well, Red Sox Nation is unhappy these days, since there hasn't been much to cheer about of late. or at least no hitting. however, much solace should be taken in that they played a not only good, but red-hot Atlanta team to five close games. yeah, they lost, but the glass-half-full perspective would imply that it isn't so bad. they were mostly well-played, close games, and very entertaining. no, what should piss people off is all this interleague play crap to begin with. the whole thing is intended to entertain the fans, which i'm sure it did, but this 'natural rivalry' crap is bunk. the natural rivalries make sense in some case, such as Oakland-SF, but the Braves haven't played in Boston for half a century, and nobody really cared back when they did. they were less loved than the Mets are today. But today, what it means is that the Yankees get to play the below-.500 Mets 6 times, and the Sox get to play Atlanta 6 times. That's potentially a 12-game swing, or, if you prefer, about 4% of the season. Regardless of the outcome, the Red Sox-Braves games have been very entertaining here in June. it'll just be a real shame if it costs us some good games in October.