Boston's one-for-the-record-books defeat of the Yankees Wednesday night powered Fox to a crushing ratings victory according to Nielsen Media Research overnight numbers (those numbers will change slightly once the West Coast ratings returns are in).
The game averaged a 10.5 rating/25 share in the 18-49 demo, over double ABC's 4.6/11 for Lost, The Bachelor and Wife Swap.
It marked the first time Lost, just picked up for a full season, has lost its time period, a blow softened somewhat by two factors. It lost to a miraculous, once-in-a-baseball-lifetime event, and its 6.1/15 was two-and-a-half times the rating of its next-closest competitor.
NBC was third for the night with a 4.6/11 in 18-49's for back-to-back West Wing episodes (an old and a new) and Law & Order: SVU.
CBS came in fourth with a 3.2/8 for 60 Minutes, which tied with a West Wing repeat for last in the time period, and repeats of CSI: Miami and CSI.
UPN came in fifth with a 2.1/5 for Next Top Model and Kevin Hill.
The WB came in sixth. It got a strong performance from Smallville (2.4/6), which came in third from 8-9, beating NBC and CBS in the time period, as did UPN (2.2/6), a rare if not unprecedented netlet performance. But The WB's average was hurt by The Mountain's valley-like 1.1/3 at 9-10.
The WB said Wednesday that it has decided to move The Mountain to Sunday night, swapping places with drama Jack & Bobby.
