In the doom and gloom following Slaughterhouse Five, the Red Sox getting swept by the Yankees, it must be remembered that Curt Schilling was downright heroic, in a baseball sense, in his performance, as was Papelbon. It hurts, losing all those games in a row, but I think Hansen and Delcarmen and Snyder and those guys will learn, and in 2007 or 2008 this team may be a monster. But it hurts.

Aaron Rowand collided with Chase Utley during yesterday’s game, and that may have fouled up the postseason hopes for Philadelphia. That’s too bad, but I don’t think they had any real hopes of beating the Mets in a postseason series.

Peter Beinart has an editorial in the current New Republic detailing the old, tired line about how Ned Lamont’s primary victory harbinges a 1968 to 1972 McGovern/Humphrey style Democratic loss. I couldn’t disagree more. What war apologists like Beinart don’t understand is that Democrats are motivated by anti Bush feeling, of course-but it isn’t personal. I think Bush believes what he says. I think his policies and his ideas are so dangerous, so ugly and wrong and evil and poorly imagined, that they must be defeated-they must be thrown into the dustbin of history, for the good of the country.

Yes, it’s naked partisanship, but it’s also a cry for help. I have a coworker who likes to mock me at every opportunity, and when I admitted my Democrat leanings, he immediately, as he often does, took the opposite tack. “You think Kerry would have done any better?,” he sneered. I do, actually, think John Kerry, for all his failings and personal quirks, would have been a much, much better president than George Bush. I think the same thing about Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, (especially John Edwards-I hope he runs in 2008.) Barack Obama-lots of people. I also firmly believe that if Bush had done nothing-not bombed Afghanistan, and certainly not invaded Iraq, after 9/11, we still would be better off. My distaste for Bush’s policies is so extreme that I believe a stuffed dog, or a piece of lint, or a moldly piece of cheese, would have done better than George Bush.

David Wells, entering 2006, is tied for 60th in career wins. I didn’t realize that. He has more career wins than Catfish Hunter and Jim Bunning. Hard to imagine he is ranked that highly. Boston just waived him, so they may be trying to trade him. I’ll miss him, but I hope he can get on a winning team and maybe win another World Series.