Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

...If they don't win it's a shame. And it was: Mike Mussina ruined an otherwise perfect afternoon. He pitched a perfect game into the sixth inning, and the Red Sox' Willy "Boom-boom" Banks allowed three runs without getting an out right when Mussina was tiring. We got two on a no-doubtah by Manny in the bottom of the seventh. In the seventh and eighth both we had runners on the corners with two out and failed to deliver; some clutch hitting would have been in order, but it's a tough pitching staff and they only blow so many leads a year, so the Sox can still consider themselves fortunate.

The A-ri-ZON-a chant caught on instantly in the eighth when Mariano Rivera was coming on, and was sustained by at least three sections of the bleachers for the duration of his warmups. Another good note is that Manny hit well for his third game in a row, raising his batting average 99 points to .273.