Yankees Save Face

I think Alex Rodriguez should take a page from Jason Giambi's book and grow a 1970's porn star moustache, buy himself some leopard print g-string underwear, and maybe start contributing when it counts. While A-rod went a quiet 0-4 that hardly got noticed by the friendly Yankee fans (hee hee), Jason Giambi spent the game on the bench, combing the moustache and adjusting the g-string (those things do tend to bunch up when you sit for too long). Then, with the Yankees losing 2-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning, two outs, and a runner at second base, Terry Francona made the call to the bullpen to have Hideki Okajima face the number 9 batter, Jose Molina.

In perhaps his first smart managerial move of the series, Joe Girardi sent in Jason Giambi to pinch hit. Giambi hiked up the g-string, put his game face on, and went in to show A-Rod how it is done. Two pitches later, A-Rod watched Giambi's shot clear the center field fence for a game tying two run home run, and said to himself, "why can't I do that?". Giambi was not done. In the bottom of the 9th, with the game still tied at 2 a piece, Gaimbi came up to face Jonathan Papelbon with one out and bases loaded. Giambi came through again, sending a looping line drive to center field to score the winning run from third. So, A-Rod, that's how you do it.

In a fittingly close, well fought game, the Red Sox bowed to the Yankees in the third game of this final series to be played by these two teams in the House That Ruth Built (and Steinbrenner tore down). It is amazing the roller coaster fans have put themselves on. When the Sox won the first two games, life was simply perfect, and fans began wondering which team the Sox would be facing in the World Series. Then, they lose game three, 3-2, and suddenly everything is ruined. All the joy from the prior two days now crushed, doubts flooding back in. Get a grip people, otherwise emergency room will be filling up with heart attacks and nervous breakdowns.

Yesterday's game was much more of a classic battle that we have come to expect from these two teams. Jon Lester pitched a very nice game, rebounding well from his last poor outing against the Blue Jays. But, as we are so used to seeing, the Yankees methodically drove Lester's pitch count up, so that, by the time he left with 2 outs in the 6th inning, he had thrown 119 pitches. Had he been able to keep that pitch count down, he would not have gotten lifted when he did, and we may have seen a different outcome. Hideki Okajima missed on a pitch to Giambi that changed the outcome of the game. But, wouldn't it have been nice if the Sox had scored more than two runs? Simply a tough game, and fitting that the Yankees should win the final regular season game - makes better history.

Remember when Josh Beckett got crushed by the Blue Jays, and I wrote that I was concerned this was due to an injury that we have not been told about yet? Well, it turns out I had reason to worry. Beckett has been scratched from his start tonight, and will instead, be going to visit the good Doctor Andrews. Nerve damage in the elbow can be a big problem. We don't know if Beckett's issue is big or not, but let's keep our fingers crossed on this one.

I will tell you this. If worse comes to worse, and the Sox lose Beckett for the rest of the season (God forbid), it is NOT all over. I expect they will continue to play well, certainly well enough to get into the playoffs, and then go to battle. Yes, having a healthy Beckett would be much, much better. But, when you look at last year's playoff run, when Beckett was clearly the overall MVP, you can look at it this way. Last year Beckett saved them. That is good and bad. It is good because it earned them a Championship. It is bad because they actually needed saving.

Yes, better pitching from their other starters, and better timely hitting, would have allowed Beckett to simply have a good playoff run and still win a Championship. He stepped up and became a hero, but, in a way, it is too bad we needed a hero to begin with. So, if this year, everyone picks up their game in the playoffs, and everything clicks, we may not need a single hero.

All that said, let's just hope Beckett gets back, healthy and strong.

Tonight the Sox face off against the Sox for an important three game series. The Sox are battling for first place with the Rays while the Sox are trying to hold on to first place over the Twins. if the Sox beat the Sox, then the Sox could find themselves behind the Twins and vying for the Wild Card. But, if the Sox beat the Sox, the Sox could lose control of their lead for Wild Card spot. So, either way, the Sox need to fare well against the Sox, and vice-versa. I am optimistic, since the Sox have fared well against the Sox this season, with tonight's starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, having had his best outing of the year against the Sox earlier this month. (I hope all of this is clear).

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Without Manny, Sox Have No Answer for Joba

Yes, I was at the game last night. Unfortunately, the results were not what I was hoping for, but for the most part, it was an interesting and well played game. This was our first look at Joba Chamberlain as a starter, and he looked good. As expected, he fed Sox batters a steady dose of fast balls, topping out at 100, but not very frequently. In addition, he mixed in a slider and a curveball to keep batters from sitting on the fastball. Joba lasted 7 innings and baffled Sox hitters all night, recording 9 strikeouts while only allowing 3 harmless singles and one walk. The only time it looked like the Sox might get to Joba was in the 2nd inning. Mike Lowell lined a soft single to left field, then JD Drew came up and ripped a shot to center that Melke Cabrera dove for and made the catch. Had he not come up with that, Lowell would have been on third, and they might have gotten something started.

Last night David Ortiz made his debut from the DL. Papi has been hitting minor league pitching well, but it is a big jump from minor league prospects to facing Joba's fastball. Papi looked like he needs a little more time to get his timing down. Meanwhile, there was little excitement while the Sox were at bat until the 7th inning when Joba, AGAIN, almost took Kevin Youkilis' head off with a pitch. Joba has twice before thrown at Youk, once at his head, and once behind him. Joba was precise in his command all night, only walked one batter, and hit no batters. So, could it be coincidence that this one pitch that gets away from Joba all night happens to be against Youk, and happens to go right at his head? Only Joba knows for sure, but I have to say, the game situation just did not make sense for it to be intentional, unless Joba is a complete idiot. At the time, the Yankees were leading 1-0, and Youk was leading off the 7th inning and had a 2-0 count. It just would not make sense for Joba to want to let the lead-off man get on base.

Counterpoint...If Joba does have it in for Youk, and wants to plunk him for some reason we don't know, but he sure makes obvious, then when would he do it? Well, he would not do it early in the game and risk getting thrown out, right? If he was going to do it, it would be late in the game when his turn to pitch was nearly over, like maybe the 7th inning? Joba's pitch count was in the 90's, he knew this would be his last inning, and his last chance to face Youkilis for the series. It was now or never. The way he was mowing the batters down, I'm not sure he was worried about getting through the inning with Youk on first, and if he made it looks accidental, he made not have been ejected for the first offense. Hmm, now that you put is that way, maybe it was not accidental at all! Now, what the hell does Joba have against Youk?

Josh Beckett pitched well, but not as dominating as Joba. Beckett also went 7 innings, striking out 6 and only walking one, but be gave up 9 hits, all of them singles. Beckett allowed the Yankees to get runners on base, but stayed enough in control to prevent anyone from crossing the plate. That is except for the 3rd inning. With 2 outs, Bobby Abreu and A-Rod hit back to back singles to put runners at 1st and 3rd. With Jason Giambi coming up, the Sox put the shift on moving Dustin Pedroia out into shallow right field and shortstop, Jed Lowrie, shifted over to stand behind 2nd base. Giambi swung at and barely connected with an 0-1 fastball that lazily rolled out to where the shortstop normally plays. With the shift on, there was no one there to get the ball in time to make a play, and Abreu scored the only run from third base. Not Beckett's fault, but what can you do?

The Red Sox big chance came in the 8th inning when Chamberlain left the game and Kyle Farnsworth came in. I had all the confidence in the world that the Sox could at least score one run off Farnsworth and most likely send the game into a late night extra inning battle. This was a Yankee game, after all, and we all expected it to last at least 5 hours, and this one looked like it was on track to end in a mind-boggling 3 hours! The inning started with Jed Lowrie getting a single, a feeble looking Jason Varitek popping out, and Coco Crisp getting a single off of a swinging bunt. The top of the order was coming up with two men on and only one out. Things looked good! But, if we knew the Yankees were in trouble, you'd expect their manager would know it too. Sure enough, Joe Girardi spoiled all the fun when he realized that if he wanted to steal a 1-0 win from the Red Sox in Fenway Park, he was going to have to nail it down right now. That meant a call to Mariano Rivera to get 5 outs. It only took Rivera 6 batters to get those 5 outs.

It looked like some trouble might be brewing in the 9th inning. Oritz lead off with a soft fly out to right, but Youk followed that with a single to left. With Mike Lowell and JD Drew due up next, things looked promising. That is until Yankee catcher, Jose Molina, slipped the umpire a little something. Mike Lowell was waging a battle for the ages against Rivera. The first two pitches were a ball and a called strike. Then Lowell fouled off three straight fastballs, watched ball two go by, and then fouled off another fastball. The eighth pitch of the battle was a fastball, but clearly (on replays) not a strike. Lowell let it go by to bring the count to 3 balls and two strikes (in his mind), and then, as the umpire remembered the Molina bribe, called out strike three instead. Lowell could not believe his ears. He leaped about 3 feet into the air, spilling out Cuban curses on the way up, and at the peak of his leap, slammed the bat down to the earth, and I swear we felt the vibration out in right field. I have never seen Lowell lose his cool like that, and he went after the home plate umpire as if he had just parked in his parking space after Lowell spent an hour shoveling the snow out of it.

We all figured Lowell ought to get this off his chest and go ahead and get thrown out. Maybe it will fire up his teammates! So, Lowell got sent to his room for a time out, and JD Drew stepped up. Drew has been swinging a hot bat, and one good swing could end this one, right? Well, with one ball and two strikes, instead of being inspired by Lowell, Drew decided to emulate him and sat there watching strike three go by without a swing. This one was not a ball, this one was a strike. Game over.

So, a 1-0 loss. Anyone think Manny Ramirez might have helped in that game?

Yankees Share the Same Good Luck Thong?

That's just gross...but apparently true...had to share this disturbing story with you as a bonus post for today...

From the NY Post, the thong belongs to Jason Giambi, but he shares it with all his pals!

Found out about this from a blogger friend, It's a Wonderful Red Sox Life.

If this is your first visit here today, the real post is the one before this one...read on...