Exciting endings

After a complicated night in our real lives and a general blah-ish feeling about our teams, I'm keeping it short tonight.

We woke up and learned that no matter how awful our teams play this week, there will be at least one extra SoxandPhils game this year because the Angels beat the Rangers last night, guaranteeing the Red Sox at least a tie for the Wild Card - and what would be a one-game sudden-death play-in game on Monday, if necessary.

If the Phillies survive this week, we won't be seeing them in the playoffs. We got our notification that we didn't win the lottery for the opportunity to purchase playoff tickets for the NLDS. After years of getting suckered into buying tickets during the near-misses of the early 2000s, we finally got to see playoff baseball in 2007. We saw three games last year - thankfully, Christine didn't listen to me when I said not to buy tickets because the Phillies were four games out in September and looked like they weren't going to make it. We'll be watching from home this year.

Tonight's games: The Phillies woke up and Ryan Madson looked like Brad Lidge ... Brad Lidge circa 2008 but with the ability to go two innings. The Phillies beat the Astros 7-4 and are also assured of at least a tie for a playoff slot because the Marlins just beat the Braves. Magic number, 1. Christine should be less cranky tomorrow.

The Red Sox came close with their own exciting ending, but couldn't close the deal. Clay Buchholz didn't have it tonight, but the Red Sox scored five in the 8th to pull within a run. They had the potential tying run on second base (speedster Jacoby Ellsbury), but Kevin Youkilis struck out looking to end it. Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 7. Maybe the Angels will finish what they started last night and eliminate the Rangers for us (Halos up 1-0 in the 2nd).

Lord knows our teams can't take care of their own business right now.