Back on Track (and so much more)

After our sixth straight win, this team is looking much more like the one that won the World Series last October. With a few fresh faces mixed in, such as Colón last night and Masterson the night before, we're really on a roll and things are just as they should be, with us on top of the entire Major League. The standings of the rest of the AL East, however, are very unusual--the Devil Rays aren't very far behind us, and the Yankees are in last place!

As promised earlier, I'll expand a little more on Jon Lester's amazing achievement. While he was getting further and further into the game without any hits, I kept getting more and more anxious, but I tried to prevent myself from thinking about it too much in an attempt avoid jinxing him. When the final out was called, a huge smile came across my face as I picked up my phone to spread the good news to my dad (who was watching my little brother's baseball game, which also happened to end in 7-0 victory), but I somehow managed to keep my eyes dry. After I watched the hug between Francona and Lester (I was a little behind everyone else because I had to wait for it to load onto GameDay), however, I just completely lost it and started crying. Mixed in with all of the wonderful things Tito had to say about Jon, that hug was one of the most adorable, sweetest, and emotional things I've ever seen.

Moving away from baseball, the final game of the Champion's League (that's soccer--or football as they call it over there) was held today in Russia. The two teams vying for the trophy were Manchester United and and Chelsea. I wasn't particularly interested in who won, but I really wanted to see a good game, and that's exactly what I got! It was a very intense game that went all the way to penalty kicks to decide the winner. After the victorious Manchester team and their dedicated fans celebrated their win, the tears rushing down their cheeks blending in with the rain, all I could think of was the many victories our own team--the Red Sox--has celebrated recently. I saw a flashback of Dave Roberts diving into second in the bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium; I saw Foulke underhand the ball to first; I saw Seth Smith's swinging bat make the final out to sweep last year's World Series; I saw Jon Lester's left hand make a fist as Varitek caught the final out of the no-hitter. And then I saw something I didn't expect--a droplet of water floating down to the floor below. Yes, it was a tear. A tear of happiness, of celebration, of my love and pride for this team.