First things first: the Vintage Base Ball Federation Northeast Playoffs start tomorrow at Bullens Field in Westfield, MA and continue through this weekend and next. More information is available here.

How can the Red Sox possibly lose 2 of 3 to the Royals at Fenway?

Last night was as disappointing a game as I can remember seeing. The Sox took a 4-2 lead and then Julian Tavarez gave it right back with a 4 run 5th. And it seemed like Francona took forever to get Tavarez out of there. I was starting to talk to the TV. Certainly not the Grady-Little-in-ALCS-Game-7 level of agitation, but pretty annoyed.

Now maybe this stretch is similar to the 2004 run when the Sox basically played three months of .500 ball. This team isn't as bad as they have been since late May (20-22 since May 31) and they're not as good as they were the first two months of the season. I have to think they're going to break out of it.

Of course, we can start to hear the Yankees footsteps in the distance. They've cut the Sox lead down to 7 games and those "1978"'s echoing in the back of my head are starting to get louder.