Dustin, you are better than Cano and you're everything they make Jeter out to be, only for real.

Tonight he made a great play to start a DP and then in the 8th, with two out and two on, broke the tie with a huge two-run single. Red Sox win 4-2. Lackey "was what he isn't" again, going 7 strong. Bailey held serve and Koji heard that he'd be facing two of the A's who used to be on the Red Sox and harbor illogical grudges against them, only to say "I don't know anything about that, gimme the fuckin' ball" and pitch a perfect ninth.

So the lead is back up to 4.5. We've now clinched best record in the A.L. at the break. This is also the most wins any Red Sox team has every had at the break, and there are still two games left. Our four-game winning streak is the longest current streak in the majors.

Why doesn't NESN show a postgame after west coast games? How is it that they can just say, "Oh, well, we don't wanna stay up too late"? NESN: Wall to wall Red Sox coverage, when it's convenient for us. Even worse, they run commercials for their postgame show that say, and I quote, "Red Sox Final. Following every game." In fact, they even say that their new daily sports show will air "after the postgame," when they know there's no postgame!

Great call by TC during a highlight break, saying how Chris Davis had a big hit for the O's "up in Toronto." All he had to do was watch the damn highlight to see the O's in their home jerseys, at Camden Yards, etc.

NESN has this problem where they MUST show runners crossing home plate. They miss things because of it. If there's a man on third and there's a base hit to the outfield, we know the guy is scoring, and if we don't, the announcer will (presumably) tell us. No need to cut away from things that are in doubt to see this. Two examples tonight: A's catcher receives bad throw as runner is about to score, and throws to second to try to get hitter who is on his way there. Ball is IN THE AIR and they cut away to show Nava who has just scored. So we miss seeing a close play. We actually learn that something has gone awry by the fact that we see Nava reacting to it. Turns out the throw got away and the hitter was able to go to third.

Then there was the time the A's had first and third, and they got a single to right. Victorino is coming in to field it, and as he starts to stutter step in preparation of the pick-up-and-throw, I started to worry, as he's botched this before in his haste. But NESN cuts away to show the runner scoring (again, we ALL knew he would score--the only reason to show him would be if he trips or something, but even then, you shouldn't be cutting away before we see what happens with the outfielder fielding the ball), and sure enough, we MISS the fact that Victorino does indeed boot the ball, allowing the runner on first to go to third.

And let's talk about the top of the ninth. First of all, you have to score when you get a leadoff triple. I really would have liked an insurance run there. Instead, we miss a chance to have Mr. Excitement bolt for home on a high chopper, then we go for a safety squeeze with one of our best hitters up, and it fails. No runs score. But what I really want to mention is Don Burgundy's performance. First, he and Remy start wondering aloud whether or not the Sox will try a squeeze, and act like they're on to something, even giving the "clue" that Iglesias had a long look at Butter at third. Well guess what? This all came AFTER the first pitch of the at bat, on which Iglesias SQUARED TO BUNT! So "coming up with" the idea that he might squeeze was not exactly expert analysis. Then when they squeeze, Don refers to it as, I shit you not, it a "safety-cide squeeze"! I Googled it just now, in case maybe this is an actual term for a hybrid of the safety and suicide squeezes, but Google just looked at me with a dazed expression and surmised that I've been watching too many NESN broadcasts. And to cap it off, the third out was on a grounder, and Don did his classic gun-jumping, saying, "and he'll go to first for..." only to realize that the throw is not perfect, meaning his word "for," clearly the start of the "for the out" phrase, was uttered far too early. His oddball audible turns his call into "he goes to first forLOW THROW!but they get the out." Joe Buck, master of the gun-jump, would be proud. I'm Don Burgundy?