• Waking nightmare: Staggered Sox knuckle under in another rout
• He was a broken knuckler
• Sox relievers knuckled under, too
• This time, hard to find a ray of hope

• Deep trouble: Homer-happy Rays pound Lester, Sox
• For Lester, two poor pitches lead to disaster
• Rays bring Sox and fans down to earth
• Scuffling Varitek catches a few boos
• Ellsbury hasn’t quite hit on a solution
• Tampa starter Garza kept Red Sox at bay
• Momentum has yet to swing Ortiz’s way
• It’s been a dream sequence for Baldelli
• Wakefield, Cash will be charged-up battery

• Up, up, and away: Rays endure in 11 to gain split in series
• A Nation worries about its ace
• Beckett received shot
• Result aside, it was smashing entertainment
• Early on, quite a blast: Hitters had a ball trading homers

• Dice-K sparkles as Sox take Game 1
• Matsuzaka’s outing out of left field
• Sox shut down Rays in opener

• Halo, goodbye: Sox walk off with it
• Red Sox roar into ALCS
• Squeezing out all the drama
• Lester rises to the challenge
• Looking for curve shaped Lowrie at-bat
• Angels’ momentum had short shelf life
• Angels went down when bunt didn’t

(Oh, and not that it even matters anymore, but just for the record: these guys started their vacation even earlier this year.)

P.S.: We’re all in agreement that Tito (who I rarely second guess; the guy’s record kinda speaks for itself) pretty much screwed the pooch by not trotting Lester back out in the 8th, right? I spent three innings listening to the announcers marvel at how he was getting stronger with each passing inning, and suddenly Justin Masterson is out there hucking balls over Varitek’s head and coughing up the lead.

If nothing else, Tito should have at least had Lester go out to the mound to start the 8th and then pulled him once the inning started so that Lester could get some love from the crowd on his way back to the dugout.

Thoughts?

• Heaven can wait: Angels survive by getting to Sox in 12
• 12-inning loss spoils the party
• Twelfth of never: Game a real drag
• Pedroia quick to take hit for his poor stats
• Wobbly Beckett grits it out
• It finally fell into place for Angels
• Game photos

• Drew’s back in the swing
• Another big shot for Drew
• Surging Sox shuffle off to Boston
• Bay’s debut a suitable replacement

(*See, there’s a baseball movie titled “Angels in the Outfield.” Yeah, I know, I know: if you have to explain a joke, it probably isn’t funny. Sorry. Best I could come up with; I’m kinda tired from staying up all night twice in three days to watch baseball.)

• Make room for the new ace
• Fallen Angels: Lester comes up aces
• Ramírez’s replacement turns tide
  
• Lester is The One: The man who ended it in ’07 gets it started in ’08

OK, I’m back, people.

• ALDS will begin Wednesday
• Red Sox schedule, round 1

(Original image HERE.)

So, remember back in March when I said that I had successfully purchased four Right Field Roof Deck tickets for the Sept. 26 game against the Yankees? Seemed like quite a coup at the time. Hell, I figured there was even a chance that it could end up being the deciding game for the division title.

Fast forward to last night. Bad enough that the Yankees really do suck this year, but the weather … well, let us quote the Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin in an Extra Bases post published yesterday at 3:09 p.m.:

“We still haven’t heard anything about whether this game will be played, but it’s looking mighty grim around Fenway Park. It’s pouring, and the tarp remains on the field. The entire outfield is soggy or, as colleague Adam Kilgore just said, ‘It looks like a moat in front of the Green Monster.’

“That can’t be good for anyone’s health.

“So I wouldn’t make any long drives down to Fenway tonight, but there are also no promises yet that they won’t try to get this game in.”

In a subsequent post published at 7:07 p.m., Kilgore said:

“If they get in five innings tonight, I will eat my media guide. The tarp is being taken off the field, but it is a truly miserable night for baseball.”

So imagine my dismay, disappointment and disgust when the Sox and MLB decide to ass-ram this game through despite all reason, decency and common sense.

Kilgore further summed things up at 8:36 p.m.:

“When everyone bought those last-weekend-of-the-season Yankees-Red Sox tickets back in February, they probably were not hoping for Alfredo Aceves vs. David Pauley in the rain. But that is exactly what they are getting. First pitch was at 8:36.”

Four hours, 16 minutes and a second rain delay later, this sham of a game ended with the Red Sox taking a dive 19-8.

We felt pretty certain the game would be postponed till Sunday … and, regardless, we weren’t about to go stand around in the rain at Fenway all night while they delayed, stopped and restarted this game into the wee hours of the morn.

Who woulda thunk that the game we looked forward to and talked about non-stop for six months would end up turning into a bad memory of a missed game and a $500 Red Sox tab that we ate?

Oh, and speaking of eating, here’s what Kilgore signed off with at 12:52 a.m.:

“My media guide has been devoured. Sprinkled on a little tarragon and grilled it over wood planks. Not bad.”