I was looking forward to a a pitching duel last night. I was hoping the Sox would be held scoreless until, say, the eighth inning only to come back and win it again. Strange? Yes, I know.

I had nothing to do with the drama of Sunday's game nor the historical significance. It was purely selfish.

I have my reasons. I just made a huge fantasy trade. I traded Derek Lee, Carlos Beltran, Solomon Torres, Micah Owings and Dmitri Young for Nomar Garciaparra, Jake Peavy, Jose Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and (the reason for my hope) Nate Robertson.

I remember Robertson from his Sea Dog days and was intrigued by his early season's stats. Prior to last night's game he really had only one blemish and that was against the Mariners on Wednesday. A fluke, or so I thought. So, I was excited to get him, until I saw that is first start on my team would be against MY Red Sox. Ugh!

The best thing that I could hope for: a late-inning Sox victory - long after Robertson departed.

I was struck in a strange Catch-22: cheer for the Sox and hope that Robertson gets out of Boston unscathed. How does one do both?

I cheered when Ortiz hit an RBI-single, then midway through my applause, I'd realize "Damn, now Robertson has an ERA of 18.00."

Now I had to hope for a 1-0 game. Nope.

It was soon 3 to 1 and I was hoping that Robertson could at least get seven innings and keep his pitch count down.

Nope and nope.

Needless to say, Robertson was touched up for three runs in five innings and looked a little lackluster. He did manage to keep it close, however.

In fact, it seemed as though he allowed runs to score only after recording two outs. I can only imagine his frustration; I was frustrated - well, sort of.

After Robertson left the game with the damage done, I could rest easy and cheer the Sox on to victory.

Oh, and hope that Maggio could at least go 2 for 4. Nope.

It doesn't pay to cheer against the Sox (well sort of).

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