Cook was only Cooked for one inning tonight, but the three runs he gave up had us in a hole. Eventually we would turn 5-1 into 5-4, but with the tying run on first in the ninth, we fell just short. The O's had already beaten the Rays in their last at bat, so they and Yanks remain tied at the top, with Tampa falling 3 back.

I loved seeing Joe Castiglione honored before the game, in celebration of his near-completion of 30 years behind the mic for the Red Sox. Joe is a fellow Connecti-cutioner, and I've been listening to him since he was just that high-voiced "other guy" to my all-time favorite, Ken Coleman. His first year, 1983, was my first year (at age 7) really listening to games on my own (most games were not on TV, just like it still is today in Fairfield County). I mean I've got tapes of me saying "Yankees stink" from much earlier than that, and I was collecting cards starting around '79, and completed the inaugural Topps sticker album in 1981, immediately pointing out that George Brett's picture on the front is reversed as he's actually left-handed, but right around the 1982 World Series was when I started to realize these were actual people running around, not just pictures. Of course I'd been to ballparks before that, but the players looked like ants from my seat. In fact, I learned that expression before I realized what it meant. "Ants? I don't see any 6-legged insects swinging bats...."

The point is, Joe's been a voice of the Red Sox since I started tuning in 30 years ago, so I'm glad to see him get his own day, though he's the type of guy who doesn't want any kind of attention. They had him do a play-by-play of his own ceremonial first pitch, and , in little-kid-in-the-driveway fashion, he called himself as Pedro Martinez.

My mom and Charlie were at the game tonight. They had my 10-game plan bleacher seats, but were able to sit in field boxes all game. In the 8th, when the count went full on Cody Ross (he'd be called out on strikes and lose his shit, along with Bobby V, and several Sox were eventually tossed), they showed a close-up of some fans starting to stand and cheer. As they zoomed out...there was my mom! Right next to the fans who they initially zoomed in on. I got this screenshot after they'd zoomed out some more, as to get Charlie in the shot. They are the two people on the left, with my mom in her red hat:
Finally, the Paw Sox are now one win away from their first International League title since 1984. They went up 2 games to 0 at McCoy tonight.