It’s generally not like me to be singing Rod Stewart songs in my head, but this morning I woke up after just four-and-a-half hours of sleep and a horrendous Red Sox hangover with this song running through my head:

“I would have given you all of my heart

But there’s someone who’s torn it apart

And she’s taken just all that I had

But if you want I’ll try to love again

Baby I’ll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest

Baby I know – the first cut is the deepest

But when it comes to being lucky she’s cursed…….

No kidding, I’m not even making this up, I woke up with that song in my head. For those of us who are such fanatic Red Sox fans, the first cut probably happened a long time ago, but we’ll consider this the first cut of 2003. And man, this one is definitely the deepest.

The Red Sox lasted 12 innings last night and if it wasn’t for their horrendous Korean reliever Byung Hyun Kim, they would be sitting pretty today with a 1-0 series lead. Now they have to come back this afternoon and win or it’s pretty much lights out. The Oakland A’s suicide sqeeze from their catcher won the game. Inexcusable! If I’m managing the Red Sox, Kim doesn’t see the light of the day for the rest of the playoffs. There’s no way you can leave the game in this guy’s hands, knowing his history of unraveling in pressure situations (hello, 2001 World Series). Certainly one of the more frustrating nights for us Sox fans. From a baseball perspective, though, this was a riveting, intense, pressure-packed game. It’s what makes baseball so damn great – I’m sitting there, wide awake at 2:30am, covering my eyes at some points because I’m so nervous and quietly pumping my fist for each out. Chewing my fingernails over and over again like the rat-a-tat-tat (ding!) of a typewriter. The baseball playoffs always do that to me, no matter what team is playing. Throw the Red Sox into the mix and lookout, my friends, look out……!

Song now playing: Beulah – “Hello Resolven”