G160: Red Sox 5, Yankees 3

Why Knot Us?


It's too early for the ALCS and ALDS.

This is the ALES (American League East Series).

Jeter      6    Damon      8
Rodriguez  5    Renteria   6
Giambi     3    Ortiz      -
Sheffield  9    Ramirez    7
Matsui     7    Nixon      9
Posada     2    Varitek    2
Sierra     -    Olerud     3
Williams   8    Mueller    5
Cano       4    Graffanino 4

Wang       1    Wells      1

Tonight's mojo-riffic beer: Steamwhistle.

Yankees 1st: First pitch, Wells to Jeter at 7:10: strike called, low outside. Capt. Intangibles strikes out on three pitches, swinging and missing a 86 mph cut fastball down and in. Slappy and Giambi both walk as Wells gets squeezed on at least three pitches. Sheffield then gets hit on the back foot to load the bases. Matsui singles to left center. Damon was playing deep, got a poor jump, and the ball falls in front of him. One run scores. Posada strikes out swinging. Sierra flies out to Nixon in right-center. Yankees 1-0.

Red Sox 1st: Will the strike zone be as small for Wang? Damon walks on five pitches, but nothing is questionable. Damon steals second. A low 3-1 pitch to Renteria is called a strike, a pitch Wells did not get in the top half. ER grounds to shortstop, Damon holds. MVPapi pokes a single through the infield to right-center. Williams has no chance to get Damon. Tie game, 1-1. Ramirez and Nixon both strike out.

Yankees 2nd: Wells settles down, adapting his pitches to tonight's strike zone. He's helped out by two nice running catches, one by Ramirez and one by Nixon.

Red Sox 2nd: Varitek blasts Wang's first pitch into the Monster Seats in left center. He sprints around the bases and Boston leads 2-1.

Red Sox 3rd: Damon reaches on a ball that rolls right through E-Rod's legs into left. (And the MVP should go to him because of his defense? Bah.) Rent bunts him to second, almost beating Wang's throw to first. Ortiz grounds sharply to Wang, and is thrown out, but Damon stupidly breaks for third and is out in a rundown. Double play: 1-3-5-6.

Yankees 4th: Matsui leads off with a single to center, but Wells needs only 10 pitches to get three outs, on two popups and a strikeout.

Boston 4th: Nixon walks with one out. With Varitek batting, a hit-and-run play is botched and Nixon is tagged out after pulling up short at second. Two horrible baserunning blunders that could come back to haunt the Sox.

Yankees 5th: Another 1-2-3 inning for Wells, the last out being a fly to the center field track by A-Rod. Easy catch for Damon.

Red Sox 5th: Olerud walks on four pitches, but Mueller grounds into a double play on 3-1 pitch. The Sox have been swinging at balls out of the strike zone, helping Wang out. (The Yankee rookie ends up walking six batters in 6.2 innings, but it could have been many more if the Boston batters had been more patient.)

Yankees 5th: Giambi rips a single, and one out later, Matsui doubles to right center. Nixon takes a wide route to the ball and it skips by him and rolls to the wall. 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Posada hits a hot shot to third, and Mueller, behind the bag by the line, holds the runner and makes a long throw to first. Sierra flies out to Damon. End of inning. Still 2-1.

Red Sox 6th: Damon lines a single over Cano into right field. With Renteria up, Damon steals second without a throw. ER strikes out and Ortiz is walked intentionally. After Manny rips a long foul to left, he singles to left. Damon is held at third and Boston has the bases loaded with one out. The Yankees pen is quiet. Nixon shows some patience -- and draws a five-pitch walk. Damon scores and it's 3-1. In the visiting dugout, Torre is visibly annoyed. Varitek fouls off two pitches, then grounds to first. Giambi comes home, but his throw is wide and bangs off Posada's glove for an error. Ortiz scores, 4-1. Olerud follows with a sac fly to center, 5-1. Proctor is warming. A wild pitch moves Nixon to third, but Giambi somehow stabs Mueller's line drive and Wang escapes further damage.

Yankees 6th: Williams lines out to Nixon. Cano drops a single down the left field line and is held to a long single by Manny. Jeter then hits a full-count pitch into the bullpen for a two-run home run, cutting the lead to 5-3. ... Wells comes back to get Rodriguez looking at strike three and Giambi on a grounder to first. Seven innings from Orson ... now it's time for the pen.

Red Sox 7th: Wang comes out for another inning. He gets two out, then walks Renteria on four pitches. Leiter comes in and walks Ortiz on four pitches, none of them close. Proctor is brought in to face Manny. Torre must keep the score at 5-3 -- is Proctor really his best choice? ... Ramirez grounds out to shortstop.

Yankees 8th: "Playoff Tito" makes a welcome appearance. And it's OOGY-time. Bradford gets Sheffield on a first-pitch grounder to shortstop. Myers battles Matsui for 11 pitches (including six straight fouls) before striking him out. Timlin gets Posada looking at three straight strikes. The last one was one of the best pitches Timlin has thrown all season, a wicked curve that has Posada moaning to the umpire.

Yankees 9th: Timlin was pacing back and forth in the Sox dugout during the bottom of the eighth, glaring into ESPN's camera, and he came out strong in the 9th. He struck out Sierra on three pitches, the last one a filthy 85 mph breaking pitch (splitter?) in the dirt. Williams also struck out, chasing a 2-2 pitch up around his chin. Cano grounded a single into right, but Jeter tapped out harmlessly to Edgar.

This was obviously a huge win for the Red Sox, bringing them into a tie for first place with two games to go. A loss would have been crushing, leaving Boston needing two wins in two games this weekend to force a Monday playoff in New York.

But Wells pitched great, Boston got some quick runs, then took advantage of the Yankees' poor defense and Wang's control problems. And Francona managed the bullpen brilliantly (and the pitchers did their jobs!).

In Cleveland, Chicago won 3-2 in 13 innings, so Cleveland falls one game behind both Boston and New York in the wild card chase.

Our playoff possibilities just got a whole lot better:

Red Sox win 3
Cleveland wins 0: Red Sox win East, Yankees win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Red Sox win East, Yankees/Cleveland WC playoff
Cleveland wins 2: Red Sox win East, Cleveland wins WC

Red Sox win 2
Cleveland wins 0: Red Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Red Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 2: Red Sox-Yankees-Cleveland 3-way playoff

Red Sox win 1
Cleveland wins 0: Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Cleveland/Red Sox WC playoff
Cleveland wins 2: Cleveland wins WC

Act Three

Our souls were crushed in 2003.

We were happy beyond measure in 2004.

And in 2005?

The answer will begin to reveal itself tonight at 7:00.

David Wells / Chien-Mien Wang.
Mark Buehrle / Kevin Millwood.

East
New York  94  65  -
Boston    93  66  1
  
WC
Boston    93  66  -
Cleveland 93  66  -

Looking at various sites this afternoon, I believe this is an accurate chart of possible scenarios:

Red Sox win 3
Cleveland wins 0: Red Sox win East, Yankees win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Red Sox win East, Yankees/Cleveland WC playoff
Cleveland wins 2: Red Sox win East, Cleveland wins WC
Cleveland wins 3: Red Sox win East, Cleveland wins WC

Red Sox win 2
Cleveland wins 0: Red Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Red Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 2: Red Sox-Yankees-Cleveland 3-way playoff
Cleveland wins 3: Cleveland wins WC, Red Sox/Yankees East playoff

Red Sox win 1
Cleveland wins 0: Sox win WC
Cleveland wins 1: Cleveland/Red Sox WC playoff
Cleveland wins 2: Cleveland wins WC
Cleveland wins 3: Cleveland wins WC

Red Sox win 0
Cleveland wins 0: Cleveland/Red Sox WC playoff
Cleveland wins 1: Cleveland wins WC
Cleveland wins 2: Cleveland wins WC
Cleveland wins 3: Cleveland wins WC

That loss in the Tuesday doubleheader nightcap still rankles David Ortiz:

We lost an important game against a team that's not even close to where the Yankees are. ... I am [angry]. Man, I am. That game that we lost [Tuesday] night, that's not supposed to happen. You're playing at the house, you're winning, late in the game, and you're not playing against a [playoff] team. ... [W]e're not supposed to lose those games. ... I mean, if we're getting in trouble with the Blue Jays ... they have some good players, but if you match lineups, and you have problems with the Blue Jays, then you don't want to play the Yankees.

Also: Tito trusts Jonathan Papelbon. ... Which Yankee LHP might face Ortiz in the late innings? Torre: "I'd like to see Al Leiter in that situation." ... David Wells says he'll retire if the Red Sox repeat.

Comparisions to 1949 are being drawn, but because both clubs could make the post-season, 2005 falls short, despite the teams' recent history. ... New York sportswriters are still holding fast to thoughts of a curse.

Both the Red Sox and Yankees had an interest in Mike Stanton. Nationals GM Jim Bowden: "I think the Yankees were mostly interested in blocking the Red Sox. We gave them both lists of names and the Red Sox were really aggressive in making this deal."

AL MVP: Ortiz v. Rodriguez

I wish I had hours to research and present information about this, but I don't. (Though if I find some neat stat comparisions, such as what follows, I'll post them.)

I have no problem with a DH winning the MVP (pitchers have won it and I'll bet no one pointed at their fielding as the deciding factor); as Lou Pinella said, DH is a valid position in the AL. End of discussion.

There is a perception that Slappy gets his biggest hits when the game is a blowout, not when it's close. I have read this from both Red Sox fans and Yankees fans.

Eric Van worked up some stats in mid-September and posted them at SoSH. What follows are his charts and comments:

****

Batting by Game Run Margin, through Sept. 14

          ---------  David Ortiz ---------
Margin     PA     BA     OBP    SA      OPS
1 – 2*     261   .318   .418   .701   1.119
3 to 5     232   .318   .422   .552    .974
6 or more  153   .231   .320   .515    .835

   
          ------- Alex Rodriguez ---------
Margin     PA     BA     OBP    SA      OPS
1 – 2*     248   .255   .347   .463    .810
3 to 5     237   .323   .447   .599   1.046
6 or more  148   .420   .486   .809   1.295

*includes all extra inning games

A further breakdown:

         -Ortiz-    --ARod-
          OPS (PA)   OPS (PA)
2 run W  1195 (33)   828 (36)
1 run W  1151 (87)   880 (81)
Ex In W  1286 (23)  1029 (21)
Ex In L   495 (11)   121 (17)
1 run L  1481 (50)   985 (51)
2 run L  1026 (47)   611 (42)

This gets more ridiculous the more you look at it.

            -Ortiz-    --ARod-
             OPS (PA)   OPS (PA)
6+  run  W   870 (86)  1790 (93)
6+  run  L   779 (67)   523 (55)

Rodriguez has hit .544/.613/1.177 in games that the Yankees have won by 6 runs or more, while going 1-16 with a SF and no BB or XBH in the Yankees' 4 extra-inning losses.

In only 2 of the Yankees' 18 victories by 6 or more runs did Rodriguez's R + RBI total even approach the margin of victory. He had 5 R and 6 RBI (5-6, 2 2B, 2 HR) in a 19-8 victory over TB 4/18, and 3 R and 10 RBI (4-5, 3 HR) in a 12-4 victory over LAA 4/26. So some of the offense in those games (but by no means all of it) was meaningful.

Papi did this once in 17 such games, 3 R and 4 RBI (3-4, 2 HR) in a 9-2 win at Cle 6/21.

Legend Of The Fall

The season was just about over.

It was the top of the fifth inning, the Red Sox trailed 4-1; Matt Clement was struggling and the Jays had the bases loaded. Terry Francona, late yet again with his call to the pen, had just told Mike Myers and Chad Bradford to start warming. The Yankees were leading Baltimore 6-0 and Cleveland was up 6-0 on Tampa.

A base hit from Gabe Gross would likely score two runs, put Boston down by five on a night when every single Sock looked like his mind were elsewhere. ... Clement threw a strike to Gross, then missed with his next three. His 3-1 pitch was up and away -- probably ball four, forcing in a run -- but Gross swung at it anyway, and missed. He fouled off the next pitch, then grounded out to Kevin Millar at first.

The escape didn't guarantee a Sox comeback, of course, but a possible season-ending bullet had been dodged.

In the bottom of the sixth, David Ortiz (0-for-2, 2 strikeouts) grounded a ball to second base. Aaron Hill was about to field it when shortstop Russ Adams, playing over that way because of the shift, cut in front of him, gloved the ball, and tumbled onto the Fenway grass. No throw was made.

Scott Downs was taken out of the game and Justin Frasor was brought in. For whatever reason, Downs had mystified the Sox. A new pitcher meant possibilities. ... Manny Ramirez looked at a strike, then drilled his 42nd home run, into the Jays bullpen. Now Boston trailed by only one, 4-3, with 12 outs to go, but it felt like we had taken the lead.

Mike Myers faced five batters in relief of Clement, wriggling out of trouble in the sixth; after walking Vernon Wells intentionally (with Adams at second), he got Corey Koskie to fly to center.

With one out in the seventh, Jonathan Papelbon took the hill. He allowed a two-out double to Alex Rios, on a ball dropped down the right field line that Trot Nixon failed to hustle after. Once he saw Rios stretching the hit, he tried to fire the ball in quickly, but it was way too late.

Papelbon then struck out Gross, and retired the Jays in the eighth. Edgar Renteria, who had ended the previous inning by grounding hard to first (somehow Eric Hinske speared the ball; if not, a run would have scored), recorded two assists and a putout in that inning. (How many hits has Renteria been robbed of in the past week? Five? Six?)

David Ortiz led off the bottom of the eighth against Vinnie Chulk. On a 2-0 pitch, he continued his seasons-long debate with the statheads -- does clutch hitting really exist? -- by putting his 47th home run into the Monster Seats in left-center. I think Ortiz is winning that argument. ... The crowd above the Wall was so busy cheering, no one went for the ball until it landed at their feet.

With the game tied, Manny walked and Jason Varitek singled. Seeing Wells fielding the ball in deep center, Ramirez sprinted around second and raced to third, bringing the go-ahead run 90 feet from home with a Pete Rose-esque head-first slide. ... However, Chulk retired the next three Sox: John Olerud on a short fly to center, Bill Mueller on strikes, and Nixon on a diving catch by Wells in right-center.

Francona stayed with Papelbon in the ninth. (This was the right move, but would he have pulled him if the Sox had gone ahead?) Hinske hit a two-out double, but did not score.

In the ninth, facing Miguel Batista, our confidence was high. Johnny Damon singled with one out, then stole second. Renteria walked on four pitches. Ortiz fouled off a couple of pitches, worked the count full, and grounded his single past shortstop into left field.

The Legend continues.

G159: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4

Papi.

Ian Browne, MLB.com:

By delivering what was easily their biggest win of the season, a tense 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays, the Red Sox can now clinch a tie in the American League East by taking two out of three from the Yankees this weekend. They can win the division outright with a sweep.

To get to that point, the Red Sox needed the latest batch of magic from David Ortiz, who tied it with a homer in the eighth inning and then won it in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off single to left field, setting up a mob scene of white jerseys on the right side of the infield.

Yet again, Ortiz delivered with the game -- and perhaps the season -- on the line.

Radio Radio

Tonight, "Open Source" -- a public radio show based in Boston -- will feature both Red Sox and Yankees bloggers talking about this weekend's showdown, as well as sabremetrics and new ways to look at baseball.

The show's own blog has some more information. I'm told the show airs live on WGBH in Boston (89.7 FM) and streams at: KUOW from 7:00 to 8:00.

Bad timing if you are glued to the game, but you could watch the Sox on mute (and risk missing Orsillo tell you in which round Scott Downs was drafted) and stream the show. If you tune in, you might hear yours truly.

Mike Stanton In Sox Bullpen

I thought Yaz-Tex was joking in comments, but it's true!

The Red Sox acquired left-hander Mike Stanton from the Washington Nationals on Thursday for right-handers Rhys Taylor and Yader Peralta.

Boston's trade means Stanton could wind up pitching this weekend against his former team, the New York Yankees. ...

Stanton, who is 38, started the season with the Yankees and was cut June 30 after going 1-2 with a 7.08 ERA in 14 innings over 28 relief appearances.

Seems like a little late in the day to make a roster move, but what the hell!

           G  IP    H    R  ER  BB   K   OBA  ERA
September 10  12    12   5   3   6   7  .279  2.25
Post ASG  30  27.2  31  13  11   9  14  .292  3.58

His post-All-Star Game numbers are also his stats with Washington.

Lefties have only a .524 OPS off him this season, so I guess (if Francona uses him correctly, that is) he'll be another LOOGY for Giambi, Matsui and Cano.

Hey, whatever happened with El Guapo?

Steroids Bad, Greenies ... Not So Much

Johnny Damon supports MLB's stronger penalties for steroid use, but he seems less sure when it comes to amphetamines:

One is a performance-enhancing drug, the other is a ... way guys get ready to play over 162 games. ... I think it would be real tough if they threw 25 games or 75 games or a commissioner's decision [at amphetamine users]. ... There are days I can't get going when I have to drink two, three cups of coffee to get jittery. [If amphetamines are banned,] We're probably going to see a lot of lethargic guys out there.

Yeah, Johnny ... coffee. MLB is gonna outlaw coffee!

At this point, I agree with Yankees general partner Steve Swindal, who said, back on September 10: "I'll be satisfied if the team makes the playoffs."

One game out with four to play is small potatoes compared to last year's ALCS, so my faith remains firm.

Various one-game tie-breakers:

East: Boston at New York
Central: Chicago at Celevland
Wild Card: Cleveland at Boston, Boston at Chicago, New York at Cleveland

Tonight's Games (all at 7:00):

Clement / Downs
Small / Bedard
Sabathia / Fossum

G158: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 2

Arroyo spits the bit (3-7-7-3-2), and while DiNardo holds the line (4-1-0-3-2), Lilly continues to look like Lefty Grove to the Red Sox.

Edgar says he's made enough outs this year (home run, double, two walks), but no one else in the lineup does much of anything. Boston leaves seven guys on base in the first five innings, and 11 overall.

New York edges Baltimore 2-1 -- we're one game out in the East -- but Tampa shuts out Cleveland 1-0 -- so we're still tied for the WC.

G157: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 5

I guess two games in one day is too much for Terry Francona's brain to handle.

Tito displayed some of the worst bullpen management of the season in Tuesday's nightcap, leaving Curt Schilling in too long, staying with Chad Bradford too long, sticking Craig Hansen with runners on base, etc.

Mike Timlin threw only 11 pitches in the afternoon game; so why pin our hopes on Chad Effing Harville when the game was on the line?

That's cool, Terry, give everyone a chance to contribute. It's not like this game means anything.

Thankfully:

Orioles 17, Yankees 9
Devil Rays 5, Cleveland 4

so all three teams are still dead-end at 92-65 with five games to go.

More in the morning.

[I ended up putting today's thoughts in the comments section rather than as a new post.]

Why Doesn't Schilling Get Booed?

It's being talked about in here (and was something I thought about posting a few days ago). In last Wednesday's Herald (pay column, no link) Howard Bryant quoted an anonymous Red Sox player who wondered why, of everyone who has underachieved this season (Bellhorn, Millar, Renteria, Foulke), Curt Schilling has been exempt from Fenway's boo-birds. From the column:

The people have spoken. Everyone who has underperformed this year has heard about it.

Everyone, that is, except the Teflon Red Sox, Curt Schilling.

It is a phenomenon that has not gone unnoticed, especially by many of his teammates. With the possible exception of Foulke, Schilling has had the worst year of any major player on the club, yet has been spared fan wrath.

Entering last night, his home ERA was 6.33. His ERA as a starter was 6.71. He said he'd stabilize the bullpen, but his ERA was 5.58. He has the highest ERA of any regular on the club. Who do hitters prefer to face more than any other Red Sox regular pitcher? That would be Curt Schilling, who owns a .317 batting average against. To find a higher number, you'd have to sift through the stats of guys like Blaine Neal, Scott Cassidy and Mike Remlinger. ...

"Yet," one player told me, "when he comes into the game people cheer him like he's the Pope. You think they'd let Pedro get away with this? Why does he get the pass?"

Bryant explains why he thinks Schilling is The Telfon Ace:

[He] came to Boston with the embers of Aaron Boone still crackling. He came here to deliver a championship when no one else had and he did. And he did it by allowing doctors to stitch his ankle tendon to the top of his skin. ... He maimed himself for them. ... People in Boston will never forget that. ...

Renteria and Millar are good players, and Bellhorn was an easy target, but none are as important to another World Series run as Curt Schilling. Do the Red Sox repeat without a strong Schilling? I don't think so. The fans know this, or at least they believe they can't celebrate without him. You don't boo the meal ticket, even if by the way you've booed everybody else, he's had it coming.

Bryant is at least partially correct. Schilling quite likely hastened the end of his career with the operations he underwent during last year's ALCS and World Series. And I, along with millions of other Red Sox fans (and Yankee haters) will never forget it.

But there were other Sox who played roles that were as important (even more?) than Schilling did. Foulke, who was probably a better choice for World Series MVP than Ramirez, comes to mind immediately. And this year, just like Schilling, he was hurt, and when he did pitch, he pitched badly. Yet Foulke has been booed like crazy and Schilling has not. Why?

Bob Hohler includes the quote and gets Schilling's reaction in a feature on how tough this year has been on his entire family:

"Somebody on this team wants me to get booed to make them feel better, and that really bothers me a lot. Those are the kinds of things that really make me look at this game and understand that when I'm done in the game, I'll be done with the game. ... [Schilling said the teammate is] somebody who's not wired right. As much time as we spend together, you think you know someone. But more times than not you find you really don't."

Hohler notes that Schilling

increasingly has felt a sense of responsibility for the team's shortcomings. Had he pitched to his potential, he figures, he may have spared some of his teammates from the sourness they endured. ...

"I've been given a long leash this year by the fans, which I'm very appreciative of," he said. "But my teammates were just as responsible as I was for helping to win the World Series last year, and it has been really, really uncomfortable for me to see them go through what they have gone through this year."

It's nice of him to acknowledge the long leash, but still, the question remains: Why?

I can think of two reasons: (1) Schilling is a master at playing the media game and Foulke, as we have seen this year, is not (neither was Bellhorn) and (2) when Schilling was acquired, it felt like we now had the missing piece. And it turns out we were right.

Beyond that, I don't know.

Yankees Celebrate Playoff Berth -- On September 19

Remember back in 2003, when the Red Sox painted a World Series logo on the Fenway Park field before ALCS 7 had been played? After that game was gumped away, the team was ripped in the Boston newspapers and laughed at in New York.

Today, the Globe's Chris Snow quotes from a letter, dated September 19, sent by the Yankees to 2005 suite holders:

The New York Yankees are entering the post season for the eleventh consecutive year.

When that letter was written, New York trailed Boston by 1.5 games in the East and Cleveland by .5 games for the wild card. ... Dirtdog notes that the team is also selling AL East Champs shirts.

Johnny Damon says his shoulder is back to 100 percent: "I am finally healthy. I can honestly say that now. My shoulder is not bothering me. I'm happy. I'm excited about this week." ... Kevin Youkilis: "Throwing's not a problem. I can grip the bat. It hurts a little, but I think I'll be okay. The doctors told me I should be ready for the ALCS." ... A nice feature on Yaz.

Michael Silverman of the Herald writes: "Sweeping a doubleheader never is easy ..." In the SoSH Game Thread last night, Cliff Otto posted this:

I did a study a while back using Retrosheet data from 1900-2000 with the following results:

Doubleheaders
 4614  Home team swept
 3171  Visiting team swept
 6959  Split
  150  Home team won one game,
         other game was a tie
  134  Visiting team won one game,
         other game was a tie
15028  Total

DHs     Pct
 7785   51.80%  Sweeps
 6959   46.31%  Splits
  284    1.89%  Incomplete
--------------------------
15028  100.00%  Total

G156: Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 1

Wakefield pitches like the ace that he is, Ortiz and Ramirez knock in all our runs, Renteria knocks two doubles, Mueller turns in some professional defense, and Papelbon and Timlin nail it down. ... A solid performance from a team that clearly has its collective head focused on the job ahead.

East

Boston    92  64  --
New York  92  64  --

Wild Card

Boston    92  64  --
Cleveland 92  64  --
New York  92  64  --

Game 2 in about three hours. Schilling / Chacin.

New York (Mussina) / Baltimore (Chen) and Tampa Bay (Kazmir) / Cleveland (Elarton), also at 7:00.

Blue Jays at Red Sox, ppd. rain

Doubleheader (Schilling & Wakefield?) on Tuesday.

First game at 1:00.

Seven Days

Seven days, seven more days that are connected
Just like I expected ...
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive

The Red Sox are home. MVPapi: "It's going be good, bro. I like being home."

David Wells tweaked his knee when he halted his delivery in the seventh inning on a pitch to Eric Byrnes. Plate umpire Jerry Crawford called time very late and Wells ended up flipping the ball away in anger.

Wells: "I'm not 100 percent out there ... [T]hey have to be a little more verbal out there. They have to scream it out. I didn't hear nothing. So that's kind of why I was a little ticked off." ... Francona: "He was already at that point in the game where we were going to go to the bullpen if anything happened, anyway. When we got out [to the mound], he said [his knee] was burning."

Re the thousands of Red Sox fans in Baltimore: the AP noted "the only things missing from Boston's final road series were the Green Monster and Pesky Pole" and at one point the Orioles announcers quipped that perhaps the victory should be included in the Sox's home record! (Since 1999, the Red Sox are 41-18 at Camden Yards.)

Kevin Youkilis tried to swing a bat yesterday, but could not. Yook: I'm hoping [to return] later in the week. Right now, it's still a little tender." ... Trot Nixon hit .500 (10-for-20) on the road trip. ... Who came up with the phrase "Red Sox Nation"? Former Globe writer Nathan Cobb learns, nearly twenty years after the fact, that he did.

Jack (in comments) points out this Johnny Damon quote about Dale Sveum:

Dale is always going to take a beating because we've got the slowest team on the face of the planet. We do not run bases worth a crap, so that's why Dale takes a beating. He's not afraid of it. Dale's been awesome for us.

That is not why Dale takes a beating. He takes a beating because even though Boston may have the slowest team in MLB, Sveum oftentimes thinks they are all Carl Crawford or Ichiro. If they are slow, then you have to remember they are slow and do your job accordingly.

The nine Red Sox that have batted against tonight's starter, David Bush, are hitting a combined .421 (16-for-38).

Red Sox: Schilling / Bush at 7:00.
Yankees: Johnson / Lopez in Baltimore at 7:00.
Cleveland: Off. Hosts Tampa tomorrow.

G155: Red Sox 9, Orioles 3

Before David Wells threw his first pitch, he had a five-run lead. He allowed two solo home runs in the first -- and I started worrying that his knee problem was worse than we had been told -- but he settled down. Of the next 20 Baltimore hitters, only one touched second base.

The Red Sox batted around against John Maine in the first inning. After two quick outs, David Ortiz walked, Manny Ramirez homered to dead center, Trot Nixon singled, Jason Varitek walked, John Olerud singled in two runs, and Bill Mueller doubled in Olerud.

In the fifth, Nixon and Varitek doubled, Mueller hit a sac fly and after Miguel Tejada booted what should have been an inning-ending grounder, Johnny Damon belted a two-run home run. After Wells left the game in the seventh -- due to injury? -- the two Chads (Bradford and Harville) mopped up. (I would have liked to have seen Manny Delcarmen.)

He didn't score or knock in a run, but Edgar Renteria is stinging the ball. He lined out to third in the second, had a home run stolen by right fielder Jay Gibbons in the fourth, then missed another home run by about three inches -- the ball hit the top of the wall in right-center for a triple. He added a line single in the seventh.

In New York, the Yankees rallied against Toronto, scoring six runs in their final two innings to win 8-4. Mariano Rivera held off the Jays in the eighth (New York led 4-3), but after the Yankees scored four more runs, Joe Torre sent him back out for the ninth. Rivera threw 25 pitches while protecting that five-run lead, and 36 for the game.

Kansas City rallied to beat Cleveland 5-4, so here is where we stand:

Boston     91  64  --
New York   91  64  --

Cleveland  92  64  --
Boston     91  64  .5
New York   91  64  .5

Randy at Over The Monster has the final seven match-ups, as does MLB:

      Red Sox     Jays/MFY
0926  Schilling   Bush
0927  Wakefield   Chacin
0928  Arroyo      Lilly
0929  Clement     Downs

0930  Wells       Wang
1001  Schilling   Johnson
1002  Wakefield   Mussina

Can the Sox win three of four from the Jays and two of three from the Yankees?

The Red Sox -- 50-24 at home, tops in baseball -- are feeling what we're all feeling.

John Henry: "We've got to wait for the final scene of the final act. ... This year, the playoffs started two weeks early." ... Damon: "Every day, every night, every pitch, everything is the most important situation that could come up. It kind of feels like the World Series a little bit." ... Terry Francona: "It's kind of hard to explain the feeling."

Not really. We're pretty used to it by now. We'll be on the edge of our seats all week.

Also: Delta Air Lines' Song affiliate has named one of its Boeing 757s "Big Papi".

G154: Red Sox 4, Orioles 3

90-64.

The Red Sox and Yankees have identical records with eight games remaining.

Five things:

1. Tito used the bullpen just as I would have -- Hansen, Papelbon, Timlin -- so even though Hansen gave up a game-tying home run to Melvin Mora in the seventh, bringing him in was the right move. And it was good to see Francona stay with him after that; the Sox are going to rely on him in the playoffs, so getting him used to the pressure now is essential.

2. On Edgar Renteria's two-run single off BJ Ryan in the ninth, pinch-runner Adam Stern got a fantastic read on the flair to left and was sprinting all the way. From second base, Stern had the play directly in front of him, and he scored what turned out to be the decisive run. Nice to see ER gearing up for a hot post-season, too.

3. Pitching: Matt Clement didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, but he walked six. I can't completely fault him for that, because the umpiring was incredibly inconsistent. ... Papelbon v. Matos in the eighth. With a man on first and one out in a 2-2 game, this AB took nine pitches and five throws to first before Boston got a K-CS double play.

4. Defense. The Sox made some great plays, including Kevin Millar diving to his right to snare Bernie Castro's grounder in the fifth, then turning and diving to his left to tag the base for the out, Bill Mueller's bare-handed grab-and-gun on Tejada's roller in the ninth, and double plays that ended both the fifth and sixth innings.

5. The last three innings really felt like a playoff game. Knowing the Yankees had lost meant my heart was racing a little more and my hands were a little sweatier. Myers coming in for Hansen with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the seventh and getting a pop-up was huge. Timlin's semi-shaky ninth -- a two-out double to Gibbons which scored Castro, who had walked -- had me worried, but he retired Javy Lopez on a hard fly to the edge of the track in right to end it.

In the last two games, we've seen timely hitting and gutsy pitching. Have the Sox refound their groove? ... This team can go from great to godawful in the space of a day or even a few innings, so who knows? They just have to have a win at the end of the day. It doesn't matter how they get it.

In Toronto, the Jays battered the Yankees for seven runs in two innings. Jaret Wright allowed all seven runs while recording only three outs. Miguel Batista struck out Jason Giambi with the tying runs on base in the 8th, then struck out the side in the 9th, saving a 7-4 win. ... Cleveland romped over the Royals, but we're winning the East, so we'll let New York worry about that.

Wang / Towers at 1:00, then Wells / Maine at 1:35.

G153: Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

The Sox did everything they could do. They won their game.

But so did the Yankees, Cleveland and the White Sox. So the standings remain the same -- 1 out in the East, 1.5 out in the wild card.

Bronson Arroyo overcame a very shaky first inning (three hits, two walks, two runs, Lenny DiNardo warming after only six batters) to turn in a nice 7-7-3-3-3 line. After allowing consecutive doubles to start the third, Arroyo retired 15 of his next 16 batters.

In that time, Boston scored five runs and retook the lead (though for me, even after they lead 4-3, it still felt like they were trailing. The feeling lasted a few innings. Was it residual frustration from Arroyo's crappy beginning?)

Manny Ramirez was the Man last night, singling in a run in the first, reaching on Tejada's throwing error and scoring in the fifth, and belting a two-run homer in the seventh. His home run (#40) came on an 87 mph inside fastball -- what else was Manny gonna do with a piece of candy like that? He even started Sox fans off by clapping for himself as he left the box.

Edgar Renteria singled twice, walked once, and scored three times. Trot Nixon contributed a two-run double. Alex Cora went three-for-four in the #9 spot. ... On the other side, Johnny Damon went 0-for-5 and Jason Varitek is still swinging his bat as though it weighs 40 pounds.

And now it's time for the "Idiotic Announcer Comment Of The Night":

After Jonathan Papelbon threw a 97 mph fastball to Javy Lopez in the eighth inning, Jim Palmer noted the speed and said, "Of course, most people will tell you that the gun here at Camden Yards is a bit fast."

That's right, Jim, so why did you spend the first six innings pounding us over the head about how hard Daniel Cabrera was throwing -- and therefore how tough he would be on the Sox -- because the CY gun had him at 100 and 101?

Wright / Downs at 1:00 in Toronto. Clement / Bedard at 4:30.

Another Book About David Ortiz?

...

Here's where we stand:

East
New York    89 63  --
Boston      88 64  1

Central
Chicago     91 61  --
Cleveland   90 63  1.5

West
Los Angeles 87 65  --
Oakland     84 68  3

Wild Card
Cleveland   90 63  --
Boston      88 64  1.5
Oakland     84 68  5.5

In ten days, it will all be over. Where will we be? Which two of those six teams will be watching the playoffs on TV?

After trading series with the Orioles and Blue Jays, the Red Sox and Yankees will meet at Fenway Park one week from tonight. I can't imagine the standings being too different from what they are now. The odds of either Boston or New York holding a four-game lead next week is slim, so the winner of the East will likely be decided in that three-game set.

I'm getting nervous just thinking about it now, so first things first:

Lilly / Chacon in the Bronx at 7:00; Arroyo / Cabrera at Camden Yards at 7:30.

Foulke Shut Down For Season

According to WEEI this afternoon.

It's probably for the best -- he certainly wasn't helping and now Tito won't be tempted to lean on him again in the final 10 games.

I do wish he had gotten his knees taken care of over the winter or at the start of spring training -- as the Red Sox suggested -- rather than waiting until July.

Alright, Jonathan Papelbon and Craig Hansen -- let see what you got.