So far, so good (sort of: let's just forget the Red Sox, why don't we)

Nice to see the Phillies knock the Dodgers silly, isn't it?

Yes, I do like their manager, Joe Torre (late of the Yankees). But the Dodgers also have Manny Ramirez, late of the Red Sox (although still on the Red Sox payroll).  And the new, Los Angeles Manny positioning himself as hero, darling, leader, good citizen, dote, etc. is more than I can take.

So I surely didn't want to see a World Series with the Dodgers  in it. And, if the Red Sox were to make it into the World Series, the Fall Classic would surely have revolved around the Manny-Red Sox psycho-drama. (I.e., why did Manny roll over and play dead on the Red Sox, only to turn into the most valuable player in the whole wide world the minute he left town.)

Frankly, I'd rather see the Red Sox go down in the preliminary playoff series, which seems as if it's going to happen, than have had to endure a Dodgers-Red Sox series.

Yech!

So now I'm saying, bring on the Phillies-Rays.

Sort of.

Despite their abysmal performance so far, I'm still rooting for the Red Sox. I'm not a pink-hatter, bandwagoner, or johnny-come-fan-lately, but someone who's been following the Home Towne Team through better and/or worse for 50+ years (yikes!)

My first memory, in fact, is toddling over to the black and white Philco TV to try to pick a runner off base - no doubt goaded on by my baseball-fanatic father.

I've been a fan through thick and thin, and I've got to say that, over my lifetime, it's been more thin than thick.

So I'd like to see the Red Sox in the World Series.

But if they can't be there, I'll be thrilled to root for the Tampa Bay Rays.

What a great story! (More  on this likely to follow if the Rays, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in MLB, do make it to the Series.)

Whatever the outcome in the American League, I must say that, given the current tempora et mores, I'm delighted that we have sports as a diversion.

When I'm watching the Red Sox (Rays, Phillies, whatever), I'm not worrying about "the market", derivatives, meltdowns, bailouts, masters of the universe, recession, foreclosures, depression, layoffs, Wall Street, or Main Street.

Of course, I do think about overspending, child's play, occasionaly displays of macho imbecility. But still... It's baseball.

Was there ever a more perfect, a more brilliant, a more perfectly brilliant sport?

NFW!

Bread and circuses?

Absolutely!

But I'll take it.