-Are the Red Sox about to blow the division? Well, it got even more interesting tonight as they were swept by the Blue Jays up in Toronto falling 6-1 to the Yankees’ next opponent.

Boston did have their chances late but Julio Lugo left the bases loaded in the seventh grounding out to short. Maybe if the shortstop had actually hustled out of the box instead of assuming Ray Olmedo would field his routine grounder cleanly, he might’ve beaten it out. Instead, he dogged it and Olmedo barehanded his bobble and threw out a frustrated Lugo who slammed his helmet. What would you expect from a former D-Ray?

A night after not going to his closer, Boston skipper Terry Francona decided to bring Jonathan Papelbon into the game in the eighth to try to keep it a one-run deficit. Instead, he served up a grand slam to last night’s pinch hit hero Russ Adams putting the game out of reach.

Jays’ closer Jeremy Accaro who got Mike Lowell swinging to end the eighth retired the side in order for his 28th save to send the Sahhhxxx to their fourth consecutive defeat.

Meanwhile at The Stadium, the Yanks edged the Orioles 2-1 to complete a three-game sweep to pull within one and a half. They now trail the Sox by one game in the loss column.

Hideki Matsui hit his 25th home run and Doug Mientkiewicz came into score the winning run on a wild pitch out of all things while Andy Pettite held the O’s in check giving up just one earned over seven and two thirds to win his 14th- becoming the 27th southpaw to win 200 career games. Congrats!

He’s won 10 of 14 starts since the All-Star break and been the Yanks’ best starter.

Mariano Rivera made things interesting loading the bases but got pinch hitter Scott Moore looking at a cutter to pickup his 30th save for the 10th season in 11 years as Yankee closer.

Suddenly, the Yanks who have now won 12 of 14 are right there for not only the AL East but for the league’s best record just two out in the loss column behind both the Indians who swept the Tigers basically ending their season and the Angels, whose magic number is down to three to clinch the AL West.

Back on May 29, the Yankees trailed their bitter rivals up in Massachusetts by 14 and a half. During the infamous 1978 comeback, they were 14 out on July 19.

Can another great comeback be about to take place?

The Sox travel to Tampa for the weekend while the Yanks host the Jays.

-The Mets got off the deck finally to win their first game in six 8-4 over the Nationals. Mike Pelfrey wasn’t great but did pitch into the sixth allowing three runs despite giving up nine hits. So he did okay enough for the New York offense to support him. David Wright drove in three and Jose Reyes decided to show up for a change as the Amazin’s got a huge win to go back up two and a half because the Phillies lost in extras to the Cards 2-1.

Who was the hero? Met killer Yadier Molina. So the catcher helped them out this time.

Biggest inning in this one was the Nats’ sixth when Pelfrey ran into trouble putting runners at the corners before leaving with a two-run lead in favor of Jorge Sosa.

He had been brutal lately but got pinch hitter D’Angelo Jimenez looking on three pitches and then a pitch later induced Nook Logan into a 6-6-3 inning ending double play which SNY announcer Gary Cohen nearly orgasmed on. I wish we could make this up but if you’ve ever watched a Mets game, you know how much he screams when his team makes a big play. He’s almost gotten as annoying as John Sterling.
You can’t blame him for getting excited. But geez. Call the game. Howie Rose is much  better at that but somehow is on the radio instead. Why? Even if his “put it in the books” has gotten silly, he’s still a much better play-by-play man than Cohen.

-If you saw the conclusion of an exciting Cubs’ 3-2 win over the Reds despite the fact Adam Dunn actually caught Derrek Lee’s ball (if only he had argued more) which turned into the winning run in the eighth, then you know all you need to about why putting Cubs home games on national TV is great.

Just watching how into it the fans were pitch by pitch was awesome. With the fans behind the plate literally on top of the field standing as Bob Howry closed out the Reds getting rookie Joey Votto swinging, it was pandemonium.

The ESPN cameras went to chaotic Cubs fans hugging each other like they won the pennant and a crazed fan who held up a sign that read, “Its Gonna Happen.”

Unbelievable. This was baseball at its finest. That’s why you have to root for Lou Piniella’s team to make it back to October. They’re great for the game.

They now lead the Brewers by a game because despite Richie Weekes tying two-run dinger in the ninth off Brad Lidge who blew his seventh save, Milwaukee fell in extras 5-4 on rookie Hunter Pence’s walkoff hit.

In that one, Prince Fielder slugged his senior circuit leading 47th to extend his career best hitting streak to 17 straight. What a season the son of Cecil has had. Will it be enough to get them in?

-I know there’s been a lot of talk about Wright for MVP but Matt Holiday deserves it. He hit two more home runs tonight in Colorado’s 6-5 come from behind win over the Dodgers.

He’s now hitting .340 with 35 dingers and 128 RBI’s. His average ranks first as does the RBI’s while the homers place him fourth behind Fielder (47), Ryan Howard (40) and Adam Dunn (40).

It’s not like the Rockies are a bad team either. Their 80-72 record is only a few games worse than the Mets and NL WC leading Padres. They still have a slim chance of making the postseason but must continue to win and get some help.

Holliday’s season can’t be ignored even if they miss. We’ve seen A-Rod rewarded on a last place team before. The Rockies would be in the playoffs if they played in the NL Central.