Apparently Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanza came early to Fenway this season. I didn’t have high hopes when the runaway AL Cy Young award winner with a 22-2 record comes into Fenway to face what lately has been amounting to Mr. Hyde Wakefield. And yet, somehow, while the bats couldn’t do much against some rookie with an ERA north of 6, they could do just enough damage against Cliff Lee to hand him his 3rd loss of the season…in September.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. With the Sox magic number sitting at a lowly one entering the game, the win made it official that the Sox would have an opportunity to defend their World Series trophy in October. It was a raucous celebration, and for all the analysts complaining that they shouldn’t be celebrating this hard when the division is still at stake I have two things to say. First, the Devil Rays have won the division, I’ll concede it now. Three games back with five to play plus the tiebraker? I’m not expecting any miracles. Second, here’s a list of Sox players who did not miss time to injury this season: Lester, Delcarmen, Masterson, Paps, Cash, Cora, and Pedroia. That’s right, SEVEN out of a 25 man roster were available to play every game. Celebrate boys, you certainly deserve it. I hope you all have trouble with the sun tomorrow morning. Although I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t have any pant-less dances this year. Giving away the bases was a nice touch by Paps, but only three people get to enjoy that…everybody enjoys a Irish jigg in your undies.

Clinching the playoff berth was only one of the many things to celebrate. With the Sox win, today also became Yankee Elimination Day, which really should be a national holiday. The best part about YED is that it seems to be coming earlier and earlier every year. Starting in 2003, the MFY have been eliminated on October 25th, 20th, 10th, 7th and 8th. Maybe next year we can get it to coincide with Labor Day?

And finally, since good things seem to come in threes, we learned that Johnny Pesky, Mr. Red Sox himself, will finally have his number retired on Friday. Johnny, I say this on behalf of, well, just myself, this is so long overdue it’s not even funny. I’m guessing you’ll enjoy the big round number next to some of your old buddies a bit more than the cake the Sox gave you two years ago for your birthday. Maybe Papelbon will perform a dance for you for the occasion. We can only hope.