Old Man Napkin, He Just Keeps Rollin' Along. John Burkett pitched his finest game of the season and Boston made its 2-run third inning stand up, winning 2-0 in Cleveland. In Oakland, Seattle won 6-1. The Red Sox's magic number for the wild card is now seven.

According to Elias, Red Sox starters entered last night tied for first (with Toronto) in the AL in ERA this month (3.17); only the Dodgers (2.19) and Cubs (2.88) are better. ... ERAs in September (3 starts each): Pedro 1.17, Wakefield 1.61, Lowe 2.57. ... Burkett has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 14 of his last 19 starts. Nice.

Kim began the ninth, but after getting the first two outs, he hit Martinez and Hafner on successive pitches. Grady was quick out of the dugout to yank him and Embree needed only two pitches to get the final out on a grounder back to the box. ... There are plenty of fans who are now officially scared when Kim enters a game, and while I'm not a member of that club yet, I am getting close. Grady has been true to his word lately of getting pitchers out of the game when they begin to struggle (he also did it with Burkett in the 8th). I agreed with both of those decisions (as well as moving Jackson from CF to 2B in the 8th). Now, what Grady and Dave Wallace should do is use the final 2-3 innings of every game the rest of the way to restore some order in the pen. I'd like to see Kim setting up Williamson, Arroyo get more work and Embree to be more than a LOOGY (lefty, one-out guy)

David Pinto discusses Zone Rating ... Hey, it's Mr. Intangibles! ... Bill Simmons on HBO/Bambino. ... A good blog. ... Cubs ticket scams: 1908 and 2003. ... Tom Tippett: "Boston has lost eight more stolen games than they've won, easily the worst imbalance in the majors. ... [T]his Boston team is a statistical juggernaut that should be leading the league in wins." Chat. ... Seattle (Pineiro)/Oakland (Duchscherer) at 4 pm; Lowe/Cliff Lee at 7 pm. Lee has a huge reverse split (AVG/OPS: v LH .311/.882, v RH .196/.596), so hopefully Damon, Mueller and Nixon can all play.

So Bush admits that for months his administration fed us a huge lie (and sent hundreds of American soliders to their deaths based on that lie): there is no evidence Saddam Hussein was involved with the 9/11 attacks. Big news, right? Think again. According to Editor & Publisher, most major American newspapers either buried the story or ignored it completely. ... Pvt. Kenneth Henry, 21, a Third Division radar operator with a field artillery unit: "[Bush] likes war. He should go fight in a war for two days and see how he likes it."