Liar, Liar

Or: Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Well, that whole 'take a couple of days off' thing lasted about about 12 hours. In my defence, it was only 10pm and the game was on TV - what else could I do? Deciding not to get up at 2am to watch is one thing, but not watching a game that is on during normal waking hours just struck me as silly. The Sox made the whole process easier for me by sending Commander Kick Ass of the F@#k Yeah Brigade to the mound and scoring 10 runs in reply to the Yankees' 1 (thank you Mr Ellsbury).

I said yesterday that I hate the stress of Yankee games, but I'd like to amend my statement: I hate the stress of Yankee games when I'm watching in the middle of the night. If you've ever had to get up at 1am/2am/4am to do anything, you'll know that it's not a time of day when you're at your best. Obviously your body is tired, but more importantly your mind is tired, so every little irritation (a 6-run Yankee rally, for example) is magnified a hundred times. Even if you're doing this because you love it, there's a limit to how much you can take, and I think I'm reaching my limit right about now. I've watched more games this season than ever before, at all times of the night, weekdays and weekends, but with hindsight, it might have been good to establish some Joba Rules to avoid burnout:

• No consecutive weekday night games
• No West Coast games, unless they're day games
• No 3- or 4- consecutive game streaks
• No Sunday night games if I'm working on Monday

In application of Rule 4, I'll leave Schilling vs. Clemens in the capable hands of the rest of Red Sox Nation and I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully 6 1/2 games up and with a magic number of 7.