It didn’t help Boston that the Yankees blew a 7-0 lead over the Rays and lost 8-7 in 12 innings. A Yankees win would have forced a one-game playoff between the Rays and Sox. It’s almost as if the Yankees rolled over. But no matter — the Red Sox lost a 3-2 lead to the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth and their 7-20 September record is their worst in that month since 1952. They have no one else to blame.

It’s always nice to see Boston sports team collapse since their fans are the most insufferable in sports. And to see the Red Sox totally fall apart was delightful since I know it caused misery throughout New England sports fandom.

ESPN The Magazine devoted its entire last issue to a nauseating examination of why Boston sports are so superior (they literally wrote that Boston athletes are smarter). Whose smart now? The Sox choking like dogs and Tom Brady throwing four picks in a loss to Buffalo, all in the span of three days. Can you say schadenfreude?

As for the Braves, who cares? They have been the most boring good team in sports the past 20 years, so they won’t be missed.

Your playoffs are set: Yankees-Tigers; Rays-Rangers in the A.L. Phillies-Cardinals, Brewers-Diamondbacks in the N.L.

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Sam Fuld

Just a couple weeks ago, baseball’s talking heads were repeating the same line: “What a boring September. All the races are over.” I guess the Tampa Bay Rays never got that memo. When they woke up on Sept. 3 they were 9.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL wild card position; They’re now 3.5 games behind and play those same Red Sox the next three games after beating them, 9-2, last night.

Interestingly, the New York Yankees play these two teams each of the final 10 games of the season: Seven against the Rays and three against the Sox. They currently have a four-game lead on Detroit for homefield advantage. If that lead holds, they could have “nothing” to play for in their final three games against the Rays…and wouldn’t the Yankees fans love their team to knock out the Red Sox by “throwing” those final three games…. The Angels are also lurking out there, five games behind Boston.

Either way, gay fans will likely have something to cheer about as the Red Sox and Rays have both produced ‘It Gets Better’ videos. The Angels have not…yet.

In the NL, the Braves hold a 4.5-game lead over the Cardinals and a 6-game lead over the Giants for that wild card spot. The other 10 teams not in contention for a playoff spot are all sub-.500.

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Kudos to the Red Sox. Now, where are the Yankees? Video after the jump.

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Sam Maden and his late uncle Chris Nutile

The Boston Red Sox have announced they will produce an anti-bullying “It Gets Better” video. The Red Sox will be the third Major League Baseball team to do so; the San Francisco Giants released theirs last week and the Chicago Cubs announced Friday they will produce one.

The Red Sox were inspired by a petition campaign started by 12-year-old Sam Maden of Nashua, N.H., who was doing a class project on helping to make the world a better place. His idea was motivated by the memory of his gay uncle, 43, who died recently. From the Boston Globe:

“The Red Sox are my favorite team, and when I saw the Giants were doing it, I really wanted to get them to do it too,” Maden said. “I see kids who are bullies, I see them everyday. I do what I can to get them to stop, and I thought this might make it better.”

Maden’s idea was inspired by the unexpected death of his 43-year-old uncle Chris Nutile, who was gay, and died suddenly while traveling abroad in January.

“My brother would visit and he would often educate my children about causes important to him, he was a huge humanitarian,” said Tara Maden, Sam’s mother.

“When I found out about my uncle’s passing, I didn’t know what to do,” Sam Maden said. “This is something I can do to honor him. Uncle Chris knew how much I love the Red Sox and I think he would have been thrilled with the team making an ‘It Gets Better’ video.”

Sam collected 9,244 signatures on a petition and the Red Sox readily agreed to make the video.

Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston has more background on Sam and his late uncle:

Nutile was gay, and one of the causes he was most passionate about was the Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention counseling service for youth, especially members of the LGBT community. At Pennichuck Middle School, where Sam is a seventh grader, time is set aside for the kids to do something to make a difference. Sam and a couple of his buddies organized a bike-a-thon for the Trevor Project, and raised $800.

Nutile would have been proud, of course, had he lived. But he was in Brazil this past winter during the devastating mudslides that struck that country, and in January the family was notified by the U.S. consulate that he had been killed, although the circumstances of his death, Tara said, have never been fully explained. Nutile was 43.

As for whom Sam wants to see in the Red Sox video, he told Edes: “I would like to see Dustin Pedroia in it because he is my favorite player and Jason Varitek because he is the captain of the team and seen as the leader of the Red Sox,” he said.

You would be hard-pressed to find a cooler story than this in sports. Young Sam hit a grand slam with his idea.

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Opening Day 2011 has arrived!

In an attempt not to have baseball played in November again, the 2011 season began a few days earlier than in seasons past. So I had no choice but to blow off work, buy some hot dogs & beer, and settle onto my couch and begin the journey of a 162-game Major League Baseball season.

The Braves, Yankees, Reds, Angels, Padres, and Dodgers all won on Opening Day while the Nationals, Tigers, Brewers, Royals, Cardinals, and Giants lost. It is hard to put value on these first games because the season is so long but some of these teams might look back to the results of  Opening Day if their playoff chances are decided by one game or less.

Many dramas will be unfolding over the course of the next seven months and I would like to highlight some that I find most interesting…

Battle for the NL East: Almost everyone in the world is picking the Phillies to take their division and easily make it to the World Series, with good reason because of the phenomenal four in their starting rotation of Halliday, Lee, Hamels, and Oswalt…WOW! However, the 2010 Wild Card winning Braves have a pretty impressive four of their own in Lowe, Hudson, Hanson, and Jurrjens. The Braves might just have the edge because of their superior bullpen.

Three team race for the AL East: Boston looks to be the favorite here because of their acquisitions of Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Bobby Jenks. The Yankees are never out of the conversation because of the big talent, big money players always on their roster. The Yanks starting rotation is questionable other than Sabathia but the impressive back end of their bullpen of Joba and Mariano just got better with the addition of  Rafael Soriano. The Rays lost some valuable players but they also gained some potentially potent offensive players in Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon but is it enough to repeat as winners of this tough division.

How the NL West will be won: Can the World Series Champion San Fransisco Giants repeat their success of 2010? Their pitching is still great but the Giants did not make any significant off season moves while the Padres made great improvements even after losing Adrian Gonzalez by adding Bartlett, Hudson, Hawpe, and Maybin. The Dodgers have much to prove after a very disappointing 2010 but the maturation of their pitching staff and improved health of their offense could actually make them contenders for the NL West.

There are many more teams and many more stories that will factor into this season but I think the 2011 World Series participants will most likely come from the above mentioned divisions. However, anything can happen from day 1 to day 162 and the three divisions not mentioned might be more involved in the post season picture than I have envisioned. Naaah, probably not.

Low and inside.

Kevin Hart writes the myboyfriendlikesbaseball blog.

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Listen to the podcast here (you don’t need itunes).

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Funny, right? I don’t think so. If the whole team was dressing up, sure, that’d be hysterical! But when you force rookies or younger players to be embarrassed or hurt, you tell kids, “It’s okay to single out new players and make them do things they don’t want to do.” Those kids then do things like sodomize and injur their teammates. I won’t apologize for reacting strongly whenever I see role models hazing one another: It leads to physical and psychological injuries in high school and college and it’s not right.

I was the founding president of my fraternity (Theta Delta Chi) at Stanford, and I took hazing seriously then. It was an odd situation: We had a pledge class of 45 guys and only three active members. Still, I was so cognizant of hazing issues and always had at least one active member participate in all of our activities, and at least one member of the pledge class had to opt out of it. Plus, there were never any penalties for anyone who opted out and there was never any pressure on the newbies from the active members to participate. By making it optional with no repercussions, and having active members participate, we maintained the value of bonding without hazing.

Unfortunately, kids won’t see what the Red Sox have done as voluntary or without repercussion. I already hated the Red Sox. Now I have reason No. 574.

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If the Yankees were just 3-4 against the Red Sox this season, they’d have a 2-game division lead.

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The tea leaves this morning point to Brett Favre wearing purple this season. Favre: “Yay, more attention for me me me!”

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Ex-Red Sox player says the team taught them how to use steroids.

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