Thoughts while watching game 1 of the Sox-Yankees series (currently 5-1 Sox in the top of the 5th):


- It looks like the AL playoffs are pretty much set, with the Sox, Yankees, Indians and Angels. Only two spots look like they are wrapped up in the NL, with the Mets and Diamondbacks looking like pretty safe bets to take their divisions. The NL Central is still hot and heavy with the Cubs and Brewers battling it out. The Cardinals ran into a 7 game losing streak to fall out of the race. The Padres lead the wild card, with the Dodgers and Phillies 1.5 games out and the Rockies 2.5 back.

I would love to see the Rockies win it. They have some pretty good young players, and nobody pays any attention to them outside of Denver. Go ahead, name me five Rockies other than Todd Helton.

- Daisuke is making me feel a lot better with his performance tonight (1 run in 5 innings so far). After he got bombed in his last two appearances, it's great to have him pitch a good game. We're really going to need an effective Matsuzaka if we are to do any damage in the post-season.

- I can't remember a year where I traveled so much. So far this year, I have done at least overnight stays in Cooperstown, Narragansett, Pennsylvania and Florida. A. and I have a weekend in Newport coming up; I have business trips to New York and Toronto and we have our annual Christmas week trip to Florida.

- Speaking of Florida, we decided to take a year off from Disney and go to Universal for our theme park visit this year. After debating which Universal park to visit, we finally decided to do the Studio this year, and save the Islands of Adventure for after the Harry Potter area opens in 2009. I haven't been to Universal in a very long time, so I'm looking forward to it. I am sad, though, that my favorite Universal Ride, Back to the Future, is closed.

- One more Florida item: the Marlins played in front of about 400 people at a day game Wednesday against the Washington Nationals. With the Sox closing in on nearly 400 consecutive sellouts, people tend to forget that the Sox regularly played to very small crowds in the post-Ted Williams, pre-Impossible Dream era. For example, Opening Day 1964 drew only 20,213 to Fenway (courtesy Retrosheet)