I'm still trying to figure out who from the Sox dugout Cabrera was challenging. Kevin Cash was ejected, so maybe it was him. Or maybe it was "the 7th grade." Who? "The seventh grade." I just liked how Pedroia almost got killed but kept his cool, not even looking toward the mound.

I'm actually watching the replay now. I just saw the play where Coco bunts foul, and Cabrera gives him a stare. If you get mad at a guy who bunts all the time for trying to bunt to lead off the fourth, in a 2-0 game, you have mental problems or something.

I know one thing: Cabrera wasn't yelling at Papi, as this video I shot last year proves:
[Remember, all the Red Sox videos you'll see here at ARSFFPT were shot/made by me. I don't just search "Red Sox" on GooTube.] [And I'm still trying to figure out what Millar was doing in that clip.]

I love that Lester did really well tonight. And &Myers' speed continues to amaze.

Down to our last 20 games now. 6.5 up. Gold.

Mighty Quinn has been putting up a picture representing the Red Sox' magic number each time it changes. Today he's got Kevin Romine's 1987 Topps (yes, the "wood" year) card. Romine wore number 16, hence his pic for the Sox magic number being 16.

My thoughts turned to that fateful day in 1988 when Romine shone brighter than the sun on a cloudless--well, he did a freakin' awesome thing. 1988 was a great year for me. I was 12 years old, and spent my summer collecting Coke cans. Remember the Disney characters? Mickey was on regular Coke, Minnie on Diet, I think....all the Disney characters were represented, each on its own type of Coca-Cola product. Our holy grail was Doc. We'd found all the other dwarves, but despite rumors that the little geek could be found on Diet Minute Maid Orange Free Light, or something, we never did locate him. Anyway, my neighbor and I each had a stack of soda cans as high as the ceiling.

And after the down year of 1987, the Red Sox were back. That wasn't evident until mid-July, though. We had tickets for the Friday game after the All-Star break. You know the story: Joe Morgan had taken over as interim manager during the break. I think Thursday's game was rained out, which allowed us to see both games of Friday's doubleheader. The Red Sox swept the Royals, on their way to a 12-game winning streak, and an even longer home winning-streak. The next day, Saturday, I was over at my friend Mike's house. I remember my dad was there, too, as he must've been either picking me up or dropping me off. The Red Sox were the Saturday national Game of the Week, but I think either the Yanks or somebody else were being shown on our local stations. Or maybe the Connecticut station had Sox and the NY one had the other game. I remember at one point the Sox game was put into a little box in the corner of the other game, which Mike was probably watching just to spite me, since he's a Yankee fan. The point is, we got to see the bottom of the ninth begin. The Sox had come back from a 6-0 deficit, and Kevin Romine ("Caviar" in our house--derived from "Kevvy R.") was leading off. He homered over the Monster to win it, and the Sox continued to roll.

That was a really special season, with the Sox beating out the Yanks for the division title. I was doing a search on Romine, and found this much better article about his big day.

Red Sox at O's tonight, Lester vs. Cabrera. The O's have been eliminated from A.L. East contention. So I guess that Baltimore writer who predicted, like, a month ago, the O's would finish ahead of the Sox was wrong.

The Yanks have 22 games left. 7 home, 15 road. We've got 21 left. 12 home, 9 road.

Up until we play Dunbar for three games, starting September 14th, each club has six games. Let's say they win 5 of 6. If we take just 3 of 6 (against TB and Balty), we'd be 4.5 up going in to our series with them. Take one out of three against the Yanks, and that puts us 3.5 up with 12 games left.

The above scenario is pretty lousy, but would still leave us in position to win the division. If we do as good as they do over the next six, and then take two of three against them, we're 7.5 up with 12 to play. If we do one better than them over the next six and then sweep the Yanks, we're 10.5 up with 12 to play.

As far as the ol' W.C. Fields, if the Yanks lose tonight, they'll be 2 up, as either the Tigers or Mariners will win tonight, as they're playing each other. After tonight, we have to root for the team who's within two of them. The preferred team is the M's, as they're only two back now in the loss column. So a Mariners sweep would be gold. But if they lose game one and two, we root Detroit for game three and beyond.

Really key win tonight. The difference between 6.5 and 5.5 is big with 21 to play. Wake didn't have it, but our offense kept coming back. And Double-H gets the win, throwing three innings, and getting out of trouble he got himself into. Coco, besides hitting a three-run dong, got a stolen base in the ninth, and was knocked in by Tek for the winning run. Pap gets 'em 1-2-3 for the save, striking out Millar to end it.

Drew continues his bed-shitting ways. I have so much to say about who's resting, who's playing, who's coming into the game--like, why have the two hottest hitters sat, one yesterday and one today? Why not start Ellsbury over Drew? If you're putting in Kielty, why not put him in for Drew? If Mirabelli goes down, why not put in Tek? Because it's "his day off"? Then why did he pinch hit and catch in the ninth? Why not just start Buchholz? Why let Lugo near the field? Their answers don't satisfy me, but we're still winning, so it's okay. I just wish I knew what was going on. And I wish Drew was on some team far, far away right about now.

With Clay getting the win tonight, I'm reminded of my "all-hitter" theory. A no-hitter is hard to get, but an all-hitter would be seriously impressive. You'd have to give up a hit to every batter you face. So, all your outs have to come on the bases. And no force-outs! One of those would break up the all-all. And to win an all-hitter, you'd have to have all the outs on the bases happen before too many runs score. I wonder if somewhere, somehow, in Little League or something, anyone has ever pitched an all-hitter.

From that commercial for Sullivan Tiya, if you were curious: The hitter Tito struck out? Stan Javier.

I've talked about this before: the apparent disconnect between sports talk show hosts and the internet. Many of these guys aren't going to the same sites the fans are. Which is fine, if you want to appear clueless all the time. I'd think a quick check of redsox.com would be mandatory for someone whose job is talking about the Red Sox. But these know-it-alls will often be asked a question that I've heard the answer to ad nauseum because it's plastered all over the 'net, and they'll either act like the question is below them or sheepishly say "I'd have to look that up...." Today's example, a room full of fools on EEI, jokin' around, not talking about anything relevant, boring me as usual. They start in with the president of RSN jokes. One says, "so if you win, so what, you don't get anything!" The others agreed, goofing on the fact that the person who wins has some fake title and that's it. Oh, how they laughed. It seriously is the worst sports radio station I've ever heard. If you're in another city, I'm telling you, your station has to be better than this middle school-quality piece of crap. Anyway, just so they know, here's what you get as president:

• Four tickets to 10 games in 2008
• A ceremonial first pitch before a game in 2008
• A suite for one regular season game in 2008
• A trip to Spring Training with a guest
• Official business cards
• A credential to allow entry for all 2008 regular season games
• Periodic appearances on NESN/WRKO
• A redsox.com e-mail address
• A MLBlog on redsox.com
• Periodic meetings with Red Sox senior executives
• Official spokesperson reacting to Red Sox news
• Unofficial spokesperson reacting to Red Sox news to the media

This has nothing to do with how I feel about this whole "president" thing. I'm not even saying, "God, I'd love to have all those things." (But I'd love to have some of them.) I'm just saying, these guys don't give me the impression that they're Red Sox fans. When they do things like talk about the upcoming schedule, they won't know it. I know it off the top of my head and I don't have to. Most fans do, to some degree.

Hey, is it just me or is Tom Caron huffing gas?

Mike Lowell about to make the last out in Wednesday night's game. A bunch of people left when the Jays went up two in the ninth. TJ by them, but it was late. And a school night. A lot of people stayed, as you can see, but I was able to move up to this spot at the end. Click these for large-esse.

No batting practice pics this time. I got to the game in the first inning. Terrible Joba by me, but I knew this would be the case going in. Anyway, I did the back of RF grandstand thing at first and ate my four-dollar cheese slice. Here's Jacoby & Myers Ellsbury in left.

Drinkwater and Kapstein from 500 feet away, with Pesky's Pole in foreground.

Schilling on the hilling. I purposely left in the roof in the top of the shot.

Looking out beyond the right field grandstand into the edge of the Big Concourse and out beyond the park. Fenway High School is across the street. I like how when you enter Gate B, you're not really entering a building, just going through a hole in a brick wall. I get the feeling like when someone goes from room to room on TV but walks in front of the set.

Have you ever seen a cat lie on his back like this? I never have. But our cats do it for some reason. Oh right, the game....

Varitek on second.

Tavarez: "Gagne, you keep shitting the bed and I'll punch you with this here fist."

Another picture of the Papi shift.

Papi is out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Love the Fenway beachballs.

A shorn Gagne.

I walked all the way around the park and found a great spot behind section 22. Here's Schilling from the better, but equally-priced angle. You can get great views in this park, cheaply and easily. You know, I was on craigslist yesterday, and saw someone ask for a single ticket for the A's series. I actually e-mailed him and said, "Go to redsox.com right now and buy one. I just did." People are so brainwashed at this point that "you can't get tickets," that they don't even think to go to the place the tickets come from! Oh, and on my way to the park, I heard some FM deejay saying the same, how you have to wait for a season ticket-holder to die to get into Fenway. Uh, I go to, like, 15 games there a year, all tickets bought for face value. Easy. Granted, I don't have kids to take care of. But it's still pretty easy to sit there in your home on the internet while your kids are playing Par-effin'-chesi, or on the internet themselves, getting seduced by internet predators or buying shorts that have a clever word on the ass or making their 12,426th myspace friend who they've never met in real life or whatever it is kids do today.

Also note the crap on the screen, including a water bottle that's somehow vertical, right by Varitek's head.

My view of &Myers in left. That Yankee score was 2-1 Seattle for a long time. They would end up walking in runs on close pitches and giving up cheap hits to lose big.

Paula Zaun, crazy catching-robot.

The wide shot of the field, including the rarely-seen underside of the roof in that area. It's the Billie Jean disco floor format instead of the rafters further out along the baselines.

Lugo makes contact. So, normally I don't go behind the screen. I always think, It'll get in the way of my pictures. Last night it hit me: 1. Who the F cares? 2. It's not like the pics won't get published if they're not good enough. 3. I'd rather be where I want to be, and not worry about what the pics will look like. 4. Shots with the screen in the way can be pretty cool.

&Myers up with the bases loaded.

Youk takes a strike. I didn't notice the water bottle all night. I only discovered it looking at the pics later.

Youk was hit by a pitch as usual. Overbay seemed really concerned about the whole thing for some reason.

I visualized Tek homering down the line, as I had a great view of it. And he did. Here he does his patented home run sprint. Before this homer, Tek hit a foul ball that the home plate ump almost got on a bounce, but missed it. He was clearly making motions to indicate: "Crap, I almost had that. That woulda been sweet!" Tek stepped out and started taking practice swings, as the ball rolled to a spot right behind his feet. Tek didn't know the ball was anywhere near him. The ballboy came out, and he and the ump were trying to figure out who should get the ball. But neither wanted to get decked by the clueless Varitek's rod of lumber. The ump ended up doing a little dance. It was really funny. I caught the replay on NESN later, and they totally missed this, going right to their Dunkin' Dugout thing after the ball was fouled off. Then Jason hit his mighty dong.

Tek on the mound waiting for the new pitcher. I really thought we'd hang on to win this game. But when Drew couldn't get the run home from third with the bases loaded, I was pissed. As was the rest of the crowd, who booed the hell out of him. Also note that Pedroia wasn't playing. Why? Well, when a guy's that hot, you want to take him out to cool him down..... What the crap???

Corey on the hill. Or, as trendy people continue to call it, the bump.

I love how this guy ran across my shot behind Vernon Wells.

Maine's Stair Mattster, Matt Stairs.

Frank Thomas imitating Costanza jumping over the puddle.

Papi gives Jacoby some advice.

Papi & Myers, with Drinkwater at bottom left in blue.

Stairs has just finished a chat with the man in the Wall.

Lowell up.

Lowell avoids the inside pitch with men on base.

Close-up of Ellsbury.

Now &Myers avoids the inside pitch.

Now for the bottom of the ninth, I've moved closer. Down two, we had the right people coming up. Ellsbury had a long at bat, but couldn't reach base.

Then Papi made the second out, before Lowell quickly ended it.

I had to park at the Common Garage, so I did the long, lonely walk through the Back Bay. Here are Juliet & Juliet in the dark. (At least last I heard they were both female. That could've changed by now.)

On walk-offs (and I don't mean triples this time): I think the meaning of "walk-off home run" has gotten lost in the hysteria of the actual event. I'm going to give my meaning, and if my theory is correct, some of you younger fans should say, "really?" Here we go:

"A walk-off home run occurs when a home team's batter hits a home run in that team's last at bat, which allows the winning run to score, ending the game. The defensive players are forced to leave (walk off) the field, as the game is essentially over the moment the ball clears the fence."

However, the genuises at wikipedia (us!) have said, without citation, mind you, that while the term initially referred to the defense walking off with heads hung low (Eckersley supposedly coined the term), it "changed over time to mean that the batter, by necessity of the home team, would walk off the field to the cheers of the crowd."

Bullshit.

People think that way because the term has become so synonymous with the hitter, who the cameras are focused on during a walk-off homer, as he runs (hole #1 in their theory) home to a waiting celebration, before the whole team walks to the dugout. In fact, the meaning of the term has gotten so lost that someone I know, who knows her baseball rules, is fuzzy on the term and will ask me if the road team can get a walk-off.

If you're going to say that the "walk-off" refers to the celebrating team walking to the dugout, you should note that A. a winning team walks off the field after any win and B. a batter who hits ANY home run, after crossing the plate, can and often will walk back to the dugout.

The difference is, on a "walk off" homer, the players in the field are forced to leave the field. This is the only situation where this can happen. That's the point. There are less than three outs in the inning, yet, There go the defensive players! "Walking off" the field because the damn game is over! And they're going to walk instead of jog (as they would at the end of an inning), as there's no rush--there's no next inning. Hell, the defense are the only people on the field anyway, save for some baserunners and the batter. So they're the only ones who can walk off it. If it meant the offense, it would have to be called a "most players run on to greet hitter and then walk off with him" home run.

It has nothing to do with the hitter or the offense. Please make a note of it.

As long as I'm talking about things that piss me off (and really, I'm on Bob Ryan's ledge over this walk-off thing, ha), I was in Central Park this past Sunday. I was visiting my parents in CT, and the three of us drove down to the city for a tour of an area of the park that had been closed for 70 years, as a nature conservatory. (More on that in a separate post.) So, we're standing there on a little bridge in the park, with about 50 other people, all gathered around, putting our names on a sign-up sheet. With such a huge crowd, and being on a bridge, we were bound to be in people's way. A woman with a stroller is trying to pass, and has to alert the crowd to her presence. Instead of saying "excuse me," though, she yells out, "Beep beep, New Yorker comin' through!" Man, if it didn't happen so fast, I would've said something. Her point, of course, was that we were all stupid tourists, probably from Alabama or Arkansas or some other state she couldn't find on a map. She was reminding us that while we were just hanging around, she had a much more important life to lead. God forbid our learning about the park gets in the way of her Sunday stroll.

When the tour started, the ranger-type person asked where everyone was from. A vast majority of the people were from NYC, with many more from Jersey and Connecticut. That's right, lady, we're all from here, too. You're not special, and I feel sorry for your equally un-special kids, who'll have to put up with your shit until they turn 18--and move to Arkansas!

Things that cheered me up after the crappy game I went to at Fenway:

1. Returned home to find an e-mail from the Sox about playoff tickets. (I get ALDS tickets as part of my 10-game plan--which, in 2004, became ALCS tickets, since our ALDS game didn't happen. Unfortunately, it was the 19-8 game. And then we were screwed in '05, since our game didn't happen, but for a different reason than in '04. Am I still in parentheses here? Whatever. You know what? I won't even close 'em up. Anyway, I'm hoping to have a better playoff experience this season.

2. After getting that e-mail, I turned on the TV to see that the "Unky Herb" episode was on. It ended, and I flipped to Letterman, only to see Danny DeVito, the voice of Unky Herb. So I basically had 45 straight minutes of DeVito's voice. That part didn't contribute to the cheering up--just the fact that the UH ep was on. I love when Homer says "And I wanna let you!"

Tomorrow I'll post my pictures. We're still six up, with 23 to play. And I shouldn't have said it was a crappy game. Just a crappy ending.

Hey! Remember my thing from earlier about the "walk-off triple"? Well, shortly after that, the Braves were in a situation that could've led to a WOT, but, my theory was proven. It was bases loaded, two out, Braves down two. Diaz hits one deep to right, and the right fielder goes back, and it hits off his glove. Three runs score, and the Braves win. What happened to the batter? Replay of the winning run scoring shows Diaz just barely past second, stopped, watching the play at the plate. Surprise, he's not sprinting toward third! Again, terrible joba by that insurance company. Listen to EEI and you might hear the ad. (Along with a million other ads, and lots of Patriots talk from deejays who sound like Rob Schneider's "Big P" character from SNL's Weekend Update in, like, '91.)

Update: Just saw the highlight of the Varitek HR on Baseball Tonight, which I don't watch too often. The guy, worried more about being cool than getting stuff right, as most of these people seemed to be trained to do, said, "Varitek, usin' that short porch." No. That was a shot, and it went well beyond the pole. That wasn't a 302. It was at least a 370. I'll check that hit tracker site tomorrow. Oh, and the guy also called Youk "the Youk-dog." Not as bad as the ESPN dude who, during the Double-H no-no highlights, compared Clay's great play on the mound to the Foulke World Series-ending play, which was hit about 10 times lighter. While doing so, he messed up Castiglione's line.

You know my pet peeve. Advertisers who try to use baseball to appeal to baseball fans, but who clearly show their lack of knowledge about the game right there in their stupid ad. (Also proving that they couldn't even go through the trouble of having ONE baseball fan listen to the ad before it airs, just in case there's some egregious error.)

Today's example: Some insurance company that I've never heard of has this radio ad in which a woman describes a hectic day or whatever. You know, so you think, "Hey, they're all busy and stressed out and AMERICAN like me! I feel like they're talking about my life! Where to I sign up for this product or service?"

Anyway, the woman says something about a baseball game, and mentions a "walk-off triple." Do you know how hard it is to hit a walk-off triple? The batter would have to make it from home to third before the runner got from first to home. The runner has a lead off first, so this is quite hard, though possible if the hitter's a much faster runner than the man on first. But this is the winning run coming home. That guy is sprinting to the plate, and the throw is absolutely going home. So as the batter's rounding second, he's going to pull up before reaching third, as the throw won't be going to his base. And if they do throw to third, let's say, because the ball was hit to left field, the batter, knowing the runner is going home, isn't going to run right into an out at third, especially if there are two outs at the time, as the run wouldn't count if he was tagged before the other runner touched home.

The most likely way to get a walk-off triple would be on a very high fly ball to the right of center field that skims the wall, or drops in without the fielder being credited with an error. That way, the runner on first is held up near second base, and when the ball drops, he races all the way home, with the batter on his heels, arriving at third before the run scores. Even in this case, though, the batter would probably just stop at second, as you can't assume the runner will try to go home, and if he didn't, now there'd be two runners on third.

Okay, maybe the lady was talking about a Little League game, which would make one of the previous scenarios a little more likely, but still, terrible joba by that company.

And it's not like a "walk-off triple" is, like, this holy grail of baseball plays that you don't want to miss. It never happens! Do a Google search for "walk off triple": 2,500 results, which is really 70 when they eliminate all the "similar pages. "Walk off home run": 110,000 results. Do a news search and you'll see one walk-off triple of late, and it was in a kids' softball game.

It's like the old ad where the guy said if he won the lottery, he'd learn this dunk where he dunks the ball to his elbow, after doing a 360 or something. As if this is something you could practice, even if money did allow you to buy height and or jumping ability! Like it's something we all could do, if only we had the cash to pull it off. (That one was my dad's pet peeve commercial.)

Curt on the hill tonight, me in the stands.

Normally I warn of falling for going to the playoffs banking on the rookie who's had a few good games to carry you to the promised land. (TPS--Timo Perez Syndrome.) But we have to keep Jacoby "&Myers" Ellsbury in this lineup. When the guy he could replace was shitting the bed anyway, I say get him in there. I've seen him do shit on the basepaths that'd turn you white. And he gets a hit every time up. Which is the opposite of Drew, who gets a non-hit every time up. And for a guy who supposedly has everything but power, he sure hits the ball really, really far. All the time. Love AndMy'. But if a guy can pitch a no-hitter and then not get another chance to start, I guess there's a chance they just baby Jacoby like they do everyone else. Wouldn't want a baseball player to get hurt by playing baseball. But as long as Manny's out, can we at least bat Ellsbury leadoff instead of Lugo??

Great job by him and everyone else tonight. Dustin's had five straight multi-hit games. 13 for his last 23. Jacoby only has multi-hit games. Since his recent call up, he's only had less than two hits in a game once, but that's because he only had one at bat in that game. He's slugging one thousand-four hundred so far in September, a month the Sox have started 4-0.

Beckett did great again, except for the one pitch to the Stair Mattster. And Youk with a key dong. And key hustle (must've been taught by Jeter--oh wait, you can't teach that--I'm confused) by Coco, which led to the &M homer.

I'll be there Wednesday, aka today, for Schilling vs. the stinky-of-late Marcum.

Hazel just mentioned on whatever that show is that the '67 Sox, in late August, were in first place late in the season for the first time in 18 years. This just makes you further realize how "special," as Tito would say, that team was. In 1949, the Sox lost the pennant in the final series to the Yanks. To think, after that, we never had a September lead through the '50s and most of the '60s until that season. We were in some races, but never with the actual lead. Since then, we've regularly seen our team in the post-season. So, if they celebrate the '67 team at the next game you go to, as they've been doing all season, clap really loud.

7-up with 23 to play. Gold.

Note: Something I forgot to mention from the weekend: In Sunday's Yankee game, the Yanks were down 5-2 in the seventh. Yet a pan of the stadium at that time showed an incredible amount of empty seats. Wait, why am I reporting the norm as if it's news? Myyyy mistake. But seriously, imagine knowing your team's gonna lose, even when a mere three runs, with seven outs left--against Tampa Bay, mind you--would tie the game? To the point where you'd leave the park early at about 4 PM on a beautiful late-summer day, when you have no school or work the next day, Labor Day? Must be tough rooting for such a "cursed" team....

Since I'm a Red Sox blogger, I guess I'm supposed to post that video of Papi rapping. (For some reason, I kept expecting him to say "peace, and humptiness forever" at the end....) Well, here it is. Wait, no. This is a puppy born with a heart-shaped patch of fur:

If the Yanks go 7-2 in their final nine home games, and 9-6 in their final 15 road games, the Red Sox would just need to go 10-14 from here on out to win the division.

Etc, etc.

[Update, 5:16 PM, This just in: Clemens to miss next two starts. So, despite that I'm sure that he was dying to pitch at Fenway, he'll just barely not be able to make it. Gee whiz, what are the odds? Ohhhh wellll. That leaves the Yanks staff looking like this for the next two weeks: Nobody, nobody, nobody, kinda Pettitte, kinda Wang. Go Seattle, it's yours for the taking!]

You can't spell MVP without Most. And you can't spell Most without M.O. And M.O., people, stands for Magglio Ordonez. What I'm saying is, I think Magglio's gonna beat out A-Rod for AL MVP, and I clearly can't think of a very good play on words to show it.

Take a look at the numbers. A-Rod has the inflated HR number. And he does also have a big lead in slugging. But Magglio hits 50 points higher than A-Rod, and has a higher OBP. If you look at the classic three stats (note: we all know some voters look only at this), you'll see that at the end of the year, both will have big, MVP-caliber HR and RBI numbers, but Magglio's average will be closer to .345, while A-Rod's will be closer to .305. We'll see what happens. If A-Rod wins the MVP, and the Yanks miss the playoffs--well, I'd sign up for that right now. In the meantime, I'll have fun rooting against A-Rod in all aspects of his life.

So, we've almost completed a full season of Glen Geffner being Castiglione's part-time partner. Reviews have been less than stellar. I, of course, finally have NESN, but I have heard the guy a lot in car situations. I have to say, I see why people don't like him, but I also saw why people didn't like Pedroia in April. One guy even called WEEI and said he's just too short. And look how that's turned out. It's just like anything else, give the guy time. You just may get used to him. He'll get more comfortable, and he does know his baseball.

Still, though, when I hear his voice, I hear the New York Knights announcer from The Natural.

Geffner could become a booth staple--or it could be "Goodbye, Mr. Balding." We'll see if he's back next year....

I just got an e-mail about playoff tickets! Okay, it was from the Phillies. But still! I"m getting psyched for the 'offs. I love the fall: Nebraska football and sweatshirts at Fenway.

Great win last night! (I just hope none of the other playoff contenders were watching....)

The last thing I wanted to see was Papelbon last night when it was 10-1. Even when it went from 10-1 to 10-9 in about 15 minutes, I never felt we'd lose that game. I guess that's a good sign. I'll take any win, and I'll just think of it as a bonus: some Yankee fans probably really got their hopes up, only to end the night seven back with 24 to play.

Tonight we pull an anti-Yanks by actually facing the opponent's best pitcher, but we throw ours at them, too. Halladay Roll* vs. Josh a Beckett, 7 1/12th o'clock p.

I also may have some pics to show you from where I went this weekend, but the place turned out not to be as exciting as we thought, so I'll check out the pics and make the call soon.


*I know the song from Vacation is "Holiday Road," but I grew up thinking it was "Holiday Roll," and I'm still in complete denial that the word in that song is anything but "roll." It's a holiday roll! You know, like rollin' along, on a roll. Was I the only one who thought this? (Have I brought this up before?)

[Update: Forgot to mention this. Roger Clemens is plantin' seeds. By that, I mean he's getting the fake injuries ready now, so when he backs out of a potential start at Fenway, he has proof that he was already hurt.]

Great day yesterday. Yanks can't afford to have days where we win and they lose. And it could be two of those days in a row, as they've already lost today. That's three out of four for them, including losing two of three at home to Tampa Bay. And their loss today was to Seattle, which ties them with the M's for the wild card lead, at least in the loss column.

I loved that play where Moss hit the scoreboard and a "4" fell off. I knew right away that between him and &Myers, they were going to have to get that thing back in there, as it was from the NL area--the area of the board that needs to be changed from the outside. And the thing was just sitting there! Finally we saw &Myers go to try and put it in the slot, and I yelled at him through the TV, "Top first!" He didn't hear me, as he went the bottom-first route. It didn't work, and he almost gave up, leaving the 4 precariously balanced, but he finally figured it out. [edit: photos of the whole fiasco here. Thanks, sittingstill! Another note about this. I thought it would've been funny if more than one number had fallen, and they didn't know which went where. Or if the Yanks' score had fallen--which wouldn't happen, I don't think, as AL scores come in from behind the wall--and they purposely switched the two numbers to make the Yanks appear to be losing to the delight of the crowd.] I also love that great double-cheer you get at Fenway during a pennant race. Yanks' opponent's score is removed; you know that number's going up, you just don't know how much. Then the new number is replaced and is met with a second cheer which corresponds to the new total.

So we're 6.5 up with 25 to play. I'm still holding out hope for clinching the division during the Yankee series.