DOH!

Jeff Weaver continued to pitch well through the middle innings, and I turned the game off after the sixth with the Yanks ahead, 3-0. I had been debating whether I was going to watch the game all weekend. But with Weaver enjoying a good outing, I thought I’d quit while I was ahead. Turned out to be a good thing, sort of…Naturally, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so instead of waiting until the morning to discover the results, I had to check the score 45 minutes later. I didn’t know if my eyes were working when I saw that the Sox now led 6-3. But sure enough, there it was.

I turned the TV off, and went to sleep. I didn’t even want to know what had happened. I was so tired, I didn’t even let it keep me up.

Turns out Chris Hammond came on for Weaver in the seventh, with one out and two men on. He promptly served up a game-tying homer to Jason Varitek and then a solo blast to Johnny Damon. Orosco and Benitez coughed up a couple of more runs and the Sox won the game and the series. The Yanks now lead the season series, 7-6.

It turned out to be a tough weekend for the Bombers. They lost two games they should have won, games they have traditionally pulled out. They were awful with men in scoring position last night, and squandered many opportunities. But the Sox are grinders, and were impressive after losing on Friday night. With six head-to-head match ups left, there is still more drama to be had.

I recieved an e-mail from a reader detailing just how many close games these two teams have played recently:

I was also thinking last night about the magnitude of 1 run games in the
last few years; luckily, so was the Hartford Courant.

“Going into Saturday, the Red Sox and Yankees had played 22 games that
were decided by one run since the start of the 2000 season. The Yankees
had won 15, including 13 of the last 17″

So that’s 23 1 run games in less than 3 years. That’s astounding. And
when you see what the recent trend has been, I guess that explains why my
fellow Sox fans were eerily silent in the 9th yesterday, waiting for the
other shoe to drop…

Keep up the good work…

Tim

I heard a lot of Yankee fans complaining about Pedro’s tantrum on Friday, when he showed-up Dana Demuth. Hey, just be happy the Bombers beat the guy. Think how upsetting it would be if he pulled that nonsense and then won the game.

I thought last night could very well be Jeff Weaver’s last start for the Yanks. He pitched well though, and perhaps Cashman can hang onto him after all.

The Yanks head to California to play three against the World Champs and then three against Oakland over the weekend. They return to New York next week to play Texas and then Seattle. Meanwhile, the Sox go to Texas and then Baltimore this week. Next week, they host the Angels and the Orioles.

This is Boston’s chance to make a run because from August 11th through August 25th, the Sox only play the A’s and the M’s (followed by the Jays, Yanks, White Sox, and Yanks). Let’s see if they can bump the Bombers out of first. Even if they don’t, the Sox don’t look to be going anywhere.

Johnny Damon, who had a big hit on Sunday, told the Times, “We feel we’re a better team than the Yankees; but they don’t lose games they’re supposed to win. They’re definitely the Road Runners; they have 26 championships. We’re trying to catch them.”