Like raaayeeeaaaiiinnn!!!

As if this ceaseless crummy weather hasn't driven us all to our wits end simply by its nature: blocking out the sun and blanketing the region in a clammy, mildewy wet for who knows how many weeks now.

Now the rain's got to start messing with our baseball team?

I really still cannot believe what I saw happen last night. I was at Redbones around 8, tucking into some ribs, watching Smoltz cruise and our guys pile on runs. It was pleasant. Then, next thing I knew, there was a tarp on the field, dented by torrential sheets of rain.

Seventy-nine minutes later, I was across the street at the Sligo Pub, draining Bud after Bud and watching in utter incredulity as that tranpired in the seventh and eighth, slowly but inexorably.

A single to right
Another single to right
A double to right
A homer to left
A single to center
Two ground outs
Another single to center
Another single to center
A line-out
Six runs in.

Next inning, even more of the same...

A single
A double
Another single
Another single
A sac fly
Another single
A strikeout
Another double
A walk
A flyout
Five more runs in.

“What's stunning,” wrote someone in the SoSH game thread, “is that the Orioles didn't even need to hit in the bottom of the 9th. I mean, wow.”

What’s also stunning is that it was the @#$% ORIOLES.

More bons mots from that thread:

* We're up by 8. Let Smoltz just underhand it for 3 more outs. We'll probably still be up by at least 3 runs after that. Its the fucking Orioles.

* This is the baseball gods punishing the Sox for running off the field with 2 outs.

* I guess that shows you how seriously they take the Orioles

* Masterson's BABIP: .667 (fair balls .714)...

* How can I be strong in times like these?

* The title for this game thread [‘So far, so good!’] is pretty fucking funny right now.

* If I wasn't watching this with my own two eyes, I would not believe it.

* This will be in chapter 3 of the 2009 World Series Video.

* The Os are going to go on a tear and win it all this year?

The good news? These guys are paid to have short memories.

And Josh Beckett takes the mound in about 45 minutes.

So let's not do that again.