What a game!

It looked pretty bleak as the Sox entered the 9th down 2-1 in the Bronx. Bronson Arroyo had turned in another excellent performance, giving up only 2 runs in 6 innings, despite sitting through an hour and 25 minute rain delay. However, first El Duque and then Tanyon Sturtze had gone him one better, only giving up one run. Tom Gordon pitched a scoreless 8th and gave way to the Yankees Uber-closer, Mariano Rivera.

It was apparent from the start that Rivera didn't have it tonight. He walked Trot Nixon (Dave Roberts pinch ran), then struck out Varitek. He then hit Kevin Millar (Gabe Kapler pinch ran). Orlando Cabrerra came up with a big opposite field single, scoring Roberts (Nomar who?). Youkilis struck out, leaving it up to Johnny Damon with two out. Damon hit a blooper to right-center, which looked catchable by Kenny Lofton. However, Lofton came up short and Kapler scored with the winning run!

Lots of kudos to go around tonight. Damon with an earlier homer and two RBI. Manny Ramirez with an amazing catch, plucking a Miguel Cairo drive out of the left field stands and robbing him of a home run - Cairo didn't even know that he was out until he made it all the way around the bases and was back in the on-deck circle! The pitching, in addition to Arroyo, saw scoreless innings from Embree, Timlin and Keith Foulke getting the huge save in the 9th.

The Sox are only 2 1/2 back now, with 17 to play and 5 against the Empire. It' gonna be fun!

Barry Bonds hit his 700th home run tonight, joining Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth in that exclusive club. He did it in the 3rd inning against the San Diego Padre's Jake Peavy, who forever gets to be the answer to a trivia question.

Big doings at work, which I found out about today in a phone call from my boss. Nothing I can talk about yet, but the course of events over the next few weeks will tell me a lot about where my future lies. Stay tuned.