No joy in Mudville today, friends...no joy at all. The universal constant of disappointment that's part of Red Sox Universe once again served up a heartbreaker last night, as Pedro the Ace unraveled the tantalizing lead in an almost Nixonian moment of hubris against the gods of fatigue, fate, and fingernails. You know that old line, "a taste of honey's worse than none at all?" Even worse is the promise of a taste. Sigh.

At the very least, let me do the Friday Five...

1. Name five things in your refrigerator: capers, iced tea, pumpkin cheesecake, Bass ale, grape tomatoes.

2. Name five things in your freezer: Trader Joe's chicken biryani, coffee beans, several gel ice packs, cherries, peas.

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink: Fantastick, Windex, GooGone, DranO, Nature's Miracle.

4. Name five things around your computer: Lego Paul Pierce action figure, bottle of vitamins, The Onion tear-off calendar, Hoberman sphere, small Australian flag.

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet: Neosporin, Harry Potter Band-Aids, the old showerhead, seven different kinds of OTC allergy-sinus medicine, possibly expired condoms.