It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and

Game 2 - American League Division SeriesAngels 4, Red Sox 1Angels lead 2-0Let's review the bidding, then. In two ALDS games, the Red Sox have one run. Okay, that'll be just about enough. Sure, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester could've been a little better, but when you're pitching with a razor-thin margin for error, sometimes you get cut. Pretty simple game, baseball...

Games 157 through 162 - Red Sox Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 7Blue Jays 12, Red Sox 0Red Sox 3, Indians 0Red Sox 6, Indians 2Red Sox 11, Indians 6Red Sox 12, Indians 7Record: 95-67, AL Wild CardWhile the Sox were winding down the season trying hard not to get hurt and playing Pawsox in random places (see, for example, George Kottaras spending the final half of today's game at third base), I took the

Game 156 - Red SoxBlue Jays 11, Red Sox 5 (6)Record: 91-65Careful. Careful. That's it. Just a little more to the right. Back it up...back it up. Aaaaand...almost there.The Sox are treating the season's final week like a gang of furniture movers carrying a Louis XIV armoire up a narrow flight of stairs. Tito's nursing starters, coddling relievers, resting the weary, and...

Games 153 through 155 - Red SoxYankees 9, Red Sox 5Yankees 3, Red Sox 0Yankees 4, Red Sox 2Record: 91-64Let the record show that I watched a total of approximately 10 pitches from this game, all Saturday, and all while the college football games that were the primary focus of my attention were on commercial breaks. Let the record further show that I'm the better for it, in terms...

Game 149 - Red SoxRoyals 12, Red Sox 9Record: 89-50Yeah, all that stuff I said about catching the Yankees? The lesson, as always...wait a minute. That lesson's wrong. This one's not my fault. The Sox had 6-0 and 8-2 leads on the Royals on a night the Yankees lost, and you want to blame this one on me? Oh, hell no.Let's put blame where blame is due, friends. And blame...

Games 145 through 148 - Red SoxAngels 4, Red Sox 3Red Sox 3, Orioles 1Red Sox 11, Orioles 5Red Sox 9, Orioles 3Record: 89-59In the early years of this blog, we spent a good deal of pixels and more than a little angst whining about the Baltimore Orioles and their (perceived, almost certainly, as we were rarely inclined then as now towards actual 'research') prediliction for...

Games 132 & 133 - Red SoxRays 8, Red Sox 5Red Sox 6, Rays 3Record: 78-54John Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA, a 0.82 WHIP, and 21 Ks in 17 innings for the Cardinals. Brad Penny pitched 8 innings of scoreless 5-hit baseball against the Phillies in his first start for San Francisco. The two combined for a 9-14 record, 6.24 ERA and 1.68 WHIP in 171 2/3 innings for the Sox.Stuff your...

Games 126 through 131 - Red SoxRed Sox 3, White Sox 2White Sox 9, Red Sox 4Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 2Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 0Red Sox 8, Rays 4Record: 77-54As both the season and this blog (apparently) wind down and the air cools, the Sox suddenly find themselves on the list of the hottest teams in the league. Winners of 7 out of 8 and 11 of 14 and, more importantly, of 1 in a row

Games 121 through 125 - Red SoxYankees 20, Red Sox 11Red Sox 14, Yankees 1Yankees 8, Red Sox 4Red Sox 12, White Sox 7Red Sox 6, White Sox 3Record: 72-53We interrupt this all-too-regularly scheduled blog-apathy to bring you good tidings of great joy. Jacoby Ellsbury swiped his 55th base of the season last night, breaking the all-time Sox mark held by Tommy Harper for nearly 35 years. And since

Games 94-122: YankeesYankees 6, Orioles 4Yankees 6, A's 3Yankees 8, A's 3A's 6, Yankees 4Yankees 7, A's 5Yankees 11, Rays 4Rays 6, Yankees 2Yankees 6, Rays 2White Sox 3, Yankees 2White Sox 10, Yankees 5White Sox 14, Yankees 4Yankees 8, White Sox 5Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4Yankees 13, Red Sox 6Yankees 2, Red Sox 0 (15)Yankees 5, Red Sox 0Yankees 5...

Game 120 - Red SoxRed Sox 8, Blue Jays 1Record: 69-51Sweeps are neat. Brad Penny and Junichi Tazawa facing the Yankees tonight and tomorrow: less neat.Still, beggars can't be choosers. The Sox improved to 7-3 post-Bronx beatdown with yet another convincing win up North. J.D. Drew went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and Jon Lester dropped yet another dominant performance, going 8 innings for his

Game 118 - Red SoxRed Sox 10, Blue Jays 9Record:67-51Good gracious. Even the wins hurt these days. The Sox blew three different four-run leads and tried to give away a three-run advantage in the bottom of the 8th before holding on to win. Based on my emotion after Jonathan Papelbon recorded the final out, I'm not sure I'd have felt any worse had the Sox lost.On the bright...

Games 116 & 117 - Red SoxRangers 7, Red Sox 2Rangers 4, Red Sox 3Record: 66-51It all seems to be slipping away, doesn't it? Sure, the Sox still have 45 games to play, and they're only one game off the Rangers' Wild Card lead, but the vibe out of Boston is distinctly vintage late 2006.In a lot of ways, the Sox seem to be approaching the season's final months like...

Games 112 through 115 - Red SoxRed Sox 7, Tigers 5Red Sox 8, Tigers 2Tigers 2, Red Sox 0Red Sox 8, Rangers 4Record: 66-49Apologies for the extended absence. Team MLC has had a lot going on. Tune in to Gheorghe: The Blog on Monday to hear more.In the meantime, the Sox seem to have righted the ship, winning 4 of 5 since that time in the Bronx we don't talk about. It's pretty...

Game 110 - PhilliesPhillies 4, Cubbies 3 (sorry Pop)Record: 62 wins, 48 losses, 3.5 games ahead of FloridaEvery time the Phils get groovin', I come back here to post and instantly they throw up all over themselves. The club is 33 and 19 on the road with a gutty victory in 12 innings at the Friendly Confines. That's the best record in baseball. Unfortunately, before they left...

Games 108 through 110 - Red SoxYankees 2, Red Sox 0 (15)Yankees 5, Red Sox 0Yankees 5, Red Sox 2Record: 62-48As Whitney reminded me this weekend, somebody posted the following back in July regarding a newfound (and, shortlived, as it turns out) confusion about the Sox/Yanks rivalry: "As with most things, the Yankees are at the root of this new evil. Several times in the past week alone,

Games 108 through 110 - Red SoxYankees 13, Red Sox 6Yankees 2, Red Sox 0Yankees 5, Red Sox 0Record: 62-48This hangover comes courtesy of Whitney, Dale's Pale Ale, and little girls awake before 7:00 am. It also bears the gift of brevity.I feel nearly precisely the way I felt after the Yankees went up 3-0 in the 2004 ALCS after embarrassing the Red Sox in Game 3.And I think we...

Game 106 - Phillies Phillies 3, Rocks 1Record: 61-45, 7 games ahead of FloridaSince we last posted, the Phillies have recovered rather nicely from a hellish June. You might recall the Phils posted a absolutley horrific 6 and 12 record against the AL East. Funny thing is, they were 3 and 3 vs. the Yanks and Sox and 3 and 9 vs. the "others".The Phils were 43 and 37 exactly...

Game 107 - Red SoxYankees 13, Red Sox 6Record: 62-45You using the whole fist there, Doc?I guess I'm supposed to chalk last night's game up as one of the unwinnable ones. Sox were due to lose to the Yankees, every team's gonna lose their share during a 162-game season, blah, blah, blah. Placing too much emphasis on a single regular season contest is a surefire recipe for...

Game 106 - Red SoxRays 6, Red Sox 4Record: 62-44With apologies to one of the great SportsCenter commercials of all time, I offer the following two-sentence recap of last night's game, and by extension the Sox' mini-series with the Rays: Did you see it, Jack? They sucked. And now they get to go into Yankee Stadium (New and Improved! Same Mouth-Breathing Fans, More Homeruns!) limping both

Game 105 - Red SoxRays 4, Red Sox 2 (13)Record: 62-43So it appears that the coronation of Daniel Bard may have been a tad premature. Just like Terry Francona's hook.Tito yanked Jon Lester after a leadoff HBP to Carlos Pena in the bottom of the 7th. To be fair, Lester had thrown 110 pitches to that point, but he was also dealing, having only allowed 3 hits and no runs. Hideki Okajima relieved

Games 99 & 100 - Red SoxA's 9, Red Sox 8 (11)A's 8, Red Sox 6Record: 58-42I was prepared to spend a few free lazy afternoon moments lamenting a pair of losses against a mediocre Oakland squad, and offering a measured, wholly rational prognosis for the rest of the season (the ceiling for the current roster is the AL Wild Card, after which point anything is possible, though...

Games 95 through 99 - MetsAstros 5, Mets 4Mets 10, Astros 3Mets 8, Astros 3Mets 7, Rockies 3Mets 4, Rockies 0Record: 48-51In baseball, as in life, sometimes you have to bottom out before you can begin the slow crawl into recovery.Did the Mets bottom out this week? Seven games under .500, yet another PR debacle, one firing with more being predicted, with the deals of the past making the trade

Game 94 - Red SoxRangers 3, Red Sox 1Record: 55-39Since the All-Star break, the Boston Red Sox are 1-5, having plated a total of 13 runs. The Sox' batsmen have recorded a robust .192/.252./.285 line, good for a .537 OPS. To put things in perspective, Reggie Willits has a .542 OPS. Darin Erstad's is .541. Matt Cain's OPS is .539. San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain...