Imagine, for a moment, that the Sox didn’t win the 2004 World Series. When the dust cleared and I eventually got out of therapy, I would have probably looked back on Bill Mueller’s epic, Yankees-beating home run in the infamous “A-Rod eats glove” game as the saving grace–the silver lining, if you will–of the entire season.

Let’s go there again:

At the time that it happened, this walk-off probably inspired more random high-fives and corner-of-the-bar drunken make-out sessions throughout the city than any other regular season Red Sox home run that came before it. It was literally the exclamation point on one of the most emotionally-charged games played on Fenway’s green. And the fact that it was Billy Mueller–one of the nicest guys to ever wear the uniform–who dealt the crippling blow to Darth Rivera made it that much more satisfying.

Oh, and for those of you still paying attention, the latest chapter in Bud Selig’s Flying Circus is scheduled to play out tonight at 8:37. Let’s hope the Phillies can wrap it up, despite Bud’s best efforts to get this thing back to Tampa Bay.