81 down, 81 to go

After beating the Rangers tonight, the Red Sox are officially half way done with the regular season. They're on pace to finish 100-62 and win the division by 22 games. Not to shabby. The pitching is now a concern, especially since Schilling is hurt and Wakefield's old. Beckett's had a rough go of things as of late too. As long as they don't completely collapse, the Red Sox should bring home their first division title since the Mo Vaughn-Jose Canseco-Roger Clemens 1995 lead team.

In other news, I'm thinking of starting a magic number countdown. Maybe not a magic number countdown, but an elimination countdown. When a team is eliminated, we should have a big party, celebrating the fact that there is one less team eligible for the World Series title. Up to the minute elimination numbers show the Cincinatti Reds are closest to being eliminated from post season eligibility. If the Reds lose a mere 66 more games, they are officially off for October. 66 is too big a number to countdown from. I guess I'll wait until it gets to 20 or 10 or something.