Making a difference.

"At the halfway point, the guy in the American League who has still been the biggest difference-maker is Jonathan Papelbon of the Red Sox."

Player A: 2-1, 0.59 ERA, 46 IP, 25 hits, 8 bb, 47 k, 26/29 saves/opportunities.

Player B: 1-0, 0.84 ERA, 42 2/3 IP, 21 hits, 9 bb, 54 k, 24/25 saves/opportunities.


The Red Sox are 53-33 after 86 games in 2006. The Red Sox were 49-37 after 86 games in 2005.

The Blue Jays are 49-39 after 88 games in 2006. The Blue Jays were 44-44 after 88 games in 2006.


Listen, I don't know, either.

I don't know why you could google "Lupica + Papelbon" and find fifty articles, but when you google "Lupica + Ryan," you'd only find references to Bob Ryan, the sportswriter, or maybe Nolan Ryan.

I don't know why Lupica suddenly chose the underwhelming Billy Wagner as his new love interest. (I just hope Theo Epstein can get over it.)

Halladay is healthy and already has 12 wins. Rios is the most improved player in MLB. Wells is an MVP candidate again. Johnson (Reed Johnson) is hitting .365 after 200 at-bats. Six of their starters are hitting over .300. They lead the league in batting average. They lead the league in slugging percentage. This is all occurring right in the AL East.

I don't know why the NY press is going to be caught off guard in early September when the Blue Jays have a better record than the Yankees. Mabye that's when the panic will set in. Maybe some Yankees fans will be surprised by this turn of events because some NY columnists are too busy sending Valentines to the Red Sox.