We go to the bottom of the ninth...

... and no matter what happens from here on out, this has been a tremendous ballgame. This is the way baseball is supposed to be played.

I was at a party a few weeks ago with a group of Sox fans who were talking about Manny -- this was before the Ortiz revelations -- and declaring, "I don't care about steroids. They make the game more interesting."

I'm sorry, but home run derby is only interesting when it's, you know, in the Home Run Derby. I like this form of baseball. I would advocate raising the mound back to 1968 levels, moving the fences back so that every park plays like Citi Field, and even contracting the number of teams to reverse the watering down of the pitching. I don't mind seeing 19 runs scored in a game, such as what happened last night, but I'd like to see the teams earn their 19 runs. That doesn't happen with Pedroia, Damon and Kotchman hitting cheap home runs. I love this new stadium in so many ways, but this is one thing I absolutely hate about it.

By the way -- couldn't Phil Hughes have pitched the top of the ninth? Isn't it a waste that we have two absolute weapons in the bullpen, and we're probably going to need both of them, and one gets to get one stinkin' out? Suppose Okajima gets through this inning unscathed. Now we go to the 10th with maybe one more inning of Rivera, and the Red Sox can probably get four innings if they need them out of their two weapons, Bard and Papelbon.

OK, Francona is shooting my theory full of holes, bringing in Bard with one out. Hopefully the rookie wilts under the pressure of the Stadium, with all its history and overzealous fans. Oh, wait. The Stadium with the history is rotting across the street, and the overzealous fans have been priced out.

OK, let's watch the rest of this baby.