Well, after the stirring win on Friday night, things kind of went south for the Red Sox over the rest of the weekend as they lost the last two games of the series by a total of 20 runs. Derek Lowe’s start was just a train wreck, before he got hit on the leg with a line drive and left the game. Pedro didn’t fare much better. So the Sox lost ground in the Bronx, ending the weekend 4 1/2 games back of the Yankees.

They’re not doing much better tonight. They’re losing 8-2 to the Orioles in the 5th, as Tim Wakefield is getting knocked around. The Sox just executed perhaps the worst rundown I’ve ever seen outside of a Little League field. Melvin Mora had a brain cramp and forgot that first base was open and started to trot home on a walk. The Sox noticed this and started trying to tag him out. After five or six throws, Doug Mirabelli dropped a ball near third base. He recovered the ball and made a poor throw home, which Kevin Millar couldn’t handle. So, the Orioles got a run on Mora’s mistake. It was a play that will be guaranteed to show up on the blooper reels.

Walter Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist, September 16 column addressed protecting yourself from viruses, spyware and such in Windows. His number one suggestion? Buy a Mac. As Mossberg notes, there are no viruses and almost no spyware out there for Mac OS X. It’s also much harder to install a program undetected on the Mac - the default is that you have to enter a password before installing any software. You can read the entire article at the link above - click on the archives button if the article isn’t on the site.

I can’t believe summer is almost over. It was such a strange summer - lots of rain, almost no really hot days. My lawn never got brown like it typically does. We did some fun stuff - Storyland, Vermont, the pool - but it really felt more like an extended spring than summer.

Manny just hit a bases loaded, ground rule double. It’s now 8-4.

Things seem to be moving slowly in Pittsfield. I haven’t heard much - just a couple of short messages on the Wahconah Park message board. The city really needs to approve a new agreement for the refurbishment of the ballpark to happen in time for the beginning of the 2005 season. The Northeast League owners are meeting later this week, and if something doesn’t get done the fact that the ballpark is still up in the air isn’t going to work in our favor toward getting a team.