Yes, we're above .500 for the first time this year--but I'm more excited about being back to within 3.5 games of first place! We're still in last, but obviously everybody's bunched up.

I noticed tonight's game was also being shown on ESPN and wasn't blacked out, so I took a break from NESN and watched as Sean McDonough called the action, 80s style. I also gladly took the opportunity to watch a game from the "classic" center field camera. (And for some reason, the color on ESPN/Fox/TBS is so much more vivid than NESN, I don't know why.)

We had no trouble with Cy Young and Should've Been 2nd Place MVP Verlander tonight. Papi was a madman, with 2 doubles and a dong. Nava had a huge three-run double off Verlander on a two-out, 3-2 pitch. That put us up 4-0, and we won 6-3 behind Bard, Hill, Atch, Miller, Padilla, and Aceves.

A late rain delay put that fun-lovin', hecklin', permanent-smile-havin' crowd into the good seats for the final 5 outs.

Some screen-grabs from tonight:

The Tigers had a ball be thisclose to being a dong! (ESPN)

During the delay, I had it on NESN and they showed this shot of lightning over the Citgo sign.

While watching ESPN highlights during the delay, I saw this. Good night.
Wait! Update! Was just watching the post-game on NESN, and they STILL don't know that it's Vicente Padilla, not ViNcente! Now I'm really pissed--it's the man's name! He's on the team! You're telling us how great he is but you still don't know his NAME, you stupid asses! Here's the screen-grab, with current stats proving it's from tonight:
                                             
Final Update, 12:44 a.m.: Yanks lose. We're one behind them. So it's O's and Rays in first, Yanks 2.5 back, Jays 3 back, Red Sox 3.5 back.