Major League Baseball: where yesterday doesn't mean shit

I'll be the first to admit that Major League Baseball's season is way too long, the games are usually pretty boring and the whole organization is run with an idiocy that rivals the last Bush administration. Haha, with those barbs out of the way, I will also say that one of the reasons I have always stuck by baseball is because it delivers so many thrills and moments that you cherish if you're lucky enough to witness them as they unfold.

After the worst loss of the season (thus far), the Boston Red Sox regrouped yesterday in Baltimore for one of its most rewarding wins of the season, 6-5 in the series finale.

Orioles (35-43) rookie Brad Bergesen completely kept the Sox off-balance for eight innings and departed with a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead.

Wouldn't you know, Boston (48-30) tied it up with four in the ninth (two-run homer by Kevin Youkilis and two-run single by Rocco Baldelli), and won it going away with an RBI single by Julio Lugo in the 11th.

Oh and Jonathan Papelbon set a Red Sox record with his 133rd save of the season. So just another day at the office.

I predicted that Josh Beckett would be the stopper for Boston that he usually is and through the first four innings yesterday afternoon, I was not even close.

The Orioles scored a run in the first, run in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. Even when he's not on top of his game, Beckett can still find it in the midst of a subpar start. In the fifth-seventh innings (when the Sox just needed stability), Beckett set down Baltimore three times in a row, in order.

In seven innings, he gave up five runs on six hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. He didn't factor into the decision and neither did Bergesen which is a joke. The rookie gave up one run on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Losing yesterday would have been bad for the Sox, especially with the Yankees (seven straight wins; 2.5 games back) and Rays (8-2 in their last 10; 5 back) breathing down their backs.

With an off-day today back in Boston, the Sox can relax (assuming their mansions aren't floating away in the rain) in preparation of the Seattle Mariners who come to Fenway for the holiday weekend.