Reality check

Barring a major miracle, the Red Sox are now almost certain that the AL East title is beyond their grasp after yet another defeat at the hands of the Yankees. Red Sox Nation has a variety of reactions to the situation: Surviving Grady doesn't want to dwell on the subject of Plan B; Bambino's Curse is a little more pissed and vents its frustration on the mainstream media and certain well-known bloggers (NB the post is pre-Pedro's loss); and Beth at Cursed and First (a self-proclaimed "verbose f*cker") rips Bud Selig for banning Johnny Pesky from the Red Sox dugout.

It's easy for me to comment casually on this from a distance, but it seems to me that the Red Sox need to put away their angst for the next week or so and just go out and play baseball. (I know, asking the Red Sox to put away their angst is like

Trying to tell the cockerels not to crow
Or like trying to tell the striker
Not to think about the goal).

Stop worrying about what Pedro says about the Yankees (he's just playing with their minds, trying to lull them into a false sense of security...) or whether Grady Francona (or is it Terry Little?) should have left him in last night or not - chill out, relax, have a couple of beers. Go out there tonight, show the baseball world that you really don't give a crap who wins the AL East - it's not a pissing contest with the Yankees, it's all about wrapping up that all-important playoff spot (whether it's via Plan A or Plan B). Get all those horrible toxins (the bad starts, the bad decisons, the bad hops) out of your system now and get ready for some October baseball.

If you don't, I'm jumping ship and defecting to the Cubs...