My heart can't take these games. The afternoon game was fairly pedestrian as the Bombers tore through a variety of pitchers on their way to a 12-4 win. The night game damn near killed me. The Yanks started Sidney Ponson, a batting practice pitcher they grabbed off the slag heap in a panic move about six weeks ago. Boston countered with promising rookie Jon Lester. The Yankees got to Lester giving Ponson a 5-1 lead but Sidney lived down to his billing quickly giving that back. When Boston surged ahead 10-7 I flipped to "Chisum" on the movie channels. Buoyed by The Duke I peeked back at the game just in time to see the Yanks roar back and take a 14-10 lead. They held on insuring themselves that no matter what they would leave Boston Monday night in first place. It was the longest nine inning game in ML history. Couple of observations. Boston's bull pen is a disaster. The Yankees goal has to be to stay close, run up the pitch counts and get into that bullpen no later than the 6th inning. Next, Youkilis has become a very good hitter. Boston misses Varitek. For the Yankees, Bobby Abreu appears to have completed the puzzle. Hitting over .400 with the Yanks, he runs good, fields good and has a tremendous arm. Next, Damon seems to be on a mission.. A-Rod outshone Big Papi at the plate but continues to be a nightmare at third. Jeter continues to punch his own ticket for Cooperstown. Today it's two pitcher who have been up and down all year.. Randy Johnson and Josh Beckett. Who will step up?
You want the REAL answer George? Sox let Damon walk and instead signed Seanez and Tazarez. 8.0 era both. Sox lost Foulke and had to bring up Hansen, and Delcarmen a year too early. Sox lost Wells and Wakefield and had to bring up Lester a year too early. Beckett is a bad bad deal. and finally..Theo was afraid to pull the trigger at trade deadline time. The big problem as I have been preaching to local fans for years is..Sox sell out Fenway in December every year for the season. Name of the game is to make $$$$. Why spend big bucks when they are playing to a full house anyway> Joe Fan suffers. jif
Can't argue with that. The Yankees found a silver lining in a very dark cloud when Matsui and Sheffield went down for the season early in the year. Melky Cabrera has been a godsend. At 21 he has become a big part of this team in effect giving the Yanks two leadoff hitters and some great defense. And Robinson Cano has also become a tremendous part of the team. On the flip side it appears Kyle Farnsworth may now go on the DL from that line drive last night.
Speaking of slag heaps, the Red Sox starter for the first game was Jason Johnson, whom I believe is winless as a Red Sox starter but keeps getting thrown out there because of injuries to the starting rotation. I got stuck in the office last night and didn't leave until 8. By then the Sox had that 10-7 lead. I get home and there's Timlin on the mound with the sacks jammed. When Jeter came up I had a baaaad feeling. Prophetically, earlier in the game Jerry and Joe had The Donald in the booth, and Trump referred to Jeter as the Joe Montana of baseball. One side note on Trump - last night was the Jimmy Fund Telethon and during the broadcast Joe mentioned that they were $60,000 away from beating their previous record. Trump wrote the check on the spot. Joel - I wasn't happy to see Damon go, but offense is not the issue for the Sox. Besides, Youk and Crisp have done a fine job in his place. Middle relief is still the problem, and if Theo doesn't want to let young arms go, that's fine with me. Some of the kids are struggling, but they'll work their way through it.
Speaking of Johnson and Ponson... I think they were both released today! Lester will be a good one, I think. Beckett in troublew already today with a high pitch count and a 2-0 deficit in the third. Exactly what Boston doesn't need. Boston's hopes are pinned on Randy Johnson imploding which he has done many times this year. Of course, A-Rod always gives Boston hope..... p.s. I agree about Youkilis but Crisp can't be mentioned in the same conversation as damon.
To me, the most poignant moment came early in the game with Boston leading 2-0. With two on and two out Jason Giambi came to the plate to face Curt Schilling. The Boston fans immediately started the old standard chant " Steroids. Steroids" They keppt it up non-stop as Giambi worked the count fouling off pitch after pitch Until finally he drove a Schilling fastball deep into the night. The chant stopped.
My favorite post game quote: "It's not fair. Those guys are not playing around," Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz said. "
The Yankees are resting Damon, Giambi and Posada in game 5 while DHing Jeter. Can they pull off the sweep?
Not me. I would have been thrilled with three wins. They eat starting pitchers alive and then feast on the bullpen. On to Seattle.
The last time the Bosox were swept in 5 was by Cleveland in 1954. That was the year the Indians set the record for most wins in the regular season, then in the WS were swept in 4 by the Willie Mays-led Giants.