The pendulum

This must be what it is like to be a Royals fan. Or a Pirates fan. Or even a Devil Rays fan. You get so used to losing that a decent win like the one last night was surprising- even delightful. After six losses in a row, a miserable 2-7 road trip, the Sox limped home to face the Blue Jays. First up was...Roy Halliday. This looked like a terrible, terrible mismatch. The Sox, having just traded David Wells (as predicted), were starting Lenny DiNardo or possibly Julian Tavarez.

I got home around the third inning and turned on the TV just in time to see the Sox have the bases loaded up on Halliday with nobody out in the bottom of the fourth. My thought at the time was "this is where Halliday loses out on his second Cy Young." I fully expected Javy to knock one out. Instead, of course, he hits into a double play, but the lead runner comes in the back door, and the Sox are on their way to an improbable victory.

Halliday did ultimately give up six runs in seven innings. While the Blue Jays are pretty much out of it, they have virtually as much hope as the Sox in getting into a playoff hunt. They needed their ace to shut down the struggling Red Sox. He blew his chance. Sure, he got out of that fourth inning all right, but giving up six runs to that lineup- to my thinking, I think he did throw away his Cy Young chances right there. If Minnesota keeps it up, I'd put my money on Johan Santana. The darkhorse candidate is Chien-Mien Wang. As much as you hate to give credit to a Yankee player, he's be incredibly solid for them this year- he's pretty much their #1 guy. Makes you wonder what they needed to spend all that money on Mussina, Johnson, Wright, Pavano, and all the rest for.

The greatest moment of games like the one last night, for me anyway, was when Papelbon comes out of the bullpen. It's not the fact that it means the game has a good chance of getting sewn up, and it's not the raucus, "Wild Thing"-singing crowd. It's the fat security guard. This old guy has been assigned to the bullpen all year. I don't know if he's been the bullpen guard forever- I've only noticed him this year. When Papelbon has finished his warmups, the fat guy opens the bullpen door for him, and stands out of his way. As Papelbon passes by him, they exchange a quick fist-bump. The two of them glance at each other in a way that is both confident and conspiratorial. It's a wonderful moment. That is a definite advantage of having so many cameras at the park. You get to share this with them.

It's a sign, though, that I am a completely hopeless fan. After last night's victory, I was thinking- well, we've got a ten-game homestand. We're getting Trot and Varitek back in a couple of days. Wakefield should follow along shortly. We can rip off eight or nine more wins in a row. This isn't over yet. I started getting excited. Someone needs to talk me down again. I'm guessing that someone is going to be Kyle Snyder. His reality session will commence at 7:05 tonight.