Saint Sean's first miracle?

The Red Sox stunned the Rays with an amazing 8-7 comeback win last night! Joy in Beantown! Faith at Fenway! Read the Globe coverage here. But was it perhaps something else that forestalled a renascent Curse?

Such as this man, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley? Yes, there has been a sighting, as The Globe's own Michael Paulson explains:

Cardinal William H. O'Connell was never much of a Red Sox fan. Despite presiding over the Archdiocese of Boston during a period when the team won the World Series four times, there's no evidence that he used his free pass to Fenway, and he railed against the playing of baseball on Sundays.

His successor, Cardinal Richard J. Cushing, was more of an enthusiast, periodically buying blocks of seats at Fenway and bringing hundreds of nuns, in full habit, to games...

Now comes Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan friar better known for his affection for foreign films, Spanish literature, and "A Prairie Home Companion," but who showed up at Fenway Park with a group of priests and church officials to watch the Red Sox clinch a wild card berth on Sept. 23.

"Since I have been the archbishop of Boston, the team has won two championships," O'Malley blogged afterward. "Only one other archbishop in the history of the diocese can make that claim. Cardinal O'Connell saw the victories of 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918 . . . but, I have just gotten started!"

But how far can Cardinal Sean take them? Okay, full disclosure: I am rooting for the Rays. Young team, low payroll. Very appealing. And I am a National League guy, a Mets fan (sorry about 1986). And I don't like the Phillies. And I do think the BoSox will need some serious mojo to take this from Tampa. Who's the bishop there? Any bet on with his Boston counterpart?

Oh, and the Cardinal is a blogger too--and source of the above foto. Check him out at www.cardinalseansblog.org.