I was already envisioning what I was going to write this evening. I was going to talk about how Mark Buerhle owns the Tigers, and then do some research to see if the Tigers were the fastest team to 100 losses.

But the Tigers still manage to surprise me. They’re up 8-3 in the bottom half of the ninth, and Fernando Rodney is actually pitching shut out. Maybe Mars coming so close to Earth has caused some temporal shift that actually makes the Tigers competitive for the rest of the year.

And with that, and with the Royals being down, if the Twins can come back against Texas, they’ll pull within a half game of the pack. We could have a race like 1967, only instead of it being for a chance to play in the World Series and the best record in the AL, they’d be playing for a divisional title and making the playoffs despite having the fifth best record in the American League.

Yes, that’s sarcasm, with a little bit of bitterness towards the current playoff system.

Does anyone not think that a great emotional finish to the season would be a World Series, game seven, game winning homerun by Barry Bonds, which he then dedicates to his father. For all the grief Barry takes from the press, and it’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, we might finally see him getting some slack. No offense to Albert Pujols either, but I think it would be a travesty if Bonds didn’t win the MVP again this year. He hardly has the offensive weapons around him this year (no Jeff Kent for one), yet he’s still having an awesome season. If they’d pitch to him with men on base, he’d have 150 rbi’s.

So I’m rooting for the Giants this year. It would be the nice book end for the greatest player ever.

And if a closer wins the Cy Young this year, which looks like it could happen in the NL, I won’t be happy about that either. Yes, there’s no standout starters this year, but unless a reliever is throwing 120 innings, I can’t see him winning the award. Personally, and it depends on how these guys finish out, Hideo Nomo has put together a pretty impressive season, and with Kevin Brown, are the cornerstones of a weak hitting, but excellent pitching team. I know the Cy Young isn’t given to the Most Valuable pitcher, but I’d still put Gagne third on his team, much less in the National League. Odds are good Ortiz will finish ahead of Nomo and Brown though, because he’s racked up the most wins (not that I agree with that logic, but the media seems to put a premium on victories.

The Sox got a run in the eighth, so it’s now 8-4. Hopefully they’ll be able to hold on. This will consist of staining molding, more staining, and I’m hoping to fit in the Two Towers which I rented. I’m going to buy the Extended Edition when it comes out in November, but this will give me my fix for the time being.

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