Around town, sleepless over the Sox

Rob Borowiec and Anna Cosgrove are two sleep-deprived members of Red Sox Nation.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A weary Anna Cosgrove dragged her baseball hangover out of her East Cambridge home at 8:20 this morning, climbed onto the 69 bus, leaned against a window, and promptly fell asleep on the way to work at the public library.

"I don't think I was out that long," Cosgrove said this afternoon, her eyes still slivers. "Maybe 10 minutes?"

It has been a groggy stretch here in New England, where a West Coast playoff series and political debates have kept many glued to their televisions since last Wednesday. Add the latest Tina Fey parody of Governor Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" and there hasn't been a single night away from those well-worn couch cushions.

Here's a tally: Wednesday's baseball game in Anaheim ground on until 1:21 a.m; the vice presidential debate on Thursday lasted until just 10:30 p.m., but pundits pontificated about winners and losers well into the morning; baseball again on Friday, 1:28 a.m.

Then on Sunday night, it was a 5-hour and 19-minute, 12-inning marathon that ended around 1 a.m. The Red Sox clinched the series Monday night in 2 hours and 50 minutes, but reveling in the post-game coverage of the celebration kept many up well past midnight.

And then there's the presidential debate tonight that doesn't start until 9.

"Probably not tonight," said Cosgove, 23. "I think I’m going to catch up on my sleep."

Others, such as Jesse Angeley, need politics almost as much as baseball. That may be why Angeley's caffeine habit is up to three large cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee a day.

Until the baseball and presidential playoffs, "I hadn't really watched TV in the last month and a half," said Angeley, 28, a first year law student from Brookline wrestling with civil procedure and other courses.

Eric Linter, 57, an astrologer from Norfolk, had heavy eyes as he sat on a bench in Boston Common and tried to read "Old School" by Tobias Wolff.

"My brain isn't working too well," Linter said, shaking his head as his sentence trailed off. "These games."

Still, he looks forward to American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

"When it dawned on me it was going to be an East Coast series," Linter said. "I was greatly relieved."

Donning a Red Sox hat and a hooded Red Sox sweatshirt from the 2007 World Series, Rob Borowiec, 34, was all smiles this afternoon, buoyed by the walk-off win over the Angels.

"I got a full night's sleep, even though it was just four hours," said Borowiec, a graphic designer from Palmer. "Apparently I don't need as much sleep as I thought."

Outside Home Depot at South Bay shopping center, Aaron Bruckerhoff, 32, stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. The architect from South Boston said with a hint of pride that late playoff nights no longer affect him.

"It's the same October routine," Bruckerhoff said with a smile.

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