Great job by Wake tonight. NESN's camera-delay ruined this one for me, like they did the last one. You could hear Orsillo's voice indicate the ball was going into the hole before we even saw that view. Granted, it's gonna take a split-second for the camera angle to switch after the batter hits the ball--and that's why they do that, so that the ball's not in the outfield by the time we're seeing the angle that shows it. But it causes the problem of the announcers being a split-second ahead of every camera except for the center field one.

I like how our starters have been doing lately. Since Lester pitched last, the four other dudes have given up 4 runs in 29.6 innings. Two of those came after Lowell missed that ball with two outs in the ninth on Saturday, and one was thanks to that Lugo play on Sunday. And now we get Lester for the first time at Fenway, against the D-Rays. Should be a confidence booster for him. And assuming Gagne goes back to what he's supposed to be, we do have that great 'pen. And pitching's the key. So we're lookin' good. Best record in baseball. We can't control what the Yanks do.

Although, I like to think my mind has been controlling Mariano lately, as he's done extremely shitty in his last two appearances. Tonight, he blew the save, but the Birds put in Bradford, who promptly hit a batter to start the Yanks' ninth inning "rally," which culminated in a Jeter grounder that, had it hit a dandelion, would have bounced back off the weed and taken itself and gone home crying. Bradford nicked it, it went to Roberts, and the winning run came home from third. The day before, Mo, claimed to have been "money in the bank" by Sterling, almost blew it, and would have, had the Indians known to just get the bat on the ball--two sac flies would've tied it.

So, like, I assume you don't mind my complaining about these things which I've complained about all year long, now that they're four back, right? I've enjoyed this season, but I always keep tabs on those A-holes, and if all these little bullshit plays that seemed meaningless at the time had gone the other way, they'd be 20 games out. That's why I try to will the Yanks to lose at all times, no matter how many games back they are. But this season feels like '04--the way that if you watch the Yanks, you can see that their pitching will disappoint in the end (if not before). And you can see that the Sox are capable of beating anyone, you just hope they turn it on at the right time. But knowing they can, and knowing they've still got the best record, makes me eve more confident than I was during that long stretch in '04 when people really doubted them. I knew they had a good chance of pulling through, and I knew their main competition had a good chance of choking. This year feels like that year. Good sign.

Of course, I say this stuff every year, don't I? Quit grillin' me under these hot lights.

That Mr. Opportunity voice--that's Matt Gallant, isn't it? Remember, MTV News...and, uh...that wacky animal blooper show.... I think it's him.

Great moment before the Yanks game tonight. A-Rod got this big, weird-lookin' bat-related award with a big 500 on it. It was sitting on an easel, and the whole thing fell over. That's clutch.

A better moment came in the Sox game, when Papi was nearly hit in the foot by a pitch. He ended up on the ground, completely stretched out, balancing on his arms. He paused a second, then, realizing he was in "push-up position," broke into the push-ups, to the delight of the crowd. Only his "rundown hug" beat that moment.

Finally: A few weeks back, the topic of one of the two offcial hounds of RSF/PT, Jhonny Peralta's dgo, was revisited. Fittingly, the Sox recently played in the home of the other OH-RSF/PT, Lampy, Seattle's lampshade dog. Lampy's doing well, although it appears there's a puke line going down the bottom of his lampshade. I grabbed a screenshot during that series. Check it out:


My pics from Saturday in Baltimore are below. And the video of Camden's crazy vendor is here.