The once more hapless Devil Rays, and please God may they (or the troublesome El Birdos) not poke a stick in our spokes as we race down this season’s home stretch.
52
That could change if Oakland loses its hold on first place in Outer Weird Pacifica, but even if the A’s do drop to second, our position
53
Unlike, let us say, the supposed Campbell’s Chunky Soup Curse, where I can only find four football players— Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner, Jerome Bettis and Donovan McNabb—who actually suffered injuries after appearing in the ads, despite all the rumors.
54
Nine is the number that comes to mind, but you know what Ole Case said: “You could look it up.”
55
I am allowed to say stuff like this, because according to John Cheever, the belles lettres version of Ole Case, “all literary men must be Red Sox fans.” My reputation as a literary man is actually in some dispute, but I
56
Tanyon Sturtze, for instance, lately miserable in middle relief for the Yankees (he went two-thirds of an inning in his last appearance), was utterly brilliant last night.
57
That would be roughly seventy-five hundred, most of them equipped with Yankee hats, Derek Jeter T-shirts, and upturned middle fingers for people wearing Red Sox gear.
58
Sorry, Blue, but that slo-mo replay has no mercy.
59
Ah, but under the circumstances, the
60
Three out of five rather than four out of seven.
61
The Indians at Jacobs Field, the Rockies at Coors, and the Giants at Pac Bell.
62
For the record, I think that hitting Millar was an accident. But, accident or on purpose, Kazmir did the Boston batters one hell of a favor by dealing himself out.
63
It would be their fifth win in a row.
64
Loathsome El Birdos.
65
NAH—it’s just a common sports malady: choking disease. SK