I am sorry, Julian. I have been rude about Julian Tavarez. He has been great since he was plunked in the starting rotation. Yesterday he smoked the Jays:

But doing the heavy lifting was Tavarez, who needed just 99 pitches to finish this one out. The Red Sox are now 4-1 in his five starts, a span in which Tavarez has gone 2-0.

"I'll tell you what, it's been a breath of fresh air," Francona said. "We're going through a period where we're looking for bodies to start, and you get a guy who comes in and pitches like he has. It's been great. And regardless of whether he starts or relieves, getting outs is what we're looking for. He's doing that very effectively."

Let's face it. The Yankees (pttui!) have played amazingly well since the all-star break while the Sox were hammered with injuries. The Yankees have had their players out, too, but while Mariano Rivera, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui were out others stepped up like Melky Cabrera and the bullpen. The Sox just did not have the depth yet this year.

So this weekend, we can just enjoy the Jays losing during their last games home. And soon we will be dreaming about 2007.