[Listen to the whispered, too-close-to-the-mic, premiere episode of "A Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory For Folks Who Can't Read" on Youcastr here. And the better sound quality, less-stiff episode two here.]

Bright side: If the Sox win this series, it will mean I will have been there for the clinching game. And, of course, it will have been a dramatic comeback victory that came down to game seven in Fenway.

So, you all know my very simple theory on Wakefield. It's called NTWO: Never Take Wake Out. Tonight, NTWO could've given us a chance. Tito has a quick hook in the playoffs, and I support that. Kind of. If our offense isn't scoring, I don't feel like that should be a part of the decision to pull the starter. If a guy's doing fairly well, he shouldn't come out just because the offense hasn't scored yet. I know Tito wants to "keep us in the game," but as long as a starter isn't completely shitting the bed, he's a better option than the "bullpen guys who come in when we're losing."

Compared to the fears people had going in, Wake was doing fine. He hadn't lost it. Keep the knuckler who can eat up LOTS of innings IN, for as long as possible. Especially when he's shown signs of goodness. It's like with Dice the night before. Tito pulled him after a really cheap bloop hit. Does that really mean he's lost it and MUST be removed? Anyway, Wake gave up a solid shot, which was the homer, but besides that, there were some bad breaks, nothing that required him to leave. Delcarmen comes in, faces one batter and virtually locks up the game for Cleveland. Had Wake stayed in, there's a good chance our three runs the next inning tie the game. And then you've got Wake right back out there the next inning, and you've saved some of the 'pen. And I'd say this about anybody, but with Wake, getting that one last out can happen in so many more ways. The knuckler can mess a hitter up, no matter who he is. That ball falls off the table, defying the laws of physics, and the batter's gonna swing and miss. That's a chance I'll always take, unless Wake has proven 100% that he's totally lost it, which he hadn't tonight.

Times Fox has played the Red Sox victory song prematurely: 3 in 3 games.

Number of innings played in games after victory song was played: 11.

Number of runs the Red Sox have scored in those 11 innings: 0.

I'd guess they've gotten a lot of complaints, and now they're just doing this to piss us off. I never remember them playing "New York, New York" in the middle of a Yankee playoff game. But I could be wrong.

Not even gonna mention the home plate ump tonight. Except that I hope, for his sake, the Indians win it all. As an Indians fan, I know he and his family have suffered for quite a few years.

McCarver said something tonight that I'd read about online, as he's said it before. He's acting like he's uncovered some bombshell, saying that more multi-run innings happen after a leadoff homer than do after a leadoff walk. His point is that most people think a leadoff walk is bad, but, Hey, a leadoff homer is worse! Well, duh! You've already got a run right there! "Multi-run inning"? Okay, well, after a walk you need two runs for it to become a multi-run inning. After a homer, you only need one. So you're already giving one side a huge advantage. I mean, it's pretty basic. It's like saying, "I've got an apple and you've only got a seed. I'm more likely to end up with two apples." Well, yeah, because you're already halfway there. The contest should be, Who can come up with one MORE apple first. If seed guy gets an apple, he should get credit for having tied apple gal. But nooooo, McCarver wants to see seed guy come up with TWO apples, while apple gal only needs to produce one more. Terrible job, Tim. How is he not seeing this? So, basically, in his little world, a leadoff walk leading to a run doesn't count. It has to lead to two runs. Makes no sense. Nobody ever says, "damn, whenever you walk the leadoff man, he and someone else always seems to score."

Soxy Lady/Allen were the only scorers tonight, picking up three, taking sole possession of third, and getting within two of the lead.

Inn./Contestants/Runs

3/Kara & Pweezil / 7
5/AJM & Laureen / 6
6/Soxy Lady & Allen / 5
7/Novy & Dan / 2
1/Peter & Ryan / 1
2/Matty & Quinn / 0
4/savethejellys & Rebecca / 0
8/Jay & Michael Leggett / 0
9 & beyond/my mom / 0

As I was about to post this, saw Casey Affleck on Letterman talking about how he worked at Fenway in the Morgan's Magic years as a 12-year old. Dave said that the Sox are in a tough spot right now. Casey said, "not as bad as the Yankees are." Nice!