Finally, runs score. By them, in the 15th. We lose, 2-0. I'm on a different page than Kilgore, Orsillo, and Roberts. They all started with the "this will really hurt the loser" stuff a while back. And Don said it in all caps when it ended: "this hurts." I don't know about you, but I reached a calm state a long time ago in this one. This wasn't a game in which we blew a lead and then had to play for innings and innings knowing we should have won. It's not a game in which we had a million chances to win and failed repeatedly. (TC adding the "pain" talk as I write.) Granted, it's not fun, but we gave up no runs for 14 innings. I wanted the win, but nothing in this game, win or lose, showed me that we can't beat this--or any--team in the playoffs. I feel like these media people are just trying to drill it into fans' heads: you're on the ledge! Give us what we want! Ratings! Dave Roberts is obviously an ex-player, but I think he was just saying how it's hard to recover the next day, which it is for these guys, after any 5+ hour game.

The biggest thing that got me was in the first inning. After getting two on, then a DP, we still had a chance to get the run in from third, when Papi hit a grounder to the right side. I go through the trouble of mentally willing Cano to fuck it up--and he does! But what's Papi doing? His usual slow-down, assuming the play is over. So Cano picks it up after the bobble, and still has time to barely get Papi. If they showed a replay, I didn't see it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure he did his usual there. And it cost us. A run. Which would have come in really handy. Pedroia's also failing in the clutch left and right. Drew made the catch tonight he should have made last night.

NESN: when you waste time showing artsy shots of players' faces while the game's going on, you miss things on the field. Like balks. Imagine if there had been a runner on third. Not only would we be pissed about a game-losing balk, but we'd all have missed the final play. Something to think about...obviously you don't just keep one camera on the field the whole time, but come on, stop putting yourself in a position to miss stuff. They also pulled yet another "show just the ball in flight" routine, onl to pan down at the last second to let us see Hinske easily fielding the ball. Don was no help, as he screamed his head off instead of looking at Hinske (which, again, we weren't allowed to do) camping under the ball. And then there was Papi's grounder that moved Youk to second in extras--they didn't cut to the camera that shows the field until after Cano fielded the ball. We saw Papi running to first with no idea if the ball was going through or not.

I'm sure I had more to say but I wasn't taking notes. I'll be at Futures at Fenway tomorrow in sweet, cheap seats, so I'll miss the Papi press conference. Advice: don't give us a lot of "I can't answer that" and "I don't know"s. Just tell the truth. If the truth is bad, I'll be pissed anyway, but it's the lesser of two crap-fests to just tell us what happened.

The really good news today was about Smoltz. Good riddance, guy! Did I ever tell you that I never liked you? Yes? Oh right.

You know, the Yankee fans were really into it tonight. And it only took drum beats and sound effects between every pitch to get them that way. Pure class. The greatest organization in sport. (Removing the s is extra-classy!)