Sorry for the late post, I’m still waiting for Jerry Meals to say that Dioner Navarro’s hit is waved off because somebody screamed too loud. All joking asisde, calling off the Pena strike is one of the worst calls I’ve ever heard of. A lot of calls are quick, and you can’t think too long. But in this situation he just didn’t pay attention. I wonder if he hung out with Ed Hochuli this week.

So here’s what we learned from the last two games at the Dump…err…Trop. Beckett is looking in fine playoff form, which is not good, but great news for the Sox. Without him, every team in the AL playoffs would want to play the Sox in the divisional series, because Lester (twice), Dice-K, Byrd and Wakefield would total maybe 2 wins. The offense on the other hand better step it up quickly. Scoring one run against Cy Sonnenstine and three (all from Big Papi) against Matt Garza? Those guys are chumps compared to what we’ll face in the postseason. I can’t believe I’m saying this but…we need JD Drew back.

Also, and I say this with all the love and respect in the world for him, Tim Wakefield cannot start a playoff game. He’s too inconsistent right now. Mediocre Tim seems to have left the building only to be replaced with Dr. Timmy Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Wakefield. And while I’d love to see Dr. Timmy Jekyll show up in the playoffs, it’s too big a gamble.

Unless by some complete Tampa collapse (remember, add a half-game lead to whatever the standings say because of their tiebreaker), the Sox will be the AL Wild Card team. I guess it’s better than saying goodbye to your stadium while fighting to stay out of fourth!