I made Louis a bet here. Louis bet me that we couldn't get rich and put you in the poorhouse. He didn't think we could do it. I won.
—Billy Ray Valentine
Just watched David Ortiz single home the winning run in the twelfth to beat the Phillies [1]. So let's see what that means:
• The Phillies fall 12 games behind the Mets. Are they even in second place anymore?
• The Red Sox expand their lead on the Yankees, something that no matter how irrelevant it's made out to be in our lives, is luscious.
• The Phillies couldn't have been more helpful in losing. They could have gone down without a whimper; instead they forced the Red Sox to use seven relievers. Gee, that's a lot of bullpen to go through before a big series against the Mets. The game went into extras, thanks to Chase Utley's ninth-inning homer off Jonathan Papelbon. First homer Papelbon had given up this year…a little seed of doubt in the previously impenetrable reliever's head for what that's worth. After witnessing B.J. Ryan blowing away Mets on Saturday, I'll take what we can get.
• Oh yeah…Phillies still lost.
• If the Braves get it together long enough to win a game or two from the Yankees between tonight and Wednesday, it won't hurt us a bit. If the Yankees beat the Braves, it's always fun to hear the Braves lost (we have definitive proof of this phenomenon given the Atlanta fortunes of the last month).
Even on the days we don't play, we just keep winning.