It All Comes Down to This

In a playoff atmosphere Friday night, the Red Sox squared off with the Yankees to try to tie for first place in the American League East.

Chien-Ming Wan faced off versus David Wells in which would be an emotional and hardly fought game (at least for the Red Sox). The stage was Fenway Park. A stage where the Boston Red Sox have dominated this season.

The beginning of the game was very frustrating for David Wells. He started off by dominating Derek Jeter on three straight strikes. From there, he walked A-Rod and Jason Giambi. A-Rod would end up stealing third base and a few pitches later, Sheffield was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Red Sox killer, Hideki Matsui, came up to the plate and precisely hit a ball in front of Johnny Damon that scored A-Rod. Wells settled down and struck out Jorge Posada and popped up Ruben Sierra.

The Red Sox fire right back in the bottom of the inning. Johnny Damon led off with a walk, follow by a stolen base. David Ortiz came up with one out when he singled to center field to drive in his league leading 147th RBI.

Jason Varitek led off the bottom of the second with a homerun to give the Red Sox the lead.

The score would remain 2-1 until the bottom of the 6th when Damon singled to start of the inning, and then stole his second bag of the night. After Edgar Renteria struck out, the Yankees decided to intentionally walk Ortiz. With 1st and 2nd with 1 out, Manny Ramirez lined a single into center field which would set the table for Trot Nixon. Nixon would force in a run with a walk.

The defense of the New York Yankees was impressive as Varitek lined a ball down to Jason Giambi. Giambi (who had inertia on his side) stuck out his left hand and snagged the ball. He then proceeded to “throw” home. I cannot describe how horrific this throw was. Just think of a man on THG, trucking his way towards home, putting all of his weight on his right leg, and side arming a ball towards home plate. It bounced before Posada and the sad part is, Ortiz beat the throw.

John Olerud would later hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

Over? Far from it...

After Bernie Williams lined out, Robinson Cano worked a walk to set up Derek Jeter. In typical Jeter fashion, he hit a two run homerun to make it 5-3.

In the top of the 8th, Chad Bradford replaced David Wells and Sheffield grounded out. Mike Myers relieved Bradford and proceeded to strike out Matsui. Terry Francona apparently liked walking to the mound this particular inning, and made another pitching change. Closer, Mike Timlin, who was awarded the Red Sox’ Tenth Man award earlier that evening, came into the game and struck out Jorge Posada.

Timlin would go on to strike out Sierra and Williams in the top of the 9th and Jeter ended the game with a ground out.

Game Notes: Mike Timlin made his 80th appearance of the year. This tied the franchise record

The Red Sox and Yankees are tied for AL East division lead. They also are tied for the Wild Card lead as well, as the Indians lost in extra innings to the Chicago White Sox, 3-2. The game went 13 innings.

Randy Johnson will pitch against Tim Wakefield tomorrow. The game will start at 1:15 EST and will be televised on Fox. Make sure you cancel any plans you had, because it should be a close game. I’ve already called out of work, you can make the sacrifice as well.

Jake Westbrook will pitch against Cy Young candidate, Jon Garland, in the middle game of the Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox series. The game will be at 1:15 EST as well.

Orioles In Pennant Race!

This blog written by Mike Boehm of Oriole Magic.

The Baltimore Orioles are immersed in the 2005 pennant race! It’s quite an amazing thought. Unfortunately their role in the race isn’t as a competitor, but as scheduling fodder for the Yankees. So perhaps the article title was slightly misleading, but it sure was fun to type it. (Perhaps I’ll be able to write that for real one day….*sigh*) In the mean time the Orioles are still a factor in the 2005 season as they host New York for four games this week.

It’s pretty much a replay of last week. The Orioles are playing a four game set against the team most of us hate most. Things didn’t work out so well for the Birds in New York as the Yankees took all four games, but that doesn’t need to serve as an indication of what this upcoming series will hold.

To read the entire blog at Oriole Magic cick here.

Yankees Rise to First on Big Unit

With eleven games left to play, the Yankees took a half-game lead in the American League Eastern Division by winning a nail-biter of a game against Baltimore by a score of 2-1. Meanwhile, the Red Sox lost against Tampa Bay by a score of 7-4. Boston's bullpen collapsed in the eighth spoiling a strong performance by Tim Wakefield.

Yar!

(Today's observation is written in honor of National Talk Like a Pirate day)

Arrr mateys, t'were a tough one yesterday. The A's keelhauled Clement and, while we be likin' the sound of the name "Marco Scutaro," we not be likin' that Youk be takin' a hurtin' on the play of that scurvey dog's routine grounder.

Tonight the big man will be takin' to the mound - perhaps Tito be lettin' him wear his pirate bandanna under his team cap because he be lookin' smart on the mound. So long as he keeps his bung hole shut when the lubbers be callin' balls and strikes, we be lookin' at some smooth sailing.

Ya can bet your rusty scupper that this comely wench will be flyin' her Boston colors tonight - and ya bilge rats better be too or I'll be sending ya down for a visit with Davey Jones' locker.

Yarr! Go Sox!

Did Sox Fall to Steroids?

Jason Giambi hit his 29th homer of the season Sunday to power the Yankees to a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox — backing the undeniably stellar performance by the "Big Unit."

Giamboid, an admitted steroids abuser, now has 29 homers in only 366 at bats. That's a very impressive figure of one homer for every 12.62 at bats. He's hitting home runs again at a pace surpassed only by that of his own MVP year in 2000. That figure is currently the best in the American League. Giamboid's teammate. A-Rod, has a ratio of 12.92. David Ortiz is at 13.79; and Mark Teixeira is hitting a home run every 14.72 at bats.

Baseball-Almanac.com calculates career Home Run percentages. Using their method of calculation, Giambi's percentage this year is 7.92, third behind the lifetime percentages of only another suspected steroids abuser, Mark MacGwire, and the legitimate record of the sultan himself, Babe Ruth.

Remember how horrible Giambi started this year? When you look at the numbers since he's gotten hot, his current stats are downright unbelievable. Unless of course that is when he started to juice up again.

If Rafael Palmeiro would abuse steroids after testifying to Congress, what makes any objectively-reasonable person question if Giambi would also take the chance. I'd love to know if Giambi has been tested and when. And I'd be curious if he'd volunteer to be tested if public pressure became too intense to deny.

Below is a list of Giomboids homer-to-at bat ratio since he came into the league in 1995. The admitted steroids user is performing at his best power numbers in his career.

Year         Homer/At Bat Ratio

1995                  29.33

1996                  26.80

1997                  25.95

1998                  20.81

1999                  17.42

2000                  11.86

2001                  13.68

2002                  13.65

2003                  13.05

2004                  22.00

2005                  12.62

A bottle of dirt

Taking my 13-year-old son to a game is always an adventure. Armed with 2 fabulous bleacher seats over the Sox bullpen, my son and I headed into Fenway for the final game against the D-Rays in time for batting practice.

We were among the first through the gates and along the wall next to the owners' box so he could watch Big Papi, Millar and Cora taking their practice swings. Assessing the situation, he realized he probably couldn't get to the players easily, so he started by schmoozing Hazel Mae, showing her he was wearing the hat she signed for him earlier this season. He showed her the poster he made asking the Remdawg to wish his aunt a happy birthday and got Hazel to sign that too before she moved on.

Then Johnnie Pesky walked past the growing group of seekers. It was clear he wasn't signing any more autographs so my son yelled out, "You, Jim Lonborg and Carlton Fisk are some of the best old school players ever."

Pesky turned on his heel and yelled back, "Who are you calling old?"

My son replied, "Not old, old school." My son then reeled him in with an explanation of what old school meant. Pesky realized he was hooked and, with a smile, he informed the group of kids holding out items and pens that, because they were such a pain, they'd have to listen to an old man's stories while he signed. As he signed my son's hat, he said, "Show that one to your grandfather."

"No, I think it was my nana that was crushing on you."

Pesky laughed and said, "Is he gonna be a politician when he grows up?"

I introduced my son to my favorite usher and we stood by the gate in canvas alley. My son finished his bottle of water and asked me to cover him while he scooped up some of the dirt from the foul area warning track. He dumped it in the bottle and stuck the bottle in his pocket, content that we were again in the making of another "best night ever" situation.

He got to sign Pesky's pole on our way to the bleachers and was grinning ear to ear as we headed for our seats. When Tek and Bronson came out to warm up, he immediately headed down to the bullpen (me chasing behind him to make sure I didn't lose him) in hopes of getting close up to his hero. As the ushers tried to chase kids back to their seats, he managed to squeeze his hat and pen through the mesh fence, promising to respect Tek's privacy forever if he'd only sign his hat.

Tek laughed as he said, "I'll hold you to that," and signed my son's hat along with a variety of baseballs and other items kids held through the fence. When he turned around, the look on my son's face was priceless. His hero, Jason Varitek - Cap'n Tek - had signed his hat.

He was disappointed Manny had the night off, not because he's a big Manny fan but because he wanted to try out his new Manny chant. His older brother, who is a bit of a nerd, taught himself Klingon recently and came up with a chant (pronounced): Kep, kep jikwan (meaning: run, run fat ass). My 13-year-old thought it would be perfect to get people to yell at Manny when he does "the Manny shuffle" up the first base line in double play situations. It had the double bonus of being something that security can't chuck you from "family friendly Fenway," if they don't know what you're saying.

Even on the T home, he continued to schmooze the crowd, getting people to laugh at the end of a long night. It reminds me that there really is something refreshing about watching the game through the eyes of a kid. No gray areas about contract negotiations, drug use/abuse or anything else. It really is a battle of good (our team) vs. evil (their team) and a bottle of dirt from the warning track. It's still a game to these kids and they still hang on the edge of their seats waiting for the final out and for "Dirty Water" and "Tessie" to be cued up and played over the PA system for a final victory dance before shuffling out to the T and the long ride home.

We adults know too much - we read papers, watch the news and keep ourselves up to date on what's happening. For those of us who write about the sport, it becomes easier to clog ourselves up with what's wrong with the sport. Last night I was reminded about what's right with it and it was like a breath of fresh air to hold in my lungs as the summer begins its slow September retreat under the blanket of fall leaves on winter's doorstep.