Sports Redux: The End Is In Sight

Dare we say things are starting to click at the right time? The Red Sox finished off Oakland with an 11-6 win. Now only a monumental collapse (look upward; no lightning) will keep the Red Sox from celebrating an AL East clinchin' party in the next day or two.

The Sox smacked Oakland largely due to the bat of Mike Lowell, who collected five of his 116 RBIs (a Red Sox 3B record) on a trio of timely singles, earning him a well-deserved pat on the back from Bob Ryan. Dustin Pedroia homered; Brandon Moss drove in his first Red Sox run. Jon Lester pitched OK in the start (9 Ks, but 4 earned runs and no five innings for the decision), not great, but Mike Timlin picked him up for a scoreless 1 1/3 and the win.

So now the lead is three with four left to play. The Twins come into Fenway (Josh Beckett goes (probably five innings) for Win #21 against Boof Bonser), while the Yankees finish up with Tampa tonight before heading to Baltimore for the weekend. The Twins, by the way, have nothing to play for and are sitting some of their starters. Sounds good to us. We'll still have to contend with Cleveland for best record in the AL, but it looks pretty certain the Angels are coming here for the first round.

With the drama on the field winding down, the contrived drama off the field is heating up. Fresh from moderating a Presidential debate in New Hampshire, Tim Russert is swinging by today to moderate a debate between candidates for the ridiculous, borderline-embarassing position of President of Red Sox Nation. We're voting for the candidate with the least dignity to lose; that rules out Peter Gammons or Doris Kearns Goodwin, and probably means either "Big Pupi" the dog, or Rich Garces.

There's plenty of real drama in the National League, where the Mets, Braves, Phillies, Cubs, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies all think they're going to come out of the weekend in the playoffs. Based on our math, half of them are right. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Barry Bonds played his last game with the Giants; next time you see him, he'll be wearing a Yankee uniform and talking about the inspiration provided by Giambi's Comeback Player of the Year award.

Finish line picture by Flickr's B Tal.