The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Ho hum. Another series with the Yankees. Another lost series with the Yankees. If the Sox wanted to gear it up for the playoffs, they should have started this weekend. They didn't. But all things considered, all the news was not bad coming out of another lost weekend to the Bombers.

Despite the weekend's disappointing outcome, the Sox will still probably win the division. Although after serving up a disgusting Monday Night White Flag Special (Cora, Hinske, Cash and another Wakefield meltdown) to the Blue Jays, the Sox appear to be really trying to kick this one away. But even with tonight's 6-1 sleepwalk, if the Sox stumble home 6-5, the Yanks will have to go 10-2 to catch them. And remember, thanks to their 10-8 season series edge over the Sox, the Yanks only have to tie to win the division. Hello 2005.

In any event, let's take a look back at the weekend with the Yankees and review - in reverse order- the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the three days.

The Ugly-

The Friday Night Meltdown. What made it worse is that it wasn't Gagne (the face on the milkbox), DelCarmen or Timlin kicking it away. This was Numero 1 and 2 - Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima who gave away what looked like a sure win. Paps can be given a pass, but OkiDokie is apparently toast. He looks totally gassed and if Tito thinks he can keep running him out there in the eighth through the postseason, I fear more of what we saw Friday night. Good thing we got Gagne, eh?

The Bad -

Losing two of three. Although the Sox avoided an unmitigated disaster by taking one game, the fact is that this team has proven it can not beat the Yankees. They have now lost four straight series going 3-9 and losing five of their last six against New York. You know these teams are heading for an ALCS showdown, and if you are a Sox fan, you need to be very, very worried about this team beating the Bombers in a seven game series.

The Mastery of Fat Roger. Also in the bad news column is the Sox inability to do anything against Fat Roger. In his last 12 innings, Clemens has allowed four hits and picked up two victories against the Sox. Against everyone else, The Fat Fraud is 4-6, but when he sees the carmine hose, he reverts to late 1990's form.

Youk getting hurt. The good news is that Youk will probably have a good time not playing. Manny seems to be enjoying it immensely.

Tumbling Dice K. Speaking of spent Japanese pitchers, Dice K must be watching a Jon Lester instructional video tape. Voiceover as the tape shows a pitcher sweating and grunting throwing one pitch after another: "The first thing you must do to be a successful pitcher is to throw as many pitches as you can early in the game as possible. This will tire out the opposition as they foul off pitches and watch you struggle to get anyone out. And all those baserunners will increase the chances that the opposition will pull a hamstring or be injured running the bases. Plus you will get to leave the game early and enjoy the action with your teammates."

The Good -

Josh Beckett. Thank god for Josh. The Yankees have virtually admitted that the only Sox pitcher that worries them is the big Texan. On Saturday, you saw why. He is unquestionably the staff ace and he proved it again by saving what would have been a disastrous weekend.

Jacoby Ellsbury. The kid can play and he has that look that says he plays even better when the pressure is on. He will have a huge impact in the postseason if Tito has the baseballs to sit JD Drew and play him.

Mike Lowell. Where would this team be without Lowell this season. He continues to produce in the clutch. Unfortunately, because of Theo's bungling of the roster last offseason, we are probably seeing the last of him in a Red Sox uniform. Let's hope this classy guy goes out with a ring and our undying appreciation.

The tooling of Petitte and Wang. Despite the two losses, Sox fans have to be encouraged with the way the Popgun Brigade worked Petitte and Wang. They will need more of that if they hope to upset the Yanks in the playoffs.

The Madduxification of Schilling. He will never throw the high heat again, but his pinpoint control, pitching intelligence and doggedness will make the Big Schill effective. His solid seven innings with a low pitch count shows he has been able to retool himself. Despite the one bad pitch to Jeter, he proved that he should still get the ball in the big games. He should be the number two behind Beckett in the postseason.

Eleven games to go and the magic number is still nine. Can they hold on?