Relax, folks! Whatever happens now, the Angels aren't going to beat the Red Sox in October! Dan Shaughnessy said so, and like they say, "Hey, folks, when you're right 51% of the time, you're wrong 49% of the time."

But the Angels sure can beat the Sox in July, and that's what they did, again, as John Lackey flirted with destiny in a 6-2 win over the lifeless Sox. The Sox waited until the ninth inning to do anything, as Pedroia singled for the first Boston hit, then Youkilis homered, then the Sox sat down because they were tired. Meanwhile, Sox starter Clay Buchholz was adequate-at-best, giving up all six Halo runs on six hits and three walks.

(Tangential note to any readers who were at the game last night: did they play "Sweet Caroline" in the eighth? Were people shouting that they felt "so good! so good! so good!" as the Sox were being no-hit? Was anyone in the park stabbed at this point? And if not, why not?)

As if the Sox had enough trouble with the Angels, they found out before the game that things would get even tougher, as LA/Anaheim/Whatever landed one of the biggest fish in the Trade Deadline Pond. Slugger Mark Teixeira is expected to be at Fenway tonight, and is expected to help carry the Angels much deeper into October than they have been lately. The best record in baseball against Dan Shaughnessy's conviction that teams can never turn their fortunes around. There's only one October! (This, of course, assumes that the Red Sox will still be operating in October, which we change our minds about every eleven minutes.)

The Yankees lost again, and the Rays won, so we're two games out of first and two ahead of third. The wild card magic number is 55, if you want to start hanging a flag out the window. No news on the Manny situation, but Pink Hat Hell checks in to see what the buzz is in remedial spelling class.

The Revolution host Atlanta tonight in the semifinals of SuperLiga. Tickets are still available, and it's a great way not to think about the Red Sox for a few hours. The Patriots' newest acquisition, Lamont Jordan, has caused a little controversy. Seems the Raiders (his former team) and Al Davis (their 153-year-old owner) released him under the condition that he didn't sign with the Pats or the Broncos. Jordan and his agent said they never heard of that part of the deal, and even if they had, when you're a free agent, you're free. At least it will give the Raiders something new to bellyache about.

Image from Amazon.