I Like Mike

Watching Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankmees, I began to get a familiar sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Between Schilling and Wakefield spitting the bit again, Wily Mo flailing at curve balls like a drunk swatting away imaginary flying elephants, Julio Lugo careening toward the Mendoza line and the Sox leaving men on base at an alarming rate, I began to seriously wonder if this 2007 team possessed the killer instinct it is going to need to win a championship.

And then Mike Lowell happened.

With the Yanks on life support, 13 1/2 games behind, this was the weekend to finally put them away. A sweep would surely cause massive problems both on and off the field and finally pull the wheels off this train-wreck-waiting-to-happen. But Wakefield got us off on the wrong knuckle with a bout of wildness reminiscent of Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn. The Bummers came in perfectly willing to lay down on the mat, but Wakefield extended them a helping hand, pulled them up while the rest of the Sox dusted them off and pushed them back into the ring. The 9-5 beating Friday night was just the oxygen New York needed to continue living one more day and pump up hopes for a three game sweep that would give them a reason to live on.

That put the Sox, and Schilling squarely in the pressure cooker for Saturday's game. Staked to a 3-1 lead heading into the sixth, The Big Schill made Theo's decision not to extend him look good again by giving up a single to Matsui, walking Arod and then giving up a three run bomb to Jorge Posada. I'm sure it was "fastball location" and "command" issues. Whatever. It was quickly 4-3 Yanks and when Javier Lopez gave up another run, it was 5-3 and visions of sweeping danced in the New Yorkers' heads.

Just as it looked like the Sox were morphing into the softest 35 win team in recent memory, Mike Lowell took over.

The Sox needed a spark. Someone to step up and slap the smug Bombers around a bit. Someone to make something happen. In years past that would be Trot Nixon. But you may recall the Dirt Dog and his .276 average were banished to Cleveland so we could watch JD Drew hit .222, snap hamstrings, experience "virus like symptoms" and dribble harmless grounders to second base for $92,000 a game.

So who is the next dirt dog? Enter Mike Lowell.

A mandatory throw in on the Josh Beckett deal because of his $9 million salary, Lowell came in with zero expectations. His bat was too slow, they said. He was done. Instead, the classy veteran came in and hit .284 with 20 homers and played sparkling third base defense. This year has been more of the same offensively as he is hitting .333 with 11 homers. The defense has suffered a bit, but I'm still never worried when a ball is hit his way.

On Saturday. Lowell had broken a 1-1 tie in the fourth by singling with the bases loaded. When Varitek followed with a grounder to second base, Lowell delivered a Patriot-like cross body block on Robby Cano in an attempt to break it up. The throw nipped Tek, but a message had been sent.

Now trailing 5-3 in the sixth and drifting toward dropping two in a row to their hated rivals, Lowell again went into action. He led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo homer into the monster seats to cut the lead to 5-4. Tek then went back to back to tie the game at 5-5.

In the seventh, Tito brain cramped and inexplicably put Joel Pinata into a game that actually meant something and the predictable happened. Derek Jeter greeted him with a homer to give New York a 6-5 lead.

Drifting again. More Lowell please.

Coming up with the bases loaded in the seventh, Lowell hit a grounder to second, Cano threw poorly to Jeter on the front end of an attempted double play who threw wide to first. Lowell, hustling all the way, nearly decapitated first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz as he tried to beat the throw. The Yank was taken off in a cart. Lowell end up on second and two runs came in, giving the Sox the lead back at 7-6. The Sox scored three more to take a 10-6 lead.

Lowell topped off his big day with an RBI double in the eighth to account for the final 11-6 score. His final tally: 5 at bats, two runs scored, a single, double, homer and walk and four RBI's. One TKO and another near miss and a couple of nice plays in the field. Put some pine tar on the man's helmet.

So let's review. JD Drew tweaked a hammy Friday night and sat out the dance on Saturday. Lowell nearly had his wrist broken by a Wang fast ball Friday night, threw some dirt on it and came out and singlehandedly roughed up the Yanks on Saturday. Difference? You think?

The adjacent headlines on Red Sox.com Saturday evening says it all:

"Lowell Powers Red Sox Past Yankees"

"Drew Rests Ailing Hamstring"

'Nuf said. Perhaps lovesick Kevin from New York would consider moving from number 7 to number 25. He could do a lot worse.