Between the pit of Man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge

Susan/Circle:
[Sigh] Just when I thought I was totally ovah Johnny Damon, having not thought of him in months, poof, there he is with a 2 run, game-winnah.

 

---

Mike:
Despite the anguish his homah brought to my Red Sox haht, I know at some level that this is exactly why the rivalry is the rivalry that it is.

 

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Susan/Circle:
So Manny Ramirez left the game with spasms … So should we staht the clock to see how long it is befoah we get the first "he quit on the team with a 'phantom' injury" story from Shaughnessy?

 

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Mike:
Oh, I'm sure there's already a draft on the CHB's hahd drive just waiting to be submitted. He'll sit back and wait to see if the Red Sox fortunes to turn sour first.

 

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Susan/Circle:
I can't believe that in Shaughnessy's piece today he missed the chance to note the following:

Today, August 29, 2007, the Yankees trail the Red Sox by 7 games, and on August 29, 1978 the Yankees trailed the Red Sox by, wait for it, 7 games … Doo doo doodoo doo doo doodoo

 

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Mike:
Seriously, that's just the kind of historicity that gives Shaughnessy the wood.

 

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Comments

[louclinton]

Fear not.

Cy Old v Cy Older Tonight.

One Cy will vanquish.

cy-ya

lc

[Billy Mahty]

Joba

[Youk Rules]

Thank Jebus for the Chicago sweep.

That 7-game lead is looking so much better than a 3- or 4-game lead would look right now.

[Natalie]

Amen, Youk Rules. I am excited for tonight's matchup.

As an aside: any other Soxaholix heading to the Pats game on Thurs night?

[Bob]

//...boom, there he is with a 2 run, game-winning blast.//

More like a 300-foot can of corn. But I guess I can't complain, considerng the Pesky Pole and all.

Tonight, we learn if Josh is truly an "ace." Aces win big games after a loss.

[Follower of Tito]

Knew it was going to be bare knuckles...but for the love of "insert your supreme being here", if you are going to go down on strikes, at least take a swing a little leaguer could be proud of (I talk to you Nancy and Coco)!

With apologies to Sherman and Grant, "We've had the devil's own today...Lick 'em tomorrow though."

[ParkerStPete]

Larry Craig for Attorney General! He won't have to learn tapping on the job.

[Jason O.]

Ironically, sexy calves going deep helps the Red Sox tonight, because Torre probably sits Giambi (who owns Beckett) tonight in favor of a "hot" Damon, who will get blown away by the fastball and/or harmlessly slap pop-ups the other way.

[Bob]

But didn't Juice-ambi get suspended?

Oh. Wait. I forgot.

He gave money to charity.

[Kaz]

Ok, *tonight* the Yankees learn to face west. Last night, they were given a tired Matsuzaka wrapped in string and a bow.

I am not understanding why we didn't have someone ready for the 7th. Daisuke had gone 6 innings of good but not great pitching, he was starting to lift pitches in the 6th, he had gone 96 or so pitches, it was time to unleash our bullpen and let the bats make the win. Instead we got some grooved pasta and meatballs from DM (even *after* the Damon HR, he was still serving up no movement on his fastball and keeping them up in the zone). Oh well, one of those "huh. wrong decision, i guess." moments for Tito.

[Kaz]

PS - Oh no. Our post-season odds went down all of 0.05%. Last night's win was good for the Yankees. It means they gained a game on Seattle. It didn't change the likelihood that they'll somehow win the AL East at this point.

PPS - The Yankees still need to win 1 more just to break .500 against the Sox this year.

[Wes]

Kaz,

We took the first 3 games the match up this season so I'm not all that happy that we are only up one game in the head to head matchup.

However, let's hope Beckett shows the old timer a thing or two tonight and makes last night a distant memory.

BTW, if George is Satan then Andy Pettitte is clearly Damien. Can we check for the mark of the beast on his neck?

[Bob]

Does that make Clemens Pazoozoo?

[pinstripe thunder]

And if they wind up taking the wild card, I'll settle for them "just" breaking .500 against the Sox in the playoffs.

Today Clemens gets to earn all $28 million in just one game.

Still facing east. Northeast, actually...

[Bob]

PT, before the Skanks ever met the Sox, they'd have to play the Angels. Who would eliminate them from the playoffs for the 3rd time in six years.

[Billy Mahty]

Bob - you're assuming that the Sox will hold on to best record in the AL, which I'd put at about 50%.

[Billy Mahty]

Actually, I can't figure this out so early in the morning -- if the Sox have the best record and the Yanks get the wild card, won't the Sox play the Yanks in the first round? I think so. Coffee please..

[louclinton]

BM (heh): no.

teams in the same division can't meet in the division series.

lc

[Kaz]

Just got my coffee and came in to say what Lou just said.

Division leader can't play WC team from same division. The WC plays the next best division leader. According to the almighty odds, the wins would break down like this (after rounding):

99 wins for the Red Sox
90 wins for the Yankees
91 wins for the Indians
95 wins for the Angels

That would make ALDS games of:

Sox vs Indians
Angels vs Yankees

[Billy Mahty]

Ok, yeah, that makes sense. So the only way the Sox play the Angels in the first round is if the Central leader surpasses the Angels, which is probably not going to happen.

[jammer]

BM (that is still cracking me up - thanks LC);
Look at it this way - when the Mariners take the wild card, the Sox will have to play them in the first round. Does that make you feel better?

[yazbread]

Maybe tonight Drew will swing at a pitch? Shades of Bob Bailey.

[Billy Mahty]

This is cool:

http://www.baseballrace.com/main_racePlayer.asp

[Griffin]

I agree with Bob. A 314-foot pop is not a "blast." OTOH, Lugo and Ortiz both would have nailed the Wall if the game had been played at Fenway. Stadiums giveth, stadiums taketh away.

[h.b.]

"Blast" has been changed.

I'm here to serve.

(Stop tapping your foot, though, not that kind of service.)

[da kine]

All I could think of whenever Lugo came to the plate last night was: "Julio is angry, my friend." He really seemed to be tearing the cover off the ball. I'm a big JL fan. I'd rather him come to the plate instead of Nancy, statistics be damned.

[louclinton]

I cannot get enough of this Larry Craig dude. Did you know he was part of that hideous singing group of GOP honks that included Trent Lott and John Ashcroft? This gets funner and funner...

tap tap taptaptap

[Jason O.]

All of this hand-wringing about the home run's length...it's unbecoming since Damon's can of corn/pop up counts the same as Mantle hitting the 3rd deck facade 120 feet above the wall.

(and then going to the Copa for a few drinks with Jackie Gleason and Sinatra)

If the Yankees win tonight, we have us a race again.

And if Ian Kennedy pitches well, the Yankees have Phil/Joba/Ian coming out of Spring Training next year, more than enough room to sign Alex and the unhappy Johan Santana.

Then the balance of power is in the yankees favor at least through 2010.

Disclaimer: If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas.

[Harwich Rich]

Here Senator,sing into this funny looking microphone :)

[da kine]

Via the NY Post:

"'It's taken a number of players to replace me,' Damon said of the Red Sox. 'I'm Johnny [Bleeping] Damon.'

Damon was smiling when he said his name, but the message was clear."

Wow. What an asshole. Honestly, if the Red Sox offered to trade Coco to the Stankees for Damon and his hooker wife - straight up - do you think that Ca$hman would turn it down?

[Kaz]

Cashman wouldn't do that, da kine. Coco would be a horrible DH.

The guy was on so many painkillers after needing to round the bases (for only the 9th time this year), and THEN to have to walk back up the dugout stairs, that he probably still thinks he plays CF for the Yankees, too.

[Evan]

Oh Jason, you and every other Yankee fan would be crying their eyes out if the Sox had won a game on a easy pop fly that landed in the first row of the monster seats.

Always funny to see people talking about 2010 in September of 2007. Another quack on Baseball Fever said Joba, Hughes, Wang, and Kennedy will be together for AT LEAST 8 or 9 years. Right. And Brien Taylor is still on the team too.

[buckner was framed]

don't forget the ace of the staff, Carl Pavano

[Bob]

//If the Yankees win tonight, we have us a race again.//

You drinking at work?

[Youk Rules]

Bob, he must have meant a Wild Card race...

[buckner was framed]

either that or he forgot the magic tilde ~

[Billy Mahty]

or he remembers 1978 (boo-friggin-yah!)

[Devine]

Ahem...can I just say...

FUCK THE YANKEES!

[Bob]

Guess he forgot 2004.

Hoo-friggan-ska!

[soxdownunder]

I don't buy this mathematical probability stuff about whether the Yankees can catch us. I take a kind of Chicago view:
I want the Yankees DEAD
I want their families DEAD
I want their house burned to the GROUND.
And so on.

And I agree with Kaz - Mothra should have come out with a runner on base.

[soxdownunder]

Read the last post with apologies to Jason, Billy, Corporal Obvious &/-.

[Bob]

//I want the Yankees DEAD
I want their families DEAD
I want their house burned to the GROUND.//

SDU, don't forget to sow the ground with salt afterwards.

[soxdownunder]

I won't forget.

Go Josh.

[pseudosanity78]

Isn't anyone going to mention the squirrel?

Or was I hallucinatin' having to watch...buffering...the game...buffering.... from the UK...at 1am...buffering........

...signal lost....

[Billy Mahty]

i saw a picture of the squirrel... pretty funny

[soxdownunder]

Sorry, what's the squirrel?

[buckner was framed]

Sen. Craig's campaign manager

[pseudosanity78]

Right field pole....the whole game.

Check it MLBtv if you can. If not, I can fill you in.

[pinstripe thunder]

Keep going, Fat Old Bastard. This is what we paid you for. Baseball is unique in offering the opportunity for redemption to the reviled and despised. We will forgive you everything. The $28 million. The gut. The whispers of steroid and amphetamine use. The stupid little speech the day you signed. The 5-5 record and the 4.14 ERA. Just do this one thing, right here, right now.

[pinstripe thunder]

One more inning, asshole. Give us seven and you can turn it over to your grandson Jabba and your kid brother Mo and go back to Texas for all I care. We just need one more inning from you, and you will have been redeemed.

[pinstripe thunder]

And THAT is why we overpay for greedy SOB's 10 years past their prime. Probably still only a 10% chance of winning the division, 50% chance of taking the wild card. If the Yankees do either, tonight was a turning point. That's what Rocket is supposed to do -- beat your ace in the big money games.

Rivera was evil tonight. He was throwing the cut fastball at 90 in April when he sucked, 92 in June -- consistent 94 tonight.

Memo to Torre -- every game from here on in is a must win. That means there is no reason to use Kyle Farnsworth, still the worst setup man in baseball, EVER.

Bob -- Beckett is an excellent pitcher. Still not quite full-fledged ace status...

Kaz -- we're still facing East, against all odds.

[Genghis Ortiz]

Ok, this will be a fight to the end and we gotta be lovin' it all. Much better than last year's 'mail-in-the-last-six-weeks'.

It would be great to see a few more late inning victories and two out rallies. The Karma was there in 2004. And anyone who thinks that both Damon and Millar were simply sideshows in 2004...I respectfully disagree...

I think the Son of Tito has done a darn respectable job keeping everyone fresh and healthy (including Manny)...but I just don't see the fight in these guys...the only one that seems 'into it' is Ortiz, as usual. I wish they would either get mad as hell or act like they are having fun, at least.

I blame it all on Nancy Drew. Fucking waste of $20 + million.

[Kaz]

Pinstripe, give it a fucking rest, dude.

Clemens was pitching against the guy we put in when we can't even put in Kielty...and JD Drew. To leave both Manny and Kielty on the day-2-day instead of moving one to the DL and bringing up Ellsbury for 15 days is a stupid ass move on Tito's part. To leave both Daisuke AND Beckett in for 7 innings while our bullpen licks the lead paint in the Toilet is yet another pair of stupid ass moves on Tito's part. Torre puts in guys like Farnsworth and runs Mariano out there for back-2-back appearances to face a total of 7 batters..he's going to be the absolute death of the bullpen by mid-September.

The rest of the season says we win and the Yankees will be lucky to make the playoffs at best. So, give it a fucking rest here, pinstripe. Go play on your own team's websites for a while. Your trolling is moot and boorish.

[soxdownunder]

Sorry Corporal but I agree completely with Kaz's sentiments. Nobody here really wants your realtime live blogging feigned anguish. There are (no doubt) plenty of places in Yankee cyberland where you can blog this stuff.

[soxdownunder]

inasmuch as I can speak for others ...

[pinstripe thunder]

Sorry. Didn't mean to be boorish. I got carried away in the heat of the moment. I'll take it on the road for awhile, but Yankees web sites are a yawn.

The Corporal