---

David Ortiz is the man. Bronson Arroyo seems to have clinched a rotation spot. The Red Sox are one game away.

Oh yeah, they lost 7-3 and I couldn’t be happier.

Thanks to Anahiem and their plucky, death by 1,000 monkey bites team, the Boston Red Sox have lowered the magic number for clinching the Wacky Card to one. And they did it by only scoring 3 runs in John Burkett’s worst start in his career. Why am I so happy?

I have tickets for tonights game. Everything worked out right so that I can share a beverage witht the Red Sox at the Destiny Grille Pub.

I’m telling you folks, I have a fever, and the only perscription is playoff baseball (and cowbell.)

So, back to work. I’m sorry I didn’t post last night. I went to Poncho O’Mally’s, which is a restaurant/bar in Narragansett that has all you can eat tacos on Wednesday night. They have soft and hard versions of beef and chicken tacos. Here were the final standings…

ALee 21 (new record)
Me 14
Quagger 13
Meatball 13
Evan 11
Bougey 6 (tied chick record)

By the time I got home, I couldn’t hack sitting at the computer. My stories of gastrointestinal abuse will be spared. That’s the make up for not posting last night.

Now for the American League Cy Young. There are three candidates that would be better choices then Mark Prior or Jason Schmidt. These three candidates have actually inspired some good debate on whether quality of innings is more important then quality. TO be honest, I don’t know myself. This is the toughest award I’ve had to rank so far.

AL Cy Young

5. Jamie Moyer SEA 20-7 3.27 5.43 k/9 55.303 runs sved
Moyer is a good sentimental choice. Rob Neyer wrote a good human interest column on him earlier in the week. He might be the smartest pitcher this side of Greg Maddux. His career really took off when he got traded to Seattle. I hated the Bragg for Moyer trade when Dan Duquette did it, but I didn’t think it would be this lopsided.

4. Esteban Loazia 20-9 2.96 8.18 k/9 66.538 runs sved
Loazia was the front runner all year, but scuffled as his team started losing it. Loazia is setting career marks in everything at age 31, and usually, that would make a great story. However, through August and September, when talks of who would win what were hotting up, people seemed to be looking for excuses not to give Loazia the award. Either way, the guy was signed as a minor league free agent, made the White Sox, and pitched like Tom Seaver for four months. Someone will make him a very rich man this offseason, and be curious as to why he doesn’t repeat.

3. Roy Halladay 21-7 3.22 6.83 k/9 76.508 runs sved
At the begining of August, people were saying that Halladay deserved the Cy Young award, presumably because he won 16 game in a row, and led the league in that same catagory. Since then, he is 5-5, but has pitched better. Amazing that he can lose credit for a 2-4 stretch where he put up an ERA under 3. To show you the trouble I had with this selection, Halladay is closer to first then he is to Loazia. Loazia is closer to first then he is to Moyer.

2. Pedro Martinez BOS 14-4 2.25 10.00 k/9 73.518 runs sved
Pedro won’t finish higher then fourth because of the BWAA’s inablity to reason past the antiquated notion that a pitcher is in complete control of his won/loss record. By my figuring, the Red Sox bullpen cost Pedro seven wins. If we reasonably assume that Pedro gets credit for four of those wins, then we are looking at a guy who is 18-4, and the front runner for the Cy Young. Now, Pedro hasn’t pitched many innings, and that has probably cost him wins, but when you lead the American League in every important pitching catagory, save for innings, then shouldn’t you be a front runner?

1. Tim Hudson OAK 16-7 2.70 6.08 k/9 79.724 runs sved
Hudson is the happy medium between Halladay and Martinez. He almost has Halladay’s inning quantity, and almost has Pedro’s inning quality. If you get 90 percent of one, and mix it with 90 percent of another, you get a damn good pitcher. Hudson will probably finish above Martinez, but this is Halladay’s award to lose because of the wins thing. If not for Keith Foulke’s battle with humanity, then Hudson is 20-7 right now. Theoretical Hudson 20-7, theoretical Pedro 18-4, and actual Halladay 21-7. Maybe then the writers would have to do their homework.

I’m leaving right from campus to go to the game tonight, so the award schedule has been pushed back a little. I’m going to try to do the NL MVP on Monday, and the AL MVP on Tuesday. Tomorrow, I’ll give a recap of the game, and over the weekend, I’ll jump on a few times to share my thoughts and dementia. The updates will happen much more frequently once I have cable internet in my house insted of dial up. That day is neigh.

Derek Lowe against Unnamed Generic Pitcher (Omar Daal) tonight at 7:05. As I said, I’ll be at the Fens. My loins are moist with excitement.