Sports Redux: A Little Story 'Bout A Man Named Jed

Is this going to be the game that we look back on and say, yes, this was the day the 2008 Red Sox got it together? It's not out of the question. The Sox have been - let's go with scuffling - for a couple of weeks. They've watched Toronto blow them out of Fenway and blow Jon Lester out of SkyDome or whatever it's called now. And they stepped up, taking the Jays to extra innings and winning a wild game that's got the knot in every Sox stomach loosened up a little bit.

There was some snazzy defense by Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury (who got the business end of a collision with the outfield wall). There was a 3-run shot by Dustin Pedroia to stop Toronto's early momentum, and a home run by Coco Crisp. There was strike zone control by Daisuke Matsuzaka, who only walked one. Hey, we told you things might be turning around.

And in the end, there was Jed Lowrie, cracking one over the right field wall in the 11th to make a winner out of Papelbon (save by Delcarmen(!!!)) and send a relieved bunch of Sox to the airport. "That was one of the funnest games I've been a part of in a long time," said skipper Terry Francona. Jason Bay, showing his Canadian flair for understatement, said, "it’s probably bigger than a regular-season win."

As for the man of the hour, Lowrie said, "It's one win, but every one counts so much more right now." And now it's on to New York, where they've been going crazy trying to decide if the Yankees are well and truly dead and if they should all become Mets fans yet. For the Red Sox to go to Yankee Stadium for the last time ever, sweep, and bury the Yanks for good...well, it might not be a bad idea.

Tom Brady says he'll be ready for the regular season opener. As for the last preseason game, he isn't saying. At least when the season opens, it will be against the Chiefs, who seem to be in total disarray.

AP/Canadian Press photo by Frank Gunn.