The Yankees surprised Boston with a devastating barrage of combinations in a come-from-behind victory on Friday night, but the Red Sox responded on Saturday afternoon by delivering a knockout punch of their own.
Chien-Ming Wang didn't bring his "A" game, David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury combined to go 5 for 5 with 5 RBIs and Josh Beckett may have inched closer to the Cy Young Award as the Red Sox smashed the Yanks 10-1 in Boston. The loss drops the Bombers 5.5 games back in the AL East with only 14 games remaining. Baring a BoSox collapse, the Yanks will fail to capture the division for the first time since 1997.
The Tigers won on Saturday so the Yankees lead in the wild card chase was sliced to 2.5 games. This thing ain't over yet, folks.
The Good:
Derek Jeter. Jeter delivered the first salvo of the game with his 10th home run of the season in the first inning. The solo shot put the Yanks up 1-0, but that would be it for the offense. Jeter has been scrapping lately (he's batting .105 in his last seven games and is hitting .163 overall in September), but he picked up half of the Yankee hit total on Saturday afternoon. Maybe that will get him back on track. The Captain finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.
The Bad:
Chien-Ming Wang. You can usually tell early on if The Wanger is going to be on or off. Wang hit the mound in the bottom of the first with the Yanks up 1-0 and ended the frame with the score tied at 1-1. He tap-danced in and out of trouble through five innings, but finally fell apart in the sixth. Wang was high in the zone and recorded more fly outs than ground outs (8 fly outs vs. 6 ground outs) for the afternoon. Wang dropped to 18-7 with this: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 3 K.
The pen. Five relievers combined to pitch 2 and 1/3 innings of crummy baseball. Need evidence? How bout this: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 7 K, 1 HR. Edwar Ramirez, Ron Villone, Brian Bruney and Russ Ohlendorf all gave up at least one run on Saturday afternoon. Only Sean Henn was spared a number in the earned run column. He also didn't earn a number in the innings pitched department. He gave up a hit and walk before being pulled without recording an out.
The Ugly:
Dane Cook. I just don't get the appeal of Cook. I'm not familiar with all his comedy, but the stuff I've seen from him hasn't knocked my socks off. How this guy is a star is beyond me. Anyway, he came into the booth to promote his new movie with Jessica Alba. When the hell did a baseball game turn into a vehicle for "celebrities" to plug their latest projects? And why wasn't Jessica Alba there?
The Yanks will wrap up their nine-game road swing on Sunday night and send Roger Clemens against Curt Schilling. Clemens will be making his first start in nearly two weeks due to elbow stiffness and a foot full of blisters. He says he's ready to go -- let's see. The Rocket is 6-6 overall this season with a 4.45 ERA.
Schilling will be making his fifth start of 2007 against the Yanks on Sunday. So far, he's 0-2 with a 5.76 ERA. The Yanks have pounded him for 35 hits in his 25 innings and have belted 8 homers. It would be nice to smack Schilling around one more time before the year ends.
Roger Clemens will be making his first appearance in Boston since Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS. That was the game where Pedro Martinez spun the Yankees 106-year-old bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground. Ah, good times. Earlier in 2003, the Red Sox faithful gave the "retiring" Clemens a standing ovation after his final regular season appearance.
I wonder if Clemens will get the same response on Sunday night.
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I'm not sure I could possibly say enough awful things about Dane Cook. I've tried to watch some of his "comic" routine, and I found myself staring at the screen, wondering why all the people were laughing. He's not funny. And anyone who thinks he is should be committed.
He was only in the booth because he's doing all those promos for Fox October baseball (you know, the ones you have to mute when they come on to prevent from going insane).