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!)

Damn that Smoltz. Why did we just assume he'd be a solid pitcher for half a season, but Derek Lowe, Bronson, Masterson, these guys just aren't good enough? Anyway, our fifth starter stank, and their whatever-you-call-him stank, too. How do we get 11 walks and still be down by almost ten runs?

Is it me or was Don Orsillo uncharacteristically nervous tonight? Stumbling over promos, et freakin' cetera. Not as nervous as Damon was in pre-game...

I thought Drew missing Key-Dis's line drive was key. I would have liked to see a replay, but NESN only showed Teixeira running to first in slow motion.

That Traber loves to show the batter his grip on the ball, eh? I didn't like how Tito went to him at 5-3. He was actually talking about losing battles to win wars with Francesa today, but I would have preferred the "good" relievers come in--we could have won that game. Go with Masterso--oh wait...

Don! When Yankee fans cheer with two strikes because the goddamn scoreboards are telling them to, SAY THAT! Don't say how Yankee fans always come alive with two strikes. It's almost like all the announcers in the world have been paid off to never tell the public that Yankee fans need to be told when to cheer.

Also, Don and Dave: When Lowell hits one way in the hole and Jeter does the jump throw and almost gets him, you have to mention how the only reason the play was close, and in fact the only reason why Jeter bothered to throw, is that the slowest man in baseball was running. Don't just act like it's a great lay by Jeter and give us the old "he has a patent on that play, heh heh" line....

What else....the Posada play at the plate. What the hell was that? High Larrity. JD Drew was proud, I'm sure.

Joba the Slut may have been the first pitcher in history tonight to get two sarcastic cheers for finally throwing a strike...in one inning.

Okay, enough scattered thoughts. 3.5 back, but one of our real pitchers goes tomorrow.

We know how much you hate watching the champs win. We gave it a shot but they were just too tough for us this time. The only good thing about this "week" was that it was only two games long. But eventually we'll get those guys back, with their sirens and sound effects and scoreboard telling them when to cheer. (Gee, where did a team from the YANKEES' spring training home get those ideas?) I hope people watching that game saw the ninth inning, how much noise the crowd was making, and then realized that there is one place left where the crowd can be that excited and loud--without noisemakers and scoreboard and sound effect cues... But again, we'll take down the A.L. champs in the end, America, don't you worry. Thanks for your support.

2.5 back going into the four game series at the dollhouse.

Update, 12:07 AM: A-Rod Junior ends it with a dong in the 13th. The dirty Yankee fans with cowbells and turquoise shirts are happy. Fuck it. G'night. Try again tomorrow.

So we go to the 13th inning. What a ridiculous night. So far. I've asked "why" so many times. Why was Dustin not trying to hit the ball in the air? Why wasn't Youk trying to move the runner over? Why would you walk Gabe Kapler on four pitches? But we've gotten out of two bases-loaded, no outs, winning run on third jams. And the game goes on...I'll update this when it's over, but for now I'll leave you with what I wrote back when the Yanks won, which was around the seventh inning of this game. Note: I was really pissed at the time:

Mariano faced seven batters, and gave up a hit to three of them, including a two-run double, with a deep fly ball as one of the outs. But his ERA goes down and the Floor-lickers squeeze by with a win. A win aided by a play in which two Blue Jays dropped a ball costing them an out...on the same play. So come on, Yanks, let's play four. We're way better than you and your three new trillionaires.

Okay, I forgot to give you the Drinkwater update. Every once in a while I get a new comment on this post. Check the very bottom one, it's from a close acquaintance. It's funny, back when I wrote that, I thought "Drinkwater" was who we now know as Kapstein, but people still comment on the real Drinkwater on that post.

I heard TC on the radio today. He said that if the Sox were 6-2 instead of 8-0 against the Yanks, we'd be 4.5 back instead of 0.5. An e-mailer "corrected" him, confidently saying that it would be 2.5, even "explaining" that we should think of it as four half-games, meaning a two-game difference. And TC said, "yeah, sorry, the e-mailer was right." No! TC was right! And he just let the guy tell him he was wrong! So I don't have to explain this, just go look at the standings, and add two wins to the Yanks' total, and take away two losses. Then add two losses to the Sox' total, and take away two wins. You'll see that would put us 4.5 back. I hope TC figured out before the end of the show that he had been right....

I also hear radio people saying how we're gonna give Papi a lengthy standing ovation next time he's at Fenway. I don't know about you, but there are two Red Sox fans in my house who are not, I repeat and capitalize, NOT thinking, "oh, Papi took steroids? I can't wait to give him a standing ovation!" Are we alone in this? Of course I'm rooting for the guy, but I'm gonna cheer way louder for clean guys like Pedroia than I am for Papi--and I'm one of Papi's biggest fans. Though I do hope a second baseman finally shows him up by not throwing a ball to first, waiting and waiting until he finally runs. Because I really want him to start running balls out--you'd think the three dropped pop-ups this year would have taught him. Anyway, all this steroid stuff is still pending, as we wait to hear what Papi says about it. Obviously if he just took a supplement or something, nothing changes. It seems like the chances of that are pretty slim, though, unfortunately.

Sox at Tampa, 7:10.

Hey, people who leave spam comments in Chinese...do I really need to tell you all the reasons why there's really no point in doing that? Okay, onto the random pics:

Amazing Larry and Danzig. Background: Tony Manero.

Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT, where my friends got married on Saturday.

The view from Gillette, looking down the Connecticut River.

Doesn't it remind you of Castle Grayskull?

Kim and I went to McCoy tonight for Red Sox-Yankees. My company had a barbeque under one of those tents, so it was free.

Aaron Bates at first. We stood along the fence beyond first base. Pretty cool view.

In the ninth, we went out by the Scranton bullpen.

PawSox lose...too bad my pal Jeff Natale couldn't knock in the tying run from third with two outs in the ninth.

On behalf of all of us who spent our childhood holding a wad of Kleenex up against our nostrils and woke up with a pool of blood on our pillow, congratulations to Josh Reddick for hitting his first major league homer...with a bloody nose!

Rojo Richie also joins the ranks of Beckett and Bay in the "crooked sleeve socks" club. Not only is Josh's logo rotated about 30 degrees to the left, it's also off to the left, not centered on the Majestic logo:



So we win 18-10, and the Yanks also win. A half-game back, and off-days for both teams tomorrow. We go to Tampa, where the Satan Raze are 5.5 behind us.

Youk is on fire. I was told before the season by a Yankee fan that last year was a career year for him, and that he wouldn't repeat it. Whoops! I'll have to post that full comment soon, it's hilarious. Victor "Vik-E Mart" Martinez was 4 for 5. Ellsbury batted in 7 of the 9 innings.

So what's this "Comcast Town" on Yawkey Way? Do me a favor, if you go there, pester them on behalf of Fairfield County, and I'll do the same next time I'm up there. If they're so proud of being associated with the Sox, they should push MLB to get NESN in ALL of New England.

One final tribute to Justin Masterson: Check out my gallery from his debut game last April. You have to scroll way down to the shots of him in pre-game, but make sure you click to enlarge as I got some good close-ups.

Oh, and I finally stopped getting nosebleeds. I feel like it's been at least a decade...

Three days ago in the sports media:

New York: In complete awe of the Yankees, and their rise to the best record in baseball, fully realizing they've become the dominant team we knew they'd be, plan the parade for this year and next.

Boston: Panic. Everybody's panicking. A big trade must be made not to help the team, but to take people's minds off the fact that the team is dead in the water. Panic.

And three days later, the teams are in a virtual tie. Now what I don't get is why the media portrays all fans as the type who only have memory of the previous 48 hours. There are some fools out there, but a fan of a baseball team knows the season is 162 games long. Why doesn't the media just look back to three days ago, realize they claimed it was one big panic-show, consider how things look today, and say, "Okay, let's ease off on the 'panic' term in the future"?

Panicking in July because your team is in the wild card spot but a few games out of the division lead because of one small bad stretch is like panicking because a droplet of water splashed onto the deck of your yacht. Which is not only stupid, but an insult to all the leaky rowboats (Orioles, Pirates, Nationals) you're cruising past...

Red Sox at Orioles, 1:something, Yanks at Other Sox, 2:something. Buch vs. Berk, Buehrl vs. Bath. Let's jump into first today. If not, PANIC!

For the second time in a few weeks, we gain three games in three days. Too bad the time in between was so crappy. But we're now a half-game back. I knew the Yanks had been embarrassed by Chicago, and in the car after getting out of my friends' wedding, I willed the WCBS sports guy to tell me the Red Sox had won, and through miles of static, he said we did.

The wedding was at Gillette Castle in Connecticut. I'll have to post some pics later. You kind of know the bride and groom: he's the one who takes pics of decaying buildings that I linked to, and she sometimes comments here as Bless Cyborgs. So congrats again to those two....