Dan Gould

Here's an encouraging stat from the Globe: That's good, because with the unknown health status of Drew and Lowell, they may have to rely on the pitching staff to get them through to another championship.

Ortiz had to get away from the Twins organization to succeed. They didn't understand what they had with him and trained him in the Twins way to play the game. So, for instance, early in his career with a runner on second and no outs, he took a mighty rip and flied out to RF. Then he got an earful about why his job was to ground to the right side to get the runner to third base. So his first year in Boston, same situation, he grounds to the right side, and I'm not sure if it was Grady Little or Theo but someone took him aside and said, "you gotta knock that runner in!" Now things might have been different if, say, the Yankees had signed him when he was released. And speaking of the Yanks, wouldn't it also be nice if the Twins send Santana to the NL yet still make the playoffs, while the team that got him gets there too and at the same time, while the Yanks come up goose-eggs with the young players they held onto, the Sox go to the playoffs with their young players playing key roles? That would really chap Hankie's hide.

I wouldn't mind at all if the Twins steal the division from Chicago, with Javier "He's Not a Big Game Pitcher" Vasquez getting beat on Sunday. Nothing like a little Ozzie explosion to end the season, and the Twins rotation, iirc, is well-set for the post-season with Liriano available for Game 1. He gave the Rays trouble the last time he faced them and has an ERA just over 2.00 since he came back from AAA.

An annoying loss for sure. Who would have guessed that the Met bullpen wouldn't blow it in the ninth? Now it will be up to the Marlins, and I guess I need to root for the Cubs to tank against the Brewers. One thing is for sure - anyone with tickets to the "final" regular season series at Shea better be ready for some very wet baseball. They need to get each game in and will play through conditions that might otherwise lead to a rain delay or postponement.

Guess you heard this on the radio. The last time I listened to the radio was last November when I replaced the car stereo. And why is it that you presume this to be the case?

"I Don't Know" (Willie Mabon composition) by Freddie King, off of a new reissue of his Atlantic recording, My Feeling For The Blues. Amazing performance of a classic tune.

And a two-out, three run rally by the Cubbies!!!

Hey! Cubs pitched around a lead-off triple to force extras. Keep hope alive! (My Dad was pointing out how nice it would be if the Cubs could do to the Mets what they did to us in 1969. The way I look at is that the best thing that can happen is to force the Mets to take it to the last day and use Santana on Sunday. Then he can't pitch the first game of the Division Series. I'm pretty sure the Cubs can handle the Mets if they face them in the first round but I'd feel better if Santana won't pitch twice in the series. Actually the problem with the schedule is that after the Mets, the Cubs get the Brewers. So they could hurt the Mets by winning a couple and then help them by beating the Brewers?) In the meantime, I have to say that for the last month or so, Manny DelCarmen has pitched as well as I've ever seen him. And Okajima has pitched better, given lighter responsibilities than last year. If they can keep it up, Masterson gives them three very strong arms in front of Papelbon. Who knows, the starters and the bullpen could be the best thing the Sox have going for them.

Coltrane is doing fine, thanks for asking. We have been letting him go up and down the stairs for about a month now, but I think we both live in fear that Gracie is going to goad him into chasing her and he is going to re-injure himself. So the end result is that we regularly try to stifle her "chase me" instincts to protect him. Now if you'll excuse me, I can hear them chasing each other up and down the stairs ...

Interesting news from Fenway - Drew will apparently make his first start in five weeks tonight. Supposedly the second epidural not only made him feel better, but there were no bad effects after BP yesterday. Of course there have been other times that he has felt better, ready to go, then he can't straighten his back again. But I like our chances a lot better with Drew (and Mikey) in the lineup than the alternative.

:party:

To do that, Beckett better pitch a helluva lot better than he did in Monday's game when they could have clinched. One potential advantage over 2005 is that Tito can set up the rotation better than he did the last time we tried to defend a title. But we've got to get healthy, fast. The offense has really settled into a funk without Lowell and Drew, and I wonder what Lowell will do when he does play again, and no one knows when Drew's back will lock up again.

Say Chris, do you come from a family of pack rats?

Don't forget the high ceilings.

Bringing out actors playing the 1923 Yankees was incredibly hokey and lame.

Well the Sox handled their end of it, let's see if the Orioles can spoil the party in the Bronx.

They haven't yet. They will, but they only clinched a spot in the playoffs. Anyone else hoping that if Boston wins today, then if Baltimore comes through, we could see the final out at Yankee Stadium coincide with the final out of their season as post-season competitors? I couldn't think of a better way to see the old building out.

It loaded for me but just displays a search page, not a completed search. The search results must be valid for a specific time only.

Shows what little you know. No one has ever used the Pythag to predict the results of a post-season series! What the Pythag shows is that the Red Sox ought to be in a better position for the post-season because they ought to be in position to clinch home field advantage. And as far as your "experience trumps all" after-the-fact explanation: can we formalize it in some way? Do we count up the players on each team that have made the playoffs with other teams, sort of a reverse "ex-Cub factor"??

Do the Rangers hold the lead in this, or does another team have a worse run differential than the Rangers? I'm being serious. KC is at -115 and Seattle is at -129. San Fran, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Washington are over -100 in the NL.

The Red Sox have scored 158 runs more than they have allowed. No other team in contention (in the AL) has the same combination of hitting and pitching. For comparison, the Angels have a run differential of 63, the Rays is 86 (the Rangers are at negative 75, a remarkable testament to the incompetence of the pitching staff, the bane of your existence). Runs scored and runs allowed have been used to create a "Pythagorean" theorem that predicts wins. The variation from those predicted wins might be described as underachieving, or plain old "luck" depending on which way it goes. The Hardball Times has the Angels at a remarkable +10 in wins compared to what their run differential would predict; the Rays are +6 while Boston is -3. So yes, the Rays and the Angels are getting better results than they should, the Red Sox worse results, and in the end they will have to beat both of these blessed teams on the road in order to return to the World Series.

What do individual accomplishments have to do with team under-achievement? Here's how I define under-achievement: A run differential of 158, which dwarfs every other team in the league, a whopping 75% higher than the next closest team, and what do they have to show for it? A wild card berth, which considering their pathetic road record plus their performance against the two teams ahead of them adds up to a virtually nonexistent chance at the World Series.

This is shaping up to be 2005 all over again. Grossly underachieving team, Wild Card entry into the playoffs (lucky to get it) and bounced in the first round. Count on it.

And now Wakefield is done and the fisherman masquerading as a pitcher is in. Over/under for the Rays offense tonight: 10 - and I have no problem saying OVER

Up-to-date count of shitty pitches Garza: ONE (plus inning-ending double play so he doesn't have to face Ortiz with any runners on) Wakefield: at least FIVE