Apologies for the late post, but you all know what happened last night.

We won a game we had to win.

Curt Schilling did his job, even if he did give up three dingers.

And his battery mate sure did his.

Coco got two hits, a couple ribbies, and a nice double play. (And when he grounded out on a 3-0 own, he was feeling so good he proffered an amorous inivitation to anyone who happened to be listening on YES.)

We out hit them 15-4, and beat ‘em 9 to 3, and cut their lead in the standings to a mere half game.

Things are looking up. We don’t have to see the Yanks or the Jays until August. We’re at home, for a short time at least. The bullpen is refreshed, if still thin. We get Jon Lester tomorrow. (Maybe.) Beckett's gonna give it another  whirl (what else can he do?). Clement's gotten a little extra rest. We’ve got more “ahms on the fahm” ready to help someday soon if we need ‘em. ticket resellers could soon get shut down.

Enjoy the good times now. Because thanks to Jason Grimsley’s name-heavy affidavit, things could be heading south soon in a big way for fans of the game. This is worse than “Batgate.” Much worse. But no one should be surprised. The next few weeks could get very, very depressing.

All because of this stupid little bottle.

But let’s take it easy with the guessing games. And hope really hard that when the names start spilling for real -- and they will -- none of our guys is implicated.

In the mean time, just win.

6/9/2006 5:06:54 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

What a kick in the teeth.

David Pauley pitched well. Really well. Far better than anyone could’ve reasonably anticipated. (There’s reason for optimism.)

Unfortunately, so did Chien-Ming Wang.

David Ortiz went deep to put us ahead in the third.

Unfortunately, so did Bernie Williams in the fifth.

Joe Torre only had to use two relievers, for an inning each.

Unfortunately, Terry Francona left Pauley in one batter to long, and when Rudy Seanez came in to try and get a fastball-less final out with the bases loaded in the seventh, there was nowhere for Giambi to go if he walked him. Which he did.

Manny Ramirez launched a home run to deep left the next inning to tie the score at two.

Unfortunately, Melky Cabrera caught it. (Think Matsui would’ve had that one? Even Joe Torre doesn’t.) And that Johnny Damon fist-pump was nauseating, wasn’t it?

And that was that. Mariano Rivera came in and retired the side on FIVE PITCHES.

Four losses to the Yankees in a row.

It was a night of bad luck all around: scorching liners hit right at guys, double-play balls that could have been RBI doubles, stolen homers.

But it was also a night of first-pitch hacking, squanders galore, and one astoundingly ugly base-running gaffe. You can’t play like that and expect to win.

The Yankees did not squander. Injury ravaged though they are, they’re making do with what they have.

Quite nicely, in fact.

It’s time to knock ‘em down a peg. The stopper goes tonight. The bullpen, even in its disarray, has youngblood reinforcement.

Please let the rain hold off. We need to play. We need to win.

6/7/2006 12:17:58 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

“To start with, we need good Beckett, not bad Beckett.”

I wrote those words yesterday with some reservations, but certainly confident that the latter would show up.

I had no idea.

Wow.

It's time to start asking some questions.

Is he just letting the adrenaline get to him, overthrowing, wild in the strike zone? All his problems seem to come in the early innings. Of course, last night, able only to get a piddling four outs, the early “innings” were his entire outing.

Is that adrenaline to blame for the minimal differentiation between his 95-mph fastball and his 90-mph changeup?

Why is he so afraid of his breaking ball? Maybe in the National League you can get by just being "Gas Masterson" (in Eck’s timeless turn of phrase), but in the AL you’ve gotta, y’know, pitch.

Is it Varitek’s pitch calling?

Or is it Al Nipper?

Whatever it is, something’s gotta change. Matt Clement can pitch better than this. Hell, Alex Cora could do better than this. Sixteen homers in 45 innings is absolutely abysmal. Completely unacceptable for an ostensible number two.

Eight runs (seven earned). Nine base runners. Six consecutive hits. Two three-run homers. One and one third innings.

All this damage at the hands of a decimated Yankees lineup, lighter, in payroll terms, to the tune of $45 million.

(They must have been so proud of themselves. I’m guessing that’s why Andy Phillips and Jason Giambi both stuck their heads above the enemy dugout for curtain calls after their respective three-run jacks. In the second inning. In June. This is the same team that complained barely a week ago about Manny admiring his home runs. Curtain calls. In the second inning. And from the same team that was in high dudgeon when the Orioles’ Corey Patterson stole a base with a six-run lead just the day before? We have A-Rod stealing second with — yes! — a six-run lead. Hypocrisy doesn’t get more rich than that, folks. Admire it.)

We should've known from the get-go that it wouldn't be our night. The barrage all came following a most unusual — and hideously ugly — play in the bottom of the first inning that put the first of the Yankees’ 13 runs on the board. Melky Cabrera scored from first on a wild pitch.

Edes describes the bedlam much better than I can.

Press the rewind button, and this is what you'll see: With the Sox overshifted to the right side, Beckett bounces a pitch to Jason Giambi that Jason Varitek corrals quickly enough to throw to second, but his off-balance peg sails off target. It strikes the glove of third baseman Mike Lowell and bounds into right-center field, where it is run down by the shortstop, Alex Gonzalez.

Varitek, alertly realizing that third base is unoccupied because Lowell is shifted toward short, heads for the bag. Kevin Youkilis, the first baseman, heads toward the mound, to cut off a throw. What the Red Sox don't realize, but Cabrera does, is that home plate has been left vacant. Gonzalez throws to Youkilis, because he has no one else to throw to. Youkilis turns and throws toward Varitek, who is in a fruitless footrace to the plate with Cabrera.

Just terrible. Meanwhile, Josh Beckett was standing dumbly on the mound instead of covering home.

It was almost as bad as that other weird play, in the bottom of the third, which looked like it should have ended the inning — with Lowell and Loretta walking off the field and NESN cutting to a commercial, most thought that it had — but instead allowed for five more runs to score before it was over.

An interesting thing about that play. Jerry Remy may have coined that ridiculous “Yo-Lo-Go-Lo-Va” catch phrase (buy the t-shirt!) and sometimes it may sound as if nitrous oxide is being pumped into the booth. But we should stop every once and a while and remember what an astute announcer he is, especially compared with some of the asshats at that self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”

Last night, the great Eric Van filed this report on SoSH:

For those with two-tuner DVRS, the bizarre play at home plate in the 3rd provided an astonishing contrast between the competence of Jerry Remy vs. the entire set of ESPN announcers.

ESPN crew:

-- Missed the tag on Cairo even on the first replay, thinking that Williams was out on a force and that the Sox thought the inning was over because they'd turned a 2-6-3 DP.

-- When the Sox were called back on the field, thought the ball had been ruled foul after all, and stated this repeatedly, including multiple assertions that Cairo would still be up, even though he was presumably in the dugout and Damon was preparing to hit.

-- Never noticed or showed Varitek yelling out "tag him" to Gonzalez (because he'd just taken off the force), or Williams retreating towards first and being tagged (which is why the Sox actually thought they'd turned two).

-- Never figured out that the ump had ruled the ball had barely nicked Cairo on the left foot, instead thinking that he had called the play incorrectly and that the ball was declared dead and Bernie sent back to first to correct this error.

-- Had no reply of the ump yelling "dead ball" and "he's out right here" (or whatever it was he said exactly).

. . . All of which Jerry Remy and the NESN crew got correct.

When a local crew can run silly circles around a national one, that's something special.

A very strange and ugly night. Oh well. It’s easy to forget sometimes that it still counts as just one loss. We’re half-game out of first. And super stud David Pauley goes tonight! Have no fear. It can’t be any worse, right? Our bullpen is fully stocked and rarin’ to go.

Why do I have the feeling I may be tempted to disappear into Curt Schilling’s magical cyber world?

6/6/2006 11:47:49 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Was at a wedding up in Sea Dogs country (former home of soon-to-be Yankee-killer David Pauley) all weekend, so I missed the ninth-inning heroics on Friday and the eighth-inning gut punch on Saturday. But I did catch Sunday’s bizarre oddity of a game — four homers and three walked-in runs? — and I can’t complain about that. As the man once said, two out of three ain’t bad.

They may have the best record in baseball. They may be for real. But this Tigers team could sure use some plate discipline. They’ll swing at anything outside of the zone, which is a big reason Matt Clement  got the win yesterday. Who needs to find the plate with hitters like these?

He pitched well — or at least a helluva lot better than he has recently — but left under mysterious circumstances in the seventh inning. They’re insisting he’s not hurt. But a look at Rotoworld’s cataloging of our teams injuries confirms that a lot of other guys are.

David Wells “is reportedly unlikely to return from the disabled list when eligible Sunday. He hasn't begun throwing off a mound yet, and it looks like they’re gonna take their time.”

Mark Loretta ”had his toe nail drilled to release pressure after being hit by a Scott Downs pitch over the weekend.” (Eww.)

Mike Lowell “is expected to return to the lineup Monday.” (He played an inning Sunday as a defensive replacement for...

Kevin Youkilis, “who was hit on the forearm by a pitch from Tigers reliever Jason Grilli on Sunday. Youkilis stayed in the game after being hit, but he was removed for a defensive replacement in the bottom of the inning. X-rays were negative and he's considered day-to-day.”

Keith Foulke ”was given a third straight game off Sunday with back stiffness.”

And that’s not counting Wily Mo, who’s out for six weeks, at least.

Luckily, they’re just as banged up, if not more.

A-Rod and Giambino have tummy aches.

Johnny’s got a bone in his foot that’s cut in half. (Yikes!)

No Sheff. No Godzilla. Maybe no Mo. No Captain Intangibles? Say it ain’t so.

But they’ve got a helluva manager.

All the same, says Silverman, they’re still better than us.

I’m not so sure.

Tonight is the 10th Sox/Yanks match-up in 35 days. Just another game? We’ll see about that.

To start with, we need good Beckett, not bad Beckett. And we’ll proceed from there.

6/5/2006 12:41:33 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Matt Clement needs to leave this team. I’m sorry. I’m sure he’s a very nice guy, but at this point, anyone could pitch better than him, and have twice as much testicular fortitude. Ship him off to the NL for a league-average pitcher and hope for the best. Put him on the DL until a deal can be made. I don’t want to see him pitch against Tampa Bay or Baltimore. Let alone the Yankees.

I feel bad he got another comebacker hit right at him. It looked like it hurt. And maybe he is still reeling from last year’s nightmare in Tampa Bay. It would explain a lot. Because last night, even facing a threadbare Bombers lineup, without Damon, Matsui, or Posada, Matt Clement was awful.

Yeah, he struck out Jeter, A-Rod, and Sheffield once each. He also hit number nine batter Kelly Stinnett with a pitch. He walked Melky Cabrera and let him advance to second on a wild throw. He gave up an RBI single to number eight man Terrence Long.

Eight earned runs. Nine hits, four walks, and a hit-by-pitch in four and a third innings.

The guy has amazing stuff. Sometimes. And that’s his biggest problem. He’s horribly inconsistent, and seems often to have no control whatsoever over the gifts God gave him. He’s all over the place, and has a hard time finding the strike zone. He gave up 68 walks last season. This season, he’s given up 28 already, on pace for almost 100. Meanwhile, surprise surprise, his K rate is down.

Then there’s this telling tidbit, courtesy of Rotoworld: “The league is batting .439/.538/.683 in 41 at-bats against him with RISP”

Ye gods.

Whether that points to mechanical problems when pitching from the stretch, or some sort of despondent, Derek Lowe-esque mental block is immaterial. What matters is that he folds like cardboard when faced with the slightest bit of adversity, and I have no confidence whatsoever that he has any ability to gut his way through tough situations.

At least D-Lowe could come through with gems every once in a while. And I don’t think anyone can reasonably expect any surprise postseason heroics from meek Matt Clement. (Remember this?)

What a horrible way to waste another huge Manny Ramirez performance. (With considerably fewer theatrics this time.)

What a horrible way to waste another shaky Randy Johnson start. (And give the creep a W to boot.)

It was an excruciatingly frustrating night.

Why did David Ortiz strike out four times, the last with the bat on his shoulders?

Why was Kevin Youkilis, who otherwise had a stellar night at the plate (and around the bag), unable to loft a simple sac fly with Wily Mo Pena on third in the eighth? Scratch that; why was Wily Mo Pena the only guy in the 617 area code who didn’t see a wild pitch rattling around the backstop that same inning, and why couldn’t Demarlo Hale tell him to, like, RUN?

Perspective is in order. It’s only May. Still very early. As great as it would have been to really stomp on their throats in their moment of weakness, we are still in first place.

Yes, they’ve got an easy series against the woeful Kansas City Royals coming up.

But we’ve got a four-game stretch against the Devil Rays. Sure, they’re no pushovers. Especially with Kazmir going against the mysterious David Wells on Friday. But we’ve got Beckett tonight. And Schilling on Saturday.

And hopefully our erstwhile bachelor GM will soon be putting Clement on the DL and calling up someone else (Ginter? Alvarez?) to take his place. A guy can dream, can’t he?

5/25/2006 12:16:50 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

I think Alex “Jesus Loves Me” Rodriguez has found the motivational tool he needs. Every time his boss or some New York rag tears him a new one for failing in the clutch, he comes out in the next game and unleashes a bomb. It happened a couple weeks ago, and it happened last night.

Good for him.

Do I wish Tito had opted to take Wake out early instead of letting him give up a three-run jack to Mr. McBluelips?

Yes. But there’s certainly no guarantee that Julian Tavarez would’ve gotten the guy out either.

Sure, it would’ve been nice if Manny’s three-run shot had tied the game instead of slicing the lead in half.

And sure, it would’ve been nice if his RBI single in the eighth had given us the lead.

But it also would have been nice if Jaret Wright had remembered that he is Jaret Wright.

It would have been nice if we had not left 13 MEN ON BASE.

It would have been nice if Doug Mirabelli didn’t allow three passed balls for an unearned run.

If would have been nice if we didn’t have to see Doug Mirabelli, representing the tying run in the seventh, strike out swinging three times at three breaking balls.

It would have been nice if we didn’t have to see Willie Harris coming to the plate with runners on first and third and two outs.

It would have been nice if Francona could’ve pinch-hit Wily Mo Pena instead of forcing us to watch Dustan Mohr make the last out. (You were just being cautious last night, right Tito? He can play tonight but couldn’t pick up a bat in the bottom of the ninth? Very strange.)

Oh well.

Randy Johnson has a lot to prove tonight.

And Matt Clement (hopefully) has a shot of confidence after his last start.

Other bright spots are there: Coco is back soon. Wells will give it a whirl on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Yankees’ bullpen is terrible. In a game the Yankees were once leading 7-1, Mariano Rivera was compelled to come in and get a five-out save.

But if David Riske can keep pitching anything like he did last night, and if Jonathan Papelbon can continue being the best closer in baseball, ours is not.

And despite what Joe Torre says, Manny can keep admiring those majestic blasts for as long as he wants. 

“You’ve got to pretend like you’ve been there before," says the game’s guardian of moral rectitude. Well, he has been there before, 444 times, in fact. And he’ll be there again. And again.

5/24/2006 11:27:47 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

That was nice. As effortless and systematic a dismantling of the New York Yankees as we’ve seen so far this year.

Some third-inning laboring aside, Schilling was masterful: five hits and a run in eight innings with nary a walk. (And, as Bob Ryan points out, only two three ball counts.) Slump? What slump?

Sure, this was a “distinctly different team,” a considerably more dissipated lineup than we’re used to seeing. Even guys who played were injured: Johnny Damon has a broken toe (?!) and had to DH instead of playing the field.

All the same, as Keith Foulke demonstrated in spectacular fashion in the ninth, this Yankees team certainly not incapable of rattling off four runs off five hits in a row, including two homers and two doubles. Let’s just chalk that one up to the fact that Foulke hadn’t worked in a week and try to focus on the good stuff. Right?

As Schilling took care of his end, the lineup did their job. We hit, and we hit when we needed to.

When we had two guys in scoring position, with a 3-0 count to David Ortiz, David Ortiz didn’t take, he swung, hard, rocketing one towards a slip-slidin’ Terrence Long and knocked those two runners in.

When Manny Ramirez stepped to the plate immediately following that, he did not strike out, or hit into a double play. He did his best Manny Ramirez impression, unleashing Chien-Ming Wang’s pitch into the deepest part of the park, depositing it a few rows up into the center field bleachers.

Even Willie Harris, subbing for late-scratch Wily Mo Pena, got in on the act, lacing a base hit to lead off the seventh. Then Alex Cora -- who, as usual, made his presence felt, going 3 for 4 and turning two spectacular double plays -- poked a sweet bunt down the first base line, reaching toeing the bag just ahead of Jason Giambi's tag. Kevin Youkilis took his opportunity, doubling to left, scoring Harris. Then Ortiz singled, scoring Cora. Then Manny lofted a sac fly, scoring Yoooook.

In the eighth, we scored some more. Jason Varitek walked. Mike Lowell barely missed a home run (having to settle instead — ho-hum — for another double). RBI machine Willie Harris knocked Tek in with a sac fly. And Cora singled Lowell home.  

Finally, our lineup, top to bottom, seems to be firing on all cylinders. And that defense ain’t to shabby neither.

And it could be getting better soon. Coco Crisp hasn’t passed his kidney stones yet (OW!) but the finger feels good, he’s been taking his cuts, and could start rehabbing this week.

Gabe Kapler is on the road to recovery, too. Although I’ve got to confess I’m perplexed by all the talk of him as if he’s simply going to leap back into the fold as soon as he’s healthy. I know he’s a well-liked player, but where would he play? As long as Wily Mo and Trot are healthy, and with Coco coming back, his services would seem extraneous. If things stay the way they are — a big if, of course — I’d be surprised to see him in any meaningful capacity save perhaps a September call-up (more for PR purposes than anything on-field).

Meanwhile, another right fielder, Gary Sheffield, has a slot waiting for him — desperate for him — and could be in the Yanks’ lineup tonight. He’ll be a difference maker for sure.

In the mean time, we should savor last night. Last time I gloated, we got our come-uppance the very next game. So instead, I’m going to let the New York tabloids do that job for me.

A-Rod hit another stat-padding homer last night. Of course. Always dependable when the game is already lost.

“When it doesn’t count, count on A-Rod” chortles Newsday.

“Rodriguez has to stop living his life as a self-fulfilling prophesy, comically grounding into double play after double play in game-changing situations and hitting home runs over the sky in meaningless blowouts, his two signature at-bats from the past two nights,” writes Mike Vaccaro.

“Even at 24-19, the Yankees are only a couple of more losses to the Red Sox away from a full-blown crisis,” panics the Daily News, remind us that the Bombers “may only be one day away from Randy Johnson taking the mound with the weight of the world on his shoulders, trying to avoid a Red Sox sweep while proving he still has some Big Unit left in him.”

That should be fun.

Wake goes tonight. He’s a Yankee killer. There seems to be a lot of ‘em on this team these days.

5/23/2006 11:32:37 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Interleague play been berry berry good to us.

So far. At least when our starting pitcher goes more than two-plus innings and, preferably, hits a home run. Two out of three ain't bad. Now comes the good part.

Friday night was a nice start.

Mr. Ortiz did serviceable work at first, and was prodigious at the plate.

Lowell and Tek went deep, too.

And Matt Clement confirmed that he pitches better to NL lineups. He even hit a double!

Toward the end of the game, Papelbon almost gave me a heart attack, but he got the job done with aplomb. Again.

On Saturday, after watching A.J. “The Most Disliked Player in Baseball” Pierzynski get his clock cleaned, after watching the Yankees annihilate Billy Wagner (poor Petey, the guy just can’t catch a break), it was our turn.

The revelation of the night, of course, is that Josh Beckett has light tower power. And he isn’t afraid to lace a game-tying RBI single every once in a while. He can pitch a little too.

His was the first homer by a Sox pitcher since this guy did it in 1972.

That’s a pretty big deal.

Hell, even Alex Gonzalez was inspired to get in on the act. (Ours, not theirs.)

Sunday? The less said about it the better. You can’t win ‘em all.

Lenny was lacking after two weeks idle. His soft tosses were hit hard.

The good news? Wells is doing well. (His mouth has never been better.)

But beware: just because the big man says he’s “absolutely” ready doesn’t mean he is.

One decent start against AAA kids does not a return to form make. Remember this and this?

Anyway, welcome back, Abe; you pitched well for couple innings at least.

(Meanwhile, Mike Lowell homered again. If he keeps this shit up all season and doesn’t get comeback player of the year, there is no justice in this world.)

Meanwhile, even as they salvaged a game from us, were hear Philly phans bitching about us coming to their house.

Boo-freaking-hoo.

Watching their reaction to the ball J-Roll bobbled, you would think the Red Sox had one the World Series on that very play. The Red Sox were already up. The game was in hand. Dancing and hugging and high fiving after that error was uncalled for. Other than maybe the Heilman play on Abreu's swinging bunt a couple weeks back, dancing and hugging after any error is simply not warranted.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. Uh, it’s called being a baseball fan. Look into it. Cheer on your team’s successes and your opponents’ failures. It's what fans do. At least this guy had things into perspective:

I can’t blame Red Sox fans… they come out in DROVES to support their team. Unlike Phillies fans who stay at home and let their ballpark be filled up with fans of the opposing team night after night. That is the real shame IMO.

Say what you will about the Yankees, but at least their fans are as passionate about their team as we are about ours.

Luckily, Fenway is too small to accommodate many of them.

All in all, it was a pretty decent weekend. But now the work week has started. Time to punch-in.

They’re battered, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Luckily, no one thinks it will be.

It’s time to add to our lead in the standings. Let’s do this.

5/22/2006 11:18:05 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

I'll admit it. I was wrong. And I love being proven wrong.

The very day after I after chastise little Willie Harris for his miniscule batting average, he pinch runs in the seventh, scores, and then steps to the plate in the ninth against The Greatest Closer In The Game and, lo and behold .... strokes a single into short right.

He advanced to second on A-Gon’s ground-out, Youks knocked the speedy little dude in, and presto! A valuable insurance run for our indomitable closer to take with him to the mound.

And that was the game. Deep sigh of relief.

I have to admit, I’m surprised, in a way, that we ended up pulling it out.

Leaving fifteen men on base — 15! — and being robbed of two home runs can be awful demoralizing sometimes.

But Wake (3-0 since Dougie’s return) held the line, and we capitalized when we needed to, thanks in large part to Bernie Williams’s unfamiliarity with right field and Derek Jeter’s killer intangibles.

Finally, after so many squanders, we made something happen. That’s what good teams do.

The RBIs in the seventh came courtesy of Mark Loretta, who (four for six last night, 17 for his last 32) is apparently no longer in a slump.

(In one week he’s raised his average from .207 to .280 — hey, at that rate Willie Harris could be batting .184 before we know it!)

Hideki Matsui, on the other hand, is suddenly in a big slump. He rolled over his wrist while diving for Loretta’s sinking bloop in the first. The thing snapped, and was flopping around like it was made of rubber. 

[Shudder.]

First of all, props for having the fortitude and presence of mind to still turn around and get the ball back to the infield with barely a grimace. That’s pretty hardcore. Even for a Yankee.

The good news? He’ll have at least three months to spend some quality time with his collection of fine Japanese porn.

The bad news? Unless he’s ambidextrous he won’t be able to do much with it.

The good news for Yankees fans? Bubba Crosby had a hell of a night, going two for four with a triple, and robbing Mike Lowell of a homer.

The bad news? With Matsui out for who knows how long, Sheffield still on the shelf, and now Damon apparently hurt too (thanks to his wall-banging snag of Mirabelli’s long ball), they're gonna be seeing an awful lot more of him — and Melky Cabrera, too! — in the outfield.

Whatever will Cashman do?

And what will all those Japanese reporters do for work?

For us, in the mean time, all’s well that ends well. But there were some pretty tense and intense moments in that game last night. And it’s only May! Far, far too early in the season for my chest to be tightening up and my teeth clenching in the seventh inning.

But with Red Sox/Yankees it’s always been thus. Quite normal to play for four hours and use nine relievers — six for them (four in one inning), and three for us (all of whom pitched really well) — right?

Maybe a night off would do us all some good. Sorry, Matt, it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen.

But what’s one more night?

It’s a rainy weekend! Let’s all rent some Billy Murray flicks and get drunk like Rick Sutcliffe.

 

5/12/2006 12:39:52 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Well that was nowhere near as fun.

I knew I shouldn’t have gloated. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.

Let’s just pray for the chance to go again tonight.

Schilling wasn’t exactly awful — at least not Randy Johnson awful — but he sure wasn’t great either. We needed him to be great.

A-Rod finally homered. (Guess that little “overdue” jab from Big Boss Man lit a fire under his ass? Oh, wait, those comments were “misinterpreted” ... never mind.)

So did Giambi. And Posada.

Grooved fastball, cutter over, unchanged changeup, respectively.

And he was gone by the sixth.

Chris Snow brings up a rather disconcerting possibility:

Is it merely coincidence or convenience that Curt Schilling's season to this point can be divided into two halves, the four starts before he hurled 133 pitches at Cleveland and the four starts beginning with that night? Quite possibly....

Schilling was 4-0 with a 1.61 ERA before that April night at Jacobs Field, an evening that signaled the end of the innocence and possibly the excellence.

Including last night, when he left trailing, 6-3, in a 7-3 loss, he is 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA in his last four starts. He allowed 17 hits (two of them homers) in 28 innings through four starts. He's allowed 31 hits (five of them homers, three of those last night) in 24 2/3 innings covering his last four games, at Cleveland and Tampa Bay, home vs. Baltimore, and last night before 54,769 at Yankee Stadium.

Ugh. Please-oh-please let this be one bit of numbers-crunching speculation that’s a merely a function of coincidence and nothing else.

The good news? David Ortiz continues his complete and utter domination of the New York Yankees. Quite simply, the man can hit. Four for four with a nine-pitch at-bat culminating in a homer in the first. Shift that, jerks!

But on a night when offense was at a premium and pitching was lacking, where on earth was Wily Mo? And why was Willie Harris standing where he should be standing in center field and in the batters box?

They are two men whose body sizes seem to be in almost precise proportion to their batting prowess.

And while Wily Mo is a giant of a man, Willie Harris looks like a kid out there in that oversized helmet.

 

“The decision on the speedy Harris,” Horrigan writes, “was based on his success vs. Mussina (.385, 5-for-13) and his ability to cover ground in Yankee Stadium’s expansive center field with fly-ball pitcher Curt Schilling on the mound.

It's a logic that makes a little sense.

Until you realize this: Willie Harris is not just hitting below the Mendoza Line. He’s hitting below .100. His new average? A lilliputian .095. That’s absurd. I’m sure he’s a fine human being, but he should not be playing major league games. At least not for the Red Sox. And definitely not against the Yankees.

In other news, Mike Lowell’s glove is golden, but his bat is better. The shocker? He didn’t hit a double last night. He hit a home run! Guess he forgot he wasn’t in Fenway.

There’s a piece of writing making the rounds today, an homage to the ageless Dougie’s Diary (“now updated!”), that follows a day in the life of our new two-bagging 3B. From last night’s entry:

7:27 pm -- Crushes Mussina offering to where the Monster should be. Curses self for lack of plate discipline.

7:28 pm -- Stops at 2B. Gets waved home.

7:30 pm -- Asks official scorer to mark his stats thusfar tonight as 1AB 2H (double, double). Is told that batting 2.000 is impossible.

7:31 pm -- Asks official scorer to mark his stats thusfar tonight as 1AB, 1H (double) and 2SB (3rd off bleacher creatures, home off bleacher creatures). Scorer hangs up on him.

7:32 pm -- Tells Youks to walk twice next time he's up. Then calls him a pansy who hits for singles.

A glimmer of humor in an otherwise dreary night.

Whatever. It all comes out in the wash, right? What matters is beating teams like Texas.

But first, weather permitting, the Yankees have an appointment tonight with one of their least favorite pitchers.

5/11/2006 1:00:05 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

No, in fact, he was so frightened of Big Papi that he walked him in the first on four straight pitches. (This after having walked Kevin Youkilis on nine.)

Then, in third — after walking our number nine hitter — he gave up a little infield squib to Ortiz that Alex Rodriguez misplayed, allowing Papi to reach. (Why did A-Rod win that MVP award again? Oh yeah, it’s because he plays the field every day.)

Revenge, as they say, is a dish best served cold. And despite his jovial off-field demeanor, David Ortiz is the quintessence of sangfroid at the plate. In the fourth, he blasted a ringing double of Johnson, knocking his lanky, creaky, ungainly frame right out of the game.

3.2 IP  5 H  7 R  2 ER  5 BB

The assembled hordes booed — loudly — a vicious censure stemming as much from their exasperation with Johnson’s utter ineffectiveness as from their frustration that Ortiz continues to lord it over their team every time he steps to the plate. Stay classy, Yankee fans.

I just love how Joe Torre can chastise Sox fans for booing Johnny Damon — “Evidently, wearing a Yankee uniform overrides winning a World Series and busting your tail for four years.” — but will remain silent when his fans let loose on their own ostensible ace.

(And, really, Johnny? STFU. It’s over. You went where the money is. That’s your right. We have our rights too.)

It was an ugly and beautiful game. So many moments to savor and enjoy.

* Mark Loretta (3 for 6) being given the green light with the Big Ugly clearly on the ropes and Big Papi waiting on deck. As Harold Reynolds said it last night on Baseball Tonight:

“The Red Sox showed the ultimate disrespect for Randy Johnson tonight. With a 3-0 count, a 3-2 lead and Big Papi on deck, the Red Sox allowed Mark Loretta, who was 3 for 40 lifetime against Johnson, to swing away. If Loretta had popped it up or grounded out, Francona would have been lambasted. But the Red Sox obviously had no respect for Johnson's stuff tonight that they decided to try it and it worked. It took Randy Johnson's heart out right then and there it was game over." (Thanks to SoSH’s RedOctober3829 for the transcription.)

* Alex Gonzalez — Alex Gonzalez! — hammering a three-run job into the left field seats.

''He threw a sinker in," said Gonzalez. ''I just need to find some holes."

Like over the fence?

''Big hole," he said.

* Mike Lowell adding two more doubles to his already-impressive CV.

* Wily Mo Pena continuing to hit (2 for 6) and also showing his versatility in all three outfield positions.

* Manny’s heroic 12-pitch at-bat against Aaron Small.

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