Check out what I got today. An '81 All-Star Game ball. It happens to be signed by the umpires of that game, but I just wanted it for the logo. (One of the few animal products I buy is old baseballs--I justify this by the fact that they are used items. And obtaining this ball will not mean a new one must be produced. Then again, buying tickets to baseball games helps the baseball-making industry, meaning more cows must die. I wish they'd just switch to a synthetic ball already. But I don't wanna get into a big thing inside my mind. Besides, that grinning native on the ball would appreciate the usage of the animal's hide. End parenthetical note.) It actually came with a similar ball from the '91 game. But it's all about the late 70s/early 80s with me, if you haven't figured that out by now.

The Rays have lost, so we're still 4.5 back if we lose this drag-a-thon in Baltimore. And I don't say drag like John Waters drag--but it should be noted that a man named Waters started for Baltimore, and John Waters is from there. It looked like we had his number early, but he's in line for a double-ewe 3.5 hours later. It's 11-6 them in the eighth. Alex Cora was just warming up. I think they were saying the last Sox position player to pitch in a game was McCarty. I saw that live once--against the Dodgers. It was June 2004, and a young me described it here. By young I mean I had only been blogging for a few months, and it was all text, baby. That same day, I wrote this post, about how the Yanks were beatable, and that we were the ones who would do it. And we totally did a few months later.

And as I finished that paragraph, they showed Cora in the dugout. Turns out he wasn't needed. And now we're one strike away from--well, now it's over. We lose.

Don Orsillo, man, what is his problem with the term "unanswered"? The Sox scored the first four runs, then the O's scored the next ten. Just after they got their tenth, and were still batting, Don said they'd scored ten unanswered runs. Well, yeah, but we haven't had a chance to answer yet! Later in the game, after the Sox had scored again, he talked about the Orioles' ten runs that were "unanswered at the time." It's moot, man. Moot. You missed the unanswered window. You said it before you should have, and after. I hope if Don is reading this, he knows I'm saying it in a jokey-mcgee way.

Just saw the game-losing highlight from the Rays game. It was tied with two outs in the top of the ninth, and the Angels scored on a grounder that wasn't fielded cleanly. So...if Rays fans suddenly exist and care and go to all the games now, how come on that highlight, in a tie game in the ninth, every seat beyond the first 20 rows was empty, and many of the people there were clapping as the Angels took the lead?