5-3, after doubles by Youkilis and Ortiz. Hopefully Le Gagne can hold 'em.

Well....bases loaded, nobody out, trailing Balmer again, 3-1. We better make some hay out of this.

August 1, 2007. They are 7 games behind. Gulp.

We need to put a hurtin' on the Orioles for the next two nights, then hopefully go out west and show up against Seattle and LA. Those games are going to be real toughies.

I love Eric Gagne-now. Great pickup, but I'm still thinking a bat would have been better. Oh well. Once more into the breach, dear friends.

In my head, I'm hearing Perry Farrell singing, "Here we GO....."

RIP Bill Walsh, too, can't forget that. Well, we got Gagne without giving up Ellsbury or Buchholz, so that's a clear win. I am somehow not convinced that we didn't need a bat, though. The offense is scaring me, and a loss to Baltimore while the Yankees smoke Chicago brings the lead back up to 7. That's not a lot of games against an offense that seems unstoppable and a rotation that with Philip Hughes is going to be hard to beat.

Since I'm simply too depressed to chronicle the continued mismanagement, frauds, perjuries, and crimes against humanity of the current President, on to sports:

The Garnett trade is fascinating. On paper, and healthy, the Celtics look solid-going 2-3-4 with Jesus Shuttlesworth, The Truth, and The Big Ticket means you can hang with anybody. But the lack of depth now means, if injured, they are going to look woeful.

The Phillies obtain Iguchi and Lohse while the Braves get Teixeira and the Mets get Castillo? The Phils are still in it, for the moment, but it doesn't look good.

The Red Sox? Well, 8 games is 8 games. But the Yankees are better than they were 2 months ago, and I'm not sure the Red Sox are.

Oh well.

Day off today. As August dawns tomorrow, we stand thusly:

BOS 64-41
NYY 56-49, 8gb

We take on Baltimore at home, then head out to Seattle on Friday, the same day I go out to Pittsburgh. Hoorah.

Trailing the damn Devil Rays 5-2. Three homers for 5 runs for them, one by Northeastern's own Carlos Pena. Top of the ninth.

The lead is nine over the Yankees, but they are winning (5-4) over the Birds.

This time next week I will be back home from ReplayCon 07, a tabletop baseball gathering in Pittsburgh. I am ridiculously excited about this, almost to the point of being too excited, where it couldn't possibly be good enough to live up to what I want it to be. There's something about a room full of people who have the same stupid obsession as you.

Flyout to center. One down.

It's stupid, in my precarious financial and personal life, to spend time and money on a hobby.

Gary Glover is pitching. I "owned" him in a tabletop fantasy league a few years ago. He was lousy for me then, and the entire Tampa pitching staff is lousy this year. But it's hard as heck to score 3 runs in one inning, even against crummy pitching.

I preordered Madden 2008 this year, which is something I haven't done in a while. I spend way too much money on crap like that.

Yankees lead 6-4.

Varitek, pinch hitting, drew a walk, and the Tampa announcers, typically, are whining. I forget how good the Boston announcers are sometimes when I have to listen to these idiots.

I'm thirsty, but I'm not going to get up, just in case the rally continues.

I think Bronx is Burning, on ESPN, is brilliant TV, even though I hate the Yankees. I hated them then and I hate them now, but the show is extraordinary. The book, which I HAD to have, is good too.

I am also pleased Hard Knocks is coming back on HBO. That was a really good show.

Strikeout, then force out at second. Sox lose.

We took two out of three, and lost to Kazmir, so that isnt all that bad, but you really have to beat Tampa. You do. You just do.

Sigh.