Still surviving

And now we're in the stretch run. There's just three days left in the RedZone baseball season, and my lead looks strong if you were to just look at the overall score. 7-3 always looks great in head-to-head play.

Of course, one of my fears heading into this week has come to fruition: my relievers are crapping Colonel Coker's bed. A night after Luis Ayala gave up three earned runs in another Mets collapse, J.J. Putz served up a two-run homer to boost my ERA to 5.00 (.34 better than Slutty Tom) and my WHIP to 1.59 (.06 worse). The silver lining is that my boy Vladdy Guerrero hit that homer, helping me take over the RBI lead, 20-19.

Not only is my ERA lead slim, but I have one "point" leads in counting stats such as wins (3-2), saves (same) and RBIs (20-19). This baby can shift at any moment. That said, I have six closers rearing to go today and Slutty has two starters, Andy Sonnanstine and Scott Richmond. Two good outings could give Tom the tie or lead in wins while also lowering his ERA below mine. That would create a 5-5 or 5-4-1 score, offensive stat changes notwithstanding.

This shapes up to be quite a Friday night, spent inside my apartment (my last weekend there, actually) tracking the match and HOPEFULLY watching our two presidential candidates debate.