The Ron Guidry festivites on Saturday afternoon were overshadowed by the announcement that Bobby Bonds had passed away. Bob Shepard, the voice of the Yankees, addressed the crowd immediately before the anthem played. The crowd gasped. Shepard listed Bonds’ accomplishments and then asked for a moment of silence. When he said that Bonds was only 57 there was another, deeper gasp from the crowd.

The Orioles then went out and handled the Yankees, behind a strong, complete-game performance from Rodrigo Lopez. The breaking ball was working and Lopez K’d 10 Bombers. Mike Mussina wasn’t awful, and he trailed 3-2 going into the ninth before the O’s scored four runs and put the game out of reach.

The Sox beat the Mariners in extra innings, surviving a blown save from B. Y. Kim.

On Sunday—which was even more beautiful than Saturday—the Yankees rebounded behind a stellar outing from Jose Contreras. There was a chill in the air that reminded me that fall is just around the corner. While the Yankee brass is crowing about the triumphant return of their soporific Cuban, I’ll wait and see how he does in Boston this Friday before getting too excited.

The Red Sox beat the Mariners for the third straight day too. The A’s crushed Toronto, and Tim Hudson looked just fine. Oakland and Boston are tied for the wildcard while the Sox trail the Yanks by five (six in the loss column).

Pedro Martinez will pitch this afternoon as the Sox go for the sweep.