Think of it this way: If you were told we'd lose a tough 1-0 game in a Lester-Scherzer matchup in mid-May and fall to 2.5 games out, well....I don't know, the point is, it doesn't matter if we're playing .600 ball or .400 ball, we're only 2.5 out. But we gotta remember to actually win the division to avoid that 1-game playoff.

Well, the Mets ended up screwing us after all, losing their two home games against the Yanks after winning the two on the road. They went back to not scoring any runs. And could they find some players who've played in the major leagues before?

The O's won to keep the Yanks out of first.

We fell to 1.5 back after losing yesterday afternoon. Nice job by us, though, tying the game with two outs in the 9th after not doing shit all day. But we lose another W.O. to Mini. Where was Castiglione?

Detroit comes in this weekend. Jackie Bradley is apparently going to show us his natural. My mom will be there Sunday night to see it in person!

Nobody in baseball has a better record in their last ten games than the Red Sox. Tonight we kicked Twin double-butt, led by Papi doing what he does: two dongs for the second straight night. Encouraging work by Doobie, too, as we roll, 9-4.

We're now a half-game out of first place, the closest we've been since April 4th. Yanks beat the Mets so they're tied with us. Tomorrow they go with Anybody But Tanaka in their fourth game in a row against New York (National). We play the boot bout in St. Paul's sis on Thursday afternoon.

Mets came out with 4 in the first, as the Grandy Man could and did with a 3-run dong, just as Yes* was showing his career Yankee stats. Wheeler gave three right back and I thought it was Same Old Mets, but the Queens Qrew didn't let up, pounding out a 12-7 win and completing the sweep in front of 16 fans at the newest Yankee Stadium. Noony gave up 7 runs and the Ace of Farts gave up the other 5. At one point Yes was showing McCann giving signs to Aceves--he'd basically call every pitch, inside and outside, every time, until AAAce finally said yes to one. You'd think he'd get lucky once or twice and pick the pitch Alf wanted throw on the first try. Or second or third. That helped to make this draggy game even draggier, but it was mostly fun stuff as the tired ol' Yanks sleepwalked through it. On top of it, the ump's strike calls were so late that Yes had trouble with their count all night. This is one of those games where a hockey fan would be like, "I rest my case."

So that left the door open for us to go a game ahead f the Yanks and close to within a half game of first place. But we went way down and that was that...or proverbially was it??!! We came back from 4 down to tie it at 6 late. After they walked in the tying run in the 7th on a great at bat by Jonny Wadd, AJ looked at a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. That was killer. As was the 2-out grounder in the bottom of the 9th that juuust snuck by Middlebrooks' glove. Next guy dongs, and the Twins win 8-6. So we'll have to settle for this night, one where we were resilient and lost a tough one while the Yanks continue to show they're in serious trouble.

It's a horse race, and we're even with them, but they've already gone to the whip and are losing stride, while we're just kinda cruising along, knowing we really should be farther up, but also knowing that we have a lot left, and that we've been in the winner's circle in our last race. Speaking of horse racing metaphors, it's that time of year! When sportswriters say that baseball teams are at the "quarter pole," meaning they've played a quarter of their games. Which makes no sense, since the quarter pole comes from horse racing, and refers to how much is left, not how much has gone by. Which I could still see people screwing up, BUT, the quarter pole doesn't mean a quarter of the race is left, it means there's a quarter-mile to run before the finish line. Terrible job, sportswriters. You might as well say the Patriots are "on third base" after they've played three games out of 16. Or something equally not-correct-tastic.

Meanwhile, the Jays are back to .500 so they're tied with both of us for second. I see MLB values wins over losses when it comes to tie-breakers between teams who are .500 but with different records. Weird. I'd think 19-19 would top 20-20. Because if we win every game from here on in and so do they, we'd end up with a better record. (Also, the games against each other are all rained out and not made up.) But I guess you could make the opposite argument. I'd say they should go alphabetical, but you have to choose one or the other, otherwise you could end up with a 20-20 team, followed by a 19-19 team, followed by a 20-20 team, and that just looks weird.

*I've said this a million times, but why is it that when MLBN shows a Yankee game (which seems to be almost every night**), 95% of the time they show the Yankees' home feed?

**I still don't know how to react to this. I love being able to watch and root against the Yanks without having to buy some package, just like I did growing up in the NY metro, but at the same time, I'm kinda pissed that they're basically "America's team" on there. It usually shows up on the guide as "Yanks vs. Whoever OR Some Team vs. Some Other Team," so maybe since I'm in the northeast it always defaults to Yanks, but still, how is it that they could so often be one of the options?

Good job, Mets! They come through with a late comeback win in The Bronx, while Kim and I watched two new Louie episodes. Granderson with a delicious two-run dong in this one. Farnsworth gets the save, as the Next Great Yankee Catcher (.213/.250/.336) ends it on a double play as the potential winning run.

O's lost, so we close to 1.5 back in second; Yanks drop into a tie with us.

Starting Tuesday night, it's the Sox in Minny against the last-place mono mono Twins:

Tuesday, 8:10: Doobie mono mono Brothers vs. Tricky Dick Nolasco
Wednesday, 8:10: Everything About This Duckboat Purchase Is Jake Peavy vs. Kevin Heart & Seoul Correia
Thursday, 1:10: HH vs. Red Sox fan Phil Hughes

Tonight's Yanks' recap on mlb.com starts:

The preferred form of payment has moved from tokens to MetroCards, but as the Subway Series ventures deeper into its second decade of service, this intracity rivalry still packs a punch.

The entire NYC transit system was accepting MetroCards since before interleague play started, and tokens haven't been used in the NYC subway system since 2003!

You know that movie The Village? What I want to know is, when they decided to start that society modeled after the "old days," why did they have to talk like that? You know, "we will not" instead of "we won't," stuff like that. Did they think contractions were contributing to the downfall of society?

Of course, I realize that it aids in fooling the audience into thinking we're actually watching old-timey people. But from a practical standpoint, if I were starting my own 1905 village, I'd just talk like I do now.

Yanks down to their last strike, tie it with a dong, but still lose in the bottom of the ninth! The best kind of loss for them. They thought it was Yank-ifest destiny, only to realize they're still not special.

Red Sox take 2 of 3 in Texas with a win today. Wake in post-game: "this team is firing on all cylinders and it's fun to watch." Nice to hear stuff like that instead of TC with his myriad of concerns regardless of what he sees on the field.

The whole division lost today except us, so Balty leads the Yanks by 1.5, us by 2. We're off Mon-dee while the Yanks play a Chuck Woolery (2 and 2) against the Mets this week.

Sox make up for previous night with win in Texas, and the 'dings now look like this:

1. Surging* Orioles --
2. Soon-to-be-forgotten Yanks 1.5
3. Us 3
4/5. And the rest 3.5/5.5

*playing the Astros can really help a surge