Over the weekend we witnessed some great baseball. The Sox have rattled off these wins with ease. They have not committed an error in 12 games. The Sox have had it all hitting, defense and of course pitching.

Josh Beckett pitched a gem. On Friday night, I played poker and listened to the broadcast, as best I could.

Baseball is a supersticious sport. Hitters have individual rituals during at-bats; pitchers do certain drills at warmups. Some players eat the same meal during a streak and some players hop over the foul line when exiting the field.

The same could be said about fans.

Heck, I wore the same "Life is Good" cap during the 2004 playoffs. Believe me it worked. In fact, I chronicled the Game 5 event .

But I found it particularly interesting how broadcasters told Beckett's story without using the phrase "no-hitter" or "perfect." Everyone knows to utter those words while the feat is in progress is sure doom.

So instead they described it like this: "15 up, 15 down," "Becket has faced the minimum," "Beckett is as good as you can be through five," "That's 16 in a row."

At that point at the poker table, one man asked, "What, is Beckett pitching a no-hitter?" Two of us sat and stared at each other. Moments ago we had mentioned the fact that no one is uttering the all-important phrase. Now this?

I thought it rude not to answer, so I simply looked at the player and said, "He did."

Seemingly, the next pitch ended Beckett's quest. But not all was lost; Beckett went on to win.

The next night was a marvelous exercise of team play. The Phillies chose to start Brett Myers, though he was arrested the day before. The team defends the decision today. Philly.com's Bill Conlin doesn't know why he started. I question it also, but he wasn't really the story.

The story is David Ortiz! Bob Ryan says it must be nice to be Big Papi. Well, yeah.

How could the Phillies pitch to him in the 10th? I'm not complaining. Papi came through, again with a walk-off rocket. Could it get any better? I saw some stat that he know leads the majors in walkoffs since 2002.

Eight straight! The Sox are rolling. I love interleague play!

The Sox have a makeup game versus the Phillies today. According to Weather.com, rain should not be a factor. Though the satellite looks a bit menacing.

Could they make it nine? Absolutely. The wind is blowing out, which could mean good things for Tim Wakefield's knuckleball. Add the fact that Cory Lidle has struggled and No. 9 could go into the books.

Go Sox!

E-mail this entry to a friend