Tough day on the Boston sports scene. The Sox got crushed by Oakland 12-3. Matt Clement got smacked around by the A's, giving up seven runs in only 1 and 1/3 innings. Clement's ineffectiveness is pretty troubling, since if the Sox actually make it to the post-season they really need Clement to pitch well if they're going to get anywhere.

The Patriots didn't fare much better, as they lost to the Carolina Panthers 27-17. The offense was pretty ineffective, and it seemed like the receivers dropped more than their share of passes. Corey Dillon and the rest of the running backs were held to only 39 yards rushing.

The only good news was that the Yankees lost to Toronto 6-5, so the Sox maintain their 1 and 1/2 game lead in the AL East.

I was really hoping that those last three games at Fenway against the Yanks wouldn't mean anything, but that's looking less and less likely. There's only two weeks left, and the Sox need to play well, or else October isn't going to be much fun around here.