3...

...is the magic number and the lead in the AL East.

Sox beat the A's 7-3 and the Yankees lose dramatically in the 10th on a Dioner Navarro HR for TB. That cut 2 games off the magic number and added 1 game to the lead in the East. It was a good night.

The other good thing is that the magic number for eliminating the Tigers is 1. I can't stand the Tigers - mainly because an old frined of mine use to tell me how great they were and how their WS appearance wasn't a fluke. Basically the Tigers were lucky to get to the playoffs last year, as they had a monumental collapse at the end of the season and lost the Central lead the last two days of the season to the Twins. It was embarrassing for them. To their credit the Tigers did make it to the WS, but again got embarrassed by a Cardinals team that was 5 games over .500 with 83 wins. So for him to say the Tigers were great was a joke, and this season just proves it - again. The Tigers are horrendous and they aren't made for the long haul.

But anyways. The Sox have the A's for 1 game and the Twins for 4 left. 2 wins is all we need and 1 Yankee loss. I think that is do-able. Yanks have 2 against TB and 3 against O's.

Last night Manny made an appearance - going 1-2 with a single and walk. It was good to have him back - and he is playing tonight (he's 2-2 2 singles). The heroes last night were Schilling (6 IP 1 ER), Ellsbury (2 RBI) , Lowell (RBI), Ortiz (HR 33 & 2 RBI) and Drew (3-4). Paps pitched for .1 IP, so that is interesting. I'm wondering if he is ok. Schilling looked good going into the playoffs - which is very very important.

The last 5 games will be interesting - I hope the Sox can get things settled by tomorrow so they can rest their players for a couple games.

The gusy on ESPN think Barry Bonds will end up in Oakland next season in place of Piazza. That is the perfect place for him, but again, when the Yanks lose ARod they will panic and sign Bonds. I don't like them signing him, because he will definitely hurt the Red Sox.

Barry Bonds 756 HR ball will be branded with an asterik before being sent to Cooperstown - there is a God! That is the absolute best possible thing that can happen for baseball.

Another thing I did last night is referee for the first time. It went very well, but I have a new appreciation for the zebras. Man, I have no idea how they see everything. I still need to train myself not to watch the puck, but rather watch my zone. I had a good time and the teams were very well behaved. Nothing too chippy, and no real complaints. John Walker was my co-ref and he taught me tons of stuff. I called the first penalty of the night, then didn't call another the rest of the time. I guess I was a bit bashful. I will definitely treat the refs better now though.

That's all I got - hockey tonight at 8pm.