and since I'm here anyway ...

Gotta say at least a few words about my Sawx ... before hunkering down for another ride on the roller-coaster no doubt! (Oddly enough, the copy of "Fever Pitch" arrived from Netflix just a couple days ago, so I watched that last night, and felt ... very strange, indeed. Not that I am anywhere near as obsessed as the protagonist, I got shivers from some of his neuroses ... And there are those who would claim it was my life-story -- except for the season tickets of course, and the fact that I haven't lived in Boston since 1993 ...)

But I digress ...

Tomorrow, Boston takes on Chicago, trying to get Matt Clement to forget he used to play in that city, or maybe to at least remember which side of town it was ... Anything to get him throwing again like he was before the All Star game. They need a great showing from him, some on base-ing from Damon and Edgah, a couple of bangs from the usual subjects (Papi, Manny, Tek ...) and at least a split of the two games at Comisk ... I mean White Sox Park or whatever they call it now. If they can come home 1-1, with Wake and Schilling back to back, they might not have to go back to Chitown at all. (Meanwhile, they would benefit from seeing the Yanks and Angels beat each other's bullpens to death, so that if/when they do advance, it is against another depleted team!) Prediction: Sox in 4, probably Spankees in 5.

National League: Cards over Pads in 3, maybe 4; Astros in 3 or 4 over Bravos. St. Louis is too good, and wants to get back there too much; and those Houston pitchers are just too strong for even Bobby Cox to get by.

And as long as I'm sticking my neck out, Sox/Yanks goes 7, a tossup at this point; Sox/Angels could be LAA in 6, or Sox in 7. Cards over Houston in 6, and then the Series, which at this point still looks like St. Louis (over Sox, Yanks OR Angels) in 5, maybe 6 ...

I know, as a Red Sox fan I never give up until the last out is over ... but I'm planning to enjoy this fall, win or lose!!