To the Boston media's chagrin, ace Clay Buchholz turned out not to be an untrustable wuss who's rooting against the Red Sox. Instead he picked up right where he left off, giving up nothing against the Fried Fish. Koji, who also enjoys giving up nothing, got batters #28, 29, 30, and 31 in his streak of perfection. Jonny Wadd Gomes, the man with the massive dong, had an RBI single and Salty's Sack made it 2-0, and that's all we needed against Price. RED SOX WIN. 8.5 up with 16 to play! Magic number: TEN. Magic number to eliminate Yanks in East: SEVEN. Best record in baseball! (Actually percentage points behind Atlanta.)

We're only in one race now, and that's the all-important Best Record. We're 4 up on Oakland and 4.5 up on Detroit.

As for the Water Closet, stupid Balty blew it against the Yanks or else they'd be within a half-game of Tamper. Cleveland also missed their chance tonight. So it looks like this, with Texas 2.5 ahead of the Rays:

Tamp --
Balt & Cle 1.5
New Nork, New Nork 2
The Mighty (Where Mighty Equals 3 Back For the 2nd Wild Card) K.C. 3

This September is starting to remind me of 1995, which was the last time we had this big a lead on September 10th or later. (The latest it was this big in 2007 was July.) That was a fun summer. In early July the lead was in the 3 range. From July 23rd to August 8* it stayed between 4.5 and 5.5. But then it ballooned to double digits, peaking at 15.5 in late August and September. That was the end of the baseball innocence for me. The Yanks had won in my lifetime, but I was three years old. Despite that I was made fun of constantly by the 22-championship Yankee fans who all conveniently loved the Mets in '86, I had seen my team go to the World Series once and make the playoffs two other times, all since the Yanks had been in a post-season. I was living on borrowed baseball time, making fun of Chan constantly as "his" Yanks fell further and further behind, all the while kicking his ass at tennis nightly on those courts at the Old High School aka Parks 'n' Rec, current home of the Ridgefield Playhouse. But I was pissed that in the first year of the wild card, we won, but the Yanks still made it. Then we both went out in the first round. Where was I even going with this? Ah yes, cruising to a division title. Cherish it, it's not easy to do. The fact that we're doing it in a year where the whole division was solid and we were the defending cellar-dwellers makes it even more awesome.

2014 tentative sked is out. Will comment on it later, you presume.


*My dad and I were there on August 8th thanks to my Uncle Bubs--Wake improved to 13-1.