Well Worth All The Torture

I was working again last night, on a two-night shoot of a movie in Times Square. (I was wrapped at 6 AM. It was a brutal last two days in terms of sleep deprivation.) For the second consecutive night, I had to follow the Red Sox on my cell, and it inexplicably started to lose power as the game began (it's an old cell and I think it's time for an iPhone), so I had to check for updates every 15 minutes and turn my cell off each time.

As I was watching a scene being filmed on West 48th Street, most updates were encouraging. I couldn't tell what was happening in terms of who was driving in runs or how Josh Beckett was pitching, as I had to conserve as much power as possible.

But I breathed a sigh of relief when it went to a 4-3 Red Sox final. I later learned Beckett pitched well, going six innings and allowing three runs. When it was still a one-run lead in the 8th I wondered "Is Daniel Bard pitching?" I thought he might get the night off, but Terry Francona threw him off the deep end of the pool, and Bard responded with striking out the side while walking one. Encouraging.

Joanthan Papelbon struck out the side, too, and continues to be devastating. Mike Aviles hit a home run that was the difference, and the Red Sox won their biggest game of the season, and returned their Wild Card lead to 4 games.

New York's loss in Toronto now means the Sox are 3 1/2 back for the division. Still not over.

And today, I will miss the Sox for a third straight day, which is a very rare event in my life, and it has nothing to do with me filming movies. It has everything to do with Fox ruining baseball, as the New York area will get the Mets-Braves instead of the Sox-Rays at 4 PM.

So it will be more cell-checking with Jon Lester on the mound today. And it's all recharged and ready to go.