Score one for the home team, finally: the Boston Red Sox clinched a playoff berth by winning last night's game against the Baltimore Orioles, and as a result will be making their first Major League Baseball postseason appearance since 1999. I can't believe it's been that long. They will go up against the Oakland A's for the right to compete for the American League Championship Series (I'm assuming that the Yankees will be the other team at that contest, unless the Minnesota Twins are able to pull off the mother of all upsets when they play New York next week). Since it's been a tough year for me to follow baseball, I'm not sure at all how the Sox will fare against Oakland, although I suspect that Boston's pitching will ultimately betray them, as it always does, and especially so in the playoffs. Even though, I'm hoping for the best, even if it means that going all the way this year would render my short story about the Bambino's Curse moot. Or maybe it would be a nifty piece of synchronicity.

Score one against the old home team, however: The Philadelphia Phillies managed to end a promising season last night by losing their fifth game in a row (which included being swept by the Florida Marlins, with whom the Phils were in contention) and officially eliminating themselves from the National League Wild Card race. My brother is probably crying into his giant Phillies plastic souvenir cup right about now...