Thank you, Boston

After watching the Astros-Cubs game on MLB.TV last night I got a little caught up in Red Sox fever - it was Friday night, so I figured there was no harm in catching a couple of innings of the Tigers-Red Sox game (a 1:05am start over here) before hitting the sack. A couple of inning turned into four or five and before I knew it, it was the 7th-inning stretch, the clock had ticked on past 3:15am and I figured I might as well watch the whole game.

I was worried that the Red Sox might not win, especially with Manny leaving the game and Foulke not available, but I should have known better. A game during which Ricky Gutierrez - who has played in only 35 games this season - went 3-for-4, with 2 RBIs and a stolen base, was clearly a game where the baseball gods were smiling on Boston. And so it turned out, as the Red Sox won 5-3, to stay 5 1/2 games behind the victorious Yankees in the AL East, and a 1/2 game ahead of the red-hot Angels in the AL Wild Card race.

As Ed points out, it's somewhat of a surprise to learn that there are only 36 games left to play - less than a quarter of the season - but I'm not going to get depressed about the days getting shorter and summer coming to a close. Instead, I'm going to enjoy the next couple of months of baseball and hopefully store up as many great memories as last season to keep me warm over the winter.