to be fired over this. And if they'd missed the double--entire staff, fired!

TJ by that Bartman in left, interfering with Manny's could've-been-catch.

Interesting how Lugo is not only hitting the ball, but that's he's starting to get breaks. A single on the play mentioned above where Crisp was thrown out, and then called safe on the grounder where the Jays' skipper argued. On the first replay, I saw the tag made, then moved my eyes down to Lugo's foot, only to see lots of space between it and the bag. Remy and Orsillo missed this, saying it was inconclusive from all angles.

Funny moment when Lowell got the ball in the on deck circle, went to a Yankee fan guy, held the ball out, and at the last second, gave it to a little kid instead. Great job by the guy for laughing about it, and even switching hats with the Red Sox fan kid next to him in a second attempt to get the ball. (Although it was a TJ by the kid to put the Yankee hat on! Give him your Sox hat for the purpose of the joke, fine, but no need to put on his Yankee hat.) (And yes, I could give my old speech about how only a Yankee fan would be so quick to put on a rival hat for, well, for anything, but this was a funny moment, so, whatever....)

Now we've got Oka doing a nice job, and Pap in for the ninth as I type. Below, a test of the new Blogger video (thanks for the heads-up, Laura). Looks like it works. This is video I shot of our cats, who are named after a horrorpunk-turned-metal singer, and a character with a bit part in a Pee-Wee Herman movie. Enjoy (click play button at bottom):



And Wells lines out. We win. Manny, for his sweet toss-out of Frank Thomas, on top of a nice offensive day, is Jere's Player of the Game.

Error by other people update: I just watched the Red Sox highlights on ESPN. The anchor said that the Red Sox had the "biggest division lead in baseball at the All-Star break, ten games over the Yankees." The second place team in the AL East at the break was the Toronto Blue Jays. Their winning percentage was .494253, while the Yanks' was a mere .494118. This isn't Billy's Backyard Sports Beat, it's ESPN. How could they ever get something like that wrong? Terrible job.

Post title update: Improved title of this post, from the unintentionally dirtier and wordier "Sox Bite Jays' Butts As The Struggle Under A Sheet." TJ by me on the original title.