Yankees get a win to savor in October when they're sitting at home

After winning the first two games of the final regular season Yankees-Red Sox series at Yankee Stadium, Boston had a great chance to pick up the sweep yesterday afternoon. Jon Lester was dealing and his team had a 2-0 lead when he departed with two outs in the seventh.

Sadly, Hideki Okajima reverted back to his earlier season form: giving up a pinch-hit two-run homer to Jason Giambi. The Giambino added the game-winning hit in the ninth, a bases-loaded single off Jonathan Papelbon with one out.

It was still a very successful trip for the Sox (77-56). The road has been one of their biggest weaknesses this season but they won three series in a row. Boston now has 20 of its last 29 games at Fenway. They're 4.5 behind the Rays in the AL East but 2.5 games ahead of the Twins (who appear to be finally fading a bit).

At 10.5 games behind in the AL East and six games behind Boston in the Wild Card, to say the Yankees (71-62) are on life support is generous. Regardless, they came through with an exciting win for the home fans.

Jon Lester and Mike Mussina dueled for seven innings but neither factored in the decision. Lester stuck around for 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. He left since his pitch count was up to 119.

Mussina went seven innings. He gave up two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Boston got both of its runs in the fifth on a Jason Varitek RBI single and Jacoby Ellsbury's fielder's choice.

Giambi homered to deep center with two outs in the seventh and then delivered again in the ninth after Justin Masterson (4-4) had loaded the bases. Papelbon was up 0-2 on Giambi but he left a fastball over the middle of the plate.

Derek Jeter had three hits off Lester and Mariano Rivera (5-5) got the win after recording four outs.

The Red Sox had more bad news after the game as Josh Beckett was scratched once again from his scheduled start tonight. He's also going to visit Dr. James Andrews to check out his elbow which is never a good sign.

In addition, the first-place Chicago White Sox come to Fenway for three games beginning tonight. The slugging White Sox will probably hit about 15 homers over the course of the series.

It's Gonna Be a Long Offseason in the Bronx

All season long, even before the rash of injuries, it was clear that the New York Yankees were a flawed team. They weren't built for success in the postseason (not enough arms, defense or OBP guys). Still, in my wildest, PCP-induced dreams, I could have never imagined that the Yankees would miss the playoffs for the first time in 14 years and be all but dead before the calendar even says September.

In its second to last game at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox blew out the Yanks, 11-3. In the process, they showed New York a blueprint for why they've won two World Series championships in the last four seasons while the Yankees are 0-for the new Millenium. The keys to the 2008 Red Sox: Quality starting pitching, patient hitters and young studs getting plenty of playing time.

Boston (77-55) once again wore out Yankees (70-62) pitchers, with 13 hits and six walks. Dustin Pedroia led the way, going 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs on his first career grand slam. Jason Bay was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a run. David Ortiz was on base four times with two hits and two walks while Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits and scored twice.

Veteran Paul Byrd (9-11) gave his team all you can ask of a fifth starter: six innings, two runs, five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Sidney Ponson (7-5) wasn't so lucky for New York. He went 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts. The duo of Jose Veras (five runs) and David Roberston (two runs) made sure that the Yankees faithful went home early as the Sox exploded for seven runs in the eighth.

A-Rod had two doubles, a run and RBI but nobody will remember that since his team got smoked and it occured after his nightmarish performance the night before.

Jason Bay drove in Pedroia and Ortiz with an RBI double in the first. Bobby Abreu scored on A-Rod's double in the first, making it 2-1 Red Sox.

Robinson Cano tied it in the fourth with an RBI single but Boston scored twice in the fifth to regain the lead. Kevin Youkilis walked with the bases loaded and Bay had a sacrifice fly score Pedroia.

The eighth was a hit parade for the Red Sox. Bay tripled in Pedroia, Alex Cora had a sacrifice fly which scored Bay, Coco Crisp knocked in Jed Lowrie with a single and then Pedroia blasted his grand slam to left center.

Jason Giambi homered in the ninth but by that time, most of New York's fans were gone or had turned off the YES Network.

Mike Mussina and Jon Lester-the two surprise aces of their respective teams this season-duel this afternoon in the finale.

A-Rod, still choking in the clutch like noneother

For only one game, last night provided immense pleasure for a Red Sox fan. The Sox beat the Yankees, 7-3, in game one of the last Sox-Yankees series at Yankee Stadium.

Secondly, A-Rod shat the bed in epic proportions. He was 0-for-5, grounded into two double plays (one with the bases loaded), made an error and struck out twice (once to end the game). At least he has that hag Madonna to console him as the Yankees' (70-61) season continues to fall apart.

Fresh off the DL, Tim Wakefield (8-8) pitched five innings to get the win. Wake gave up three runs on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Andy Pettitte, who had such a great start to the season, can't seem to get untracked lately. Boston (76-55) made the lefty throw 101 pitches in 4.2 innings. Pettitte allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

In total, the Sox banged out 14 hits and worked seven walks from the Yankees subpar bunch of relievers. Coco Crisp led the way with three hits, a run, an RBI and a steal. David Ortiz had two doubles, two walks and a run. Jason Bay and Jeff Bailey each added two hits and two RBIs while Kevin Cash added two hits.

Johnny Damon was the lone brightspot for the Yanks. He hit a solo homer in the first and another solo shot in the fifth.

Jacoby Ellsbury tied it at 1 in the second with an RBI single. Jose Molina gave New York its last lead in the second with an RBI single.

Boston scored twice in the third on Kevin Youkilis's RBI double and a Bay RBI single. The Sox opened it up with three more in the fifth. Coco knocked in Bay with a single and Jeff Bailey brought home two with an infield single that Jason Giambi forgot to throw home (he was too busy growing his moustache, damn it).

Jason Bay's sacrifice fly in the sixth was the last run for the good guys.

Hideki Okajima got the first two outs in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon came on to recorded his 34th save after retiring four Yankees hitters.

Paul Byrd goes for the Sox tonight against Sidney Ponson, something you probably didn't expect to say at the beginning of the season.

Jed Lowrie, You Give Me the Business

With the injuries piling up lately, it hasn't been pretty but the Red Sox took care of business (baby) with a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in 11 innings yesterday at the Rogers Centre.

Boston (75-55) won two of three in Toronto and has a day off today before playing its final regular season series at Yankee Stadium.

Toronto (67-63) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Daisuke Matsuzaka and with A.J. Burnett on the mound, the Blue Jays looked poised to take another one from the Red Sox.

It was a true team win as numerous guys on the Red Sox contributed in big ways. Jacoby Ellsbury ran into a wall to make a catch, Jason Bay made a leaping catch at the left field fence to end the 10th, Dustin Pedroia hit a three-run bomb, Jonathan Papelbon threw two scoreless innings, Manny Delcarmen recorded a save and Jed Lowrie put Boston up for good with a homer in the 11th inning.

On a day where Dice-K really needed to give his beleaguered bullpen some innings, he came through. Kinda. Matsuzaka lasted six innings, giving up five runs on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Now that Rich Harden is healthy (knock on wood) and racking up wins and double digit strikeout totals for the Cubs, Burnett has officially taken over the title of baseball's most hyped pitcher, who has never put it together for a full season. Believe it or not, for as good as Burnett's stuff is, he's never had more than 12 wins in a season.

He entered yesterday on a hot streak, with a career-high 16 wins to his name but his record didn't change. Burnett went seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

No hitter has killed the Red Sox as much this season as Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells (2 runs, 2 hits, 3 RBIs, walk). He added to his stats with a two-run homer in the first off Dice-K.

Pedroia put the Sox up 3-2 in the third with his 14th homer of the season. Boston's other hitter having a dream season, Kevin Youkilis, increased the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single later in the frame.

Lyle Overbay hit a solo homer in the fourth and the Jays tied it in the sixth on Wells' RBI double. Rod Barajas put Toronto up 5-4 but Matt Stairs was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Coco Crisp hit a solo homer in the seventh to tie it up and then Lowrie hit his first lefthanded homer (and second overall) in the majors, to put Boston up 6-5 in the 11th.

The Red Sox bullpen gets an A yesterday as they combined for five scoreless innings. Justin Masterson (who's settling down nicely in his new role) got four outs before Hideki Okajima (who has quietly turned his season around) got the last two outs of the eighth. Even in a tie game on the road, Papelbon went two innings and Delcarmen managed to nail down the save after walking the leadoff hitter.

The Rays lost in 10 innings yesterday to the White Sox so they're currently 4.5 games up on Boston. The Yankees are five games behind Boston and the Red Sox lead the Wild Card by one game.

Clearly, the three games against the Yankees could prove pivotal as the Sox could put the final nail in the Bombers' coffin by taking at least two games. Nothing is ever that easy though and with Tim Wakefield (fresh off the DL) and Paul Byrd scheduled to start the first two games, it could turn into batting practice quickly.

Next stop for Clay Buchholz: Loserville; Population: Him

A pennant race/push towards the playoffs is no time to have a guy take the ball every fifth day that is a guaranteed loss.

With one more stinkbomb, an 11-6 loss to the Orioles (61-65), Red Sox (73-54) rookie Clay Buchholz earned a trip back to the minors.

For a guy that showed so much promise last year (no-hitter in his second career start) before being shutdown for the playoffs, Buchholz has done very little to impress with the Red Sox this season.

His record fell to 2-9 after 2.1 innings of garbage. He allowed five runs (all earned) on three hits with three walks. Ironically, Boston gave him a 4-0 in the second but that wasn't enough as Buchholz lost his third straight start where his team had a lead while he pitched.

Kevin Youkilis (2 hits, RBI) knocked in Dustin Pedroia with a single in the first. Jed Lowrie later walked with the bases loaded, 2-0 Red Sox as Orioles rookie Chris Waters seemed to have nothing.

Kevin Cash scored on a Waters throwing error in the second and David Ortiz singled home Jacoby Ellsbury to give Boston the ill-fated 4-0 lead.

Lou Montanez began the Oriole comeback in the second with an RBI single and Brian Roberts (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, walk) drove in two with an RBI single.

By the time Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer off David Aardsma in the third, Buchholz was probably packing up his stuff in the clubhouse. Juan Castro put Baltimore up 7-4 with an RBI single later in the inning.

Melvin Mora's three-run bomb in the fourth meant it was over. Jason Bay hit a solo shot in the fifth but Mora added a sacrifice fly in the fifth, pushing it to 11-5 Orioles.

Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home Jeff Bailey in the eighth, a meaningless run.

Boston has an off-day today before beginning a three-game set in Toronto tomorrow night. As the Sox saw last weekend, while the Jays are too flawed and probably a little too far out of the playoff race, their pitching can keep them in any game. The Sox' patchwork rotation and bullpen will need to wake up or else similar results to last night and last weekend will be more and more prevalent.

The Worst 15-2 Pitcher in MLB History

In 2008, Daisuke Matsuzaka defies all logic and reason of baseball. He leads the AL in walks and consistently has trouble getting out of the fifth or sixth inning, yet last night he won another game he probably didn't deserve, improving his record to 15-2 with a 2.77 E.R.A.

Boston (73-53) won 7-2 at Camden Yards as the Orioles (60-65) hot offense was once again shut down by a slew of Boston pitchers.

So how come Dice-K's Cy Young campaign as taken about as seriously as John McCain's presidential campaign? If you've seen more than one or two of his outings, you notice that there's absolutely no flow. He seems to pitch much better when there's runners on base. With the bases loaded this season, hitters are 0-for-14 against him. How is that possible?

Dice-K went five innings but still threw 105 pitches (60 strikes). He gave up two runs (both earned) on six hits with five walks and six strikeouts.

Big ups to the Sox bullpen which pieced together four scoreless innings between three guys. Javier Lopez had a clean sixth, Justin Masterson struck out two in his two innings and Manny Delcarmen (Dice-K junior in terms of putting guys on for fun) gave up two hits but no runs in the ninth.

Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera still can't beat the Red Sox as he dropped to 2-11 lifetime against Boston. Cabrera seems to have slightly harnessed his wildness from years past but he still is nothing special. Going in, a seasoned fan knew this would be a marathon and the teams didn't disappoint, clocking in at three hours and twenty one minutes.

Cabrera (8-8) gave up six runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings. He walked three and struck out two.

The Sox lineup continues to get the job done post-Manny, with Mike Lowell on the DL and J.D. Drew out with a typical fake injury. Most "experts" say that the Red Sox don't have a chance to win the World Series this year without Manny. That's false as even more important than the offense is the health of our pitchers which right now is shaky at best. They're pushing Josh Beckett's next start back because of soreness in his right arm. Yikes.

Leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits, two runs and two steals (his 39th and 40th of the season, the first Red Sox player since Otis Nixon in '94 to get 40). David Ortiz had two hits, two walks and an RBI. The Kevin Youkilis for MVP talk slowly increases each night as Youk went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs. Jason Varitek had a double and homer (second night in a row with a home run), proving that he's not quite dead yet at the plate. Must have been the divorce that was holding him down. Uh yeah.

Ortiz singled home Ellsbury in the first and Jason Bay drove in Dustin Pedroia with a sacrifice fly to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

Varitek homered to right in the second and then the Orioles responded with two in the third. Ramon Hernandez drove in Melvin Mora with a single and Luke Scott followed with an RBI single of his own.

Three runs in the fifth by the Sox put it away. Youkilis' two run jack made it 5-2 before Varitek drove in Bay with the RBI double.

Youkilis closed it out with an RBI single in the eighth which scored Ellsbury.

Tonight's series finale is a toss up as Clay Buchholz goes against Orioles rookie Chris Waters, making his fourth major league start. Should be another game determined by the bullpens as I can't see either of these guys lasting long.

Jon Lester pisses excellence

What have I been saying the last few months? Jon Lester is the ace of the 2008 Boston Red Sox. Josh Beckett has the much-deserved reputation and Dice-K has the impressive numbers but if the Sox need one game to win this season, I'll take Lester over those other two.

Once again, Lester righted the Goodship Red Sox with another fine outing last night in Camden Yards against the Orioles.

Boston (72-53) beat Baltimore (60-64), 6-3, and for one night erased memories of the terrible rain-shortened weekend series against the Blue Jays. Sure our bullpen is a mess but if Lester, Beckett and Dice-K can pitch to their capabilities and Papelbon is healthy, we have a good shot to make some noise in October.

Lester improved to 12-4 with seven innings of one-run ball. He allowed four hits, one walk and struck out five.

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (10-9) is always a Red Sox killer and he pitched well enough to deserve better. He lasted seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits with five walks and four strikeouts.

Boston's bats were led by Jason Bay and David Ortiz. Bay was 3-for-5 with two homers, four RBIs and a stolen base. Ortiz had two doubles, scored twice and had an RBI.

Bay hit his first homer in the second inning and Jason Varitek followed later in the inning with a solo shot of his own.

Aubrey Huff (who's having a career year) hit a solo home run off Lester in the fourth.

With Ortiz on base, Bay hit his second homer in the eighth, putting the Sox up 4-1.

Manny Delcarmen walked two in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon had to come on with two outs. Huff greeted Papelbon with a two-run double, cutting the lead to 4-3 Boston.

The Sox increased the lead back to three runs in the ninth as Ortiz doubled home Dustin Pedroia and then he scored on Bay's groundout.

Papelbon recorded a 1-2-3 ninth for his 33rd save of the season.