The Sox stole one last night. Outplayed, Boston still managed to come away with a 5-4 victory. Doug Mirabelli and Mike Timlin, in my estimation, were the game’s heroes.

Doug Mirabelli, the Red Sox primary backstop for two more days because of Jason Varitek’s suspension, pounded a 2-1 offering from Miguel Batista over SkyDome’s left field wall for a three-run home run. Almost instantaneously, what had been a plodding and lackluster effort by the Red Sox turned into a more enthused one. Mike Timlin’s performance in the bottom half of the sixth evidenced this point. After Tim Wakefield loaded the bases with nobody out, Terry Francona called upon Mike Timlin to try and preserve the two-run lead. Timlin was able to strikeout Reed Johnson and Orlando Hudson and then set down Alex Rios on a routine grounder to wiggle the Sox out of the inning unscathed. The Jays would get another run across the board off of Timlin in the seventh before Ramiro Mendoza and Keith Foulke would finish off the Jays, pitching the eighth and ninth respectively.

I imagine much will be said today of the renewed Sox spirit - how they are able to win one-run games now and some may even praise Theo, assigning credit for the recent one-run wins to Nomar’s absence and Minky and Cabrera’s presence. Try and block it out. The recent spate of one-run victories represents little (if anything) more than mean regression. The Sox were not going to be as bad as they had been in one-run games all season. So enjoy it and try and account for it if that’s your thing. But be rational. “This team’s just got a different feel” doesn’t cut it.

Elsewhere, The Soxaholix have turned in another bang-up effort this morning.