Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  Come on in, have a seat.  How are you?  We had a late night last night, thanks to the Red Sox - Yankees game.  It should be illegal for those things to start after 7:00.  The game went into extra innings, and then there was the drive back from Dad Clutter's house.  After that, I had to get BDH and Little Buddha ready for bed, but everyone was still wound up after all of the excitement, and long story short, I think we fell asleep about 10 minutes ago.  It was worth it though, given the outcome of the game, but we'll get to that in a bit.  The guys just brought in the coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Monday Clutter.

Is Donald Trump cracking up?  Trump admitted on Twitter yesterday that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer in 2016 to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.  (Not that we mind, but does the Great Pumpkin threaten physical violence to anyone who tries to keep him off Twitter?)  Trump still claims he didn't know about the meeting at the time, but he also now says colluding with another government to influence the presidential election is politics as usual.  The man can't stop digging himself into a larger legal hole.  We ask once again, will the GOP continue to follow him right off the cliff?  Oh, and here's a reminder that the midterm elections are 92 days away.

Who would throw who under the bus first?  (pic via thestatesman.com)

Alright, the reason we're so tired is that the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 5-4 in 10 innings last night to finish off a four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers.  David Price has to feel good about his outing, giving up just two runs over six innings.  Hopefully he'll remember this game come October.  Boston's offense was pretty quiet for most of the night, except for a Mookie Betts solo home run in the 5th inning.  The Yankees scored four runs in the 7th inning, thanks in part to a Xander Bogaerts error.  However, the team battled back in the 9th inning against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, and who had the clutch hit (with help from an error by New York third baseman Miguel Andujar) to tie the game?  Xander Bogaerts.  It's funny how these things work out.  After that, it was Andrew Benintendi's moment to play the hero when he hit "a 15-bouncer" single up the middle in the 10th to drive in pinch-runner Tony Renda, who probably still hasn't met all of his teammates after just being called up from the minors.

What a series.  The Red Sox are now 9 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East, they're an insane 45 games over .500, as well as being just two (make that three) victories away from securing a winning season, which is the first step on the checklist.  With any luck, they broke New York's spirit.  In the meantime, Boston has today off, and then they start a series in Toronto against the Blue Jays, with Drew Pomeranz still trying to secure his spot in the rotation.

Shame again on the Houston Astros for trading for pitcher Roberto Osuna, who is coming off a 75-game suspension for violating MLB's domestic violence (DV) policy.  Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow spoke pure nonsense when he claimed the team has a "no-tolerance" policy on DV when it comes to players in their own organization, but he believes in second chances for players from other teams.  What it comes down to is that the team gave away any claim to moral integrity to acquire a guy who throws a baseball real fast. 

Sounds like Ray Lewis gave a memorable speech after being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame over the weekend.  We're a little more interested in what Terrell Owens had to say when he gave his acceptance speech at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

Demi Lovato returned to Instagram yesterday to make her first public statement since suffering a reported overdose on July 24.  We wish the singer the best in her ongoing battle with addiction issues.

We're sorry to hear that Charlotte Rae died yesterday after battling bone cancer.  The actress was best known for playing "Mrs. Garrett," on the shows Different Strokes and The Facts of Life.  Our condolences go out to her family, friends, and fans.  Ms. Rae was 92 years old.

We thought the show was getting ready to wrap up, but apparently discussions have begun about a season 13 for The Big Bang Theory.  It's hard for all parties to walk away from a TV program that continues to do well in the ratings.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  We might need to buy more coffee.  Taylor Swift recently teamed up with Bryan Adams for a terrific cover of, "Summer of 69," so let's have a look at today's, "Song of the Day."

Someone should do a heavy metal version of that tune.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll see you back here again for more shenanigans soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.