 Sox had just two hits and lost, 3-0. Terry Francona right now seems more interested in getting the Wild Card than in making a push to at the division, as he sat three of the regulars. Can't really blame him that much, as New York's win on Friday night basically made the Wild Card the Red Sox' only hope now.
Texas slaughtered Tampa Bay Saturday night, so the Red Sox Magic Number continues to be stalled at 3.
I had a great night on Saturday checking out Lenny Clarke at Comix Comedy Club on 14th Street. He was at his acerbic and vile best. Afterwards I returned to Foley's on 33rd Street to see Tina Cervasio and his charity auction for his charity. I met her before the event and she really is a sweetheart. She auctioned off all kinds of stuff from the Red Sox, Yankees, Giants, Knicks and other teams. I saw CHB himself, Dan Shaughnessy, in the crowd, as well as Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione on hand.
And the evening ended as watched in the bar what looked to be Notre Dame blowing a 17-7 second-half lead, but a fourth-down pass by Jimmy Clausen with less than a minute to play gave the Fighting Irish a 24-21 win over Purdue. Once again it was a struggle for ND, and Charlie Weis doesn't have to update his resume, at least not for this week.
In a truly scary moment at Yankee Stadium last night, Jon Lester took a line drive off his right leg from a liner hit by Melky Cabrera in the third inning and had to leave the game. As he laying on the ground in obvious pain, I saw the entire Red Sox postseason going down the drain right there. The replays made it look like he took the shot right in the right knee.
Professor Thom's went silent, but once Lester got to his feet and walked off under his own power, we all knew that was a good sign. A short time later, the word came down that Lester was not hit in his knee, but in his quad, and it was just a contusion and is officially listed as day-to-day.
Forget last night's 9-5 loss. The positions for the playoffs are just about set anyway. (Texas beat Tampa Bay last night so the Magic Number remains at 3.) The Red Sox said after the game that Lester may even make his next start, which would be his final one of the regular season, on Thursday night against Cleveland. Losing Lester would be a disaster the Red Sox would not be able to overcome in October.
However, Hideki Okajima returned to Boston yesterday, as he has soreness in his side. He will be treated by acupuncture for the soreness and won't be available for either game against New York this weekend.
I will say one thing about last night's game. Jason Varitek should occupy a seat on the bench in the ALDS. He was a one-man wrecking crew of destruction against the Red Sox last night: two strikeouts, a double play that killed an inning, and New York stole 7 bases against him. His BA is now approaching.200. This should be an easy choice for Terry Francona.
Tek maybe the captain, but Victor Martinez should be behind the plate in October. He gives the Sox the best chance to win, and Tito should make that decision with his head and not his heart.
Clay Buchholz was terrific on Thursday night, and won his fourth game in September as the Red Sox rolled to a 10-3 win over Kansas City and a split in their four-game series. The Sox lowered their postseason Magic Number to 3 with the win and Texas losing at Oakland.
The Royals just about handed this game to the Sox, making five errors. David Ortiz is now red hot, as he blasted his 26th home run, and drove in two more in the ninth to up his RBI total to 91. Would you have thought in May that Papi would have a shot at 100 RBI with 10 games remaining in the season?
Buchholz took a shutout in the seventh, but after two outs he put two on and Terry Francona came out with the hook. Clay now has the lowest ERA on the Red Sox starting staff: 3.21.
It got interesting in the eighth, as Kansas City scored three runs off Ramon Ramirez (this guy's been scaring me the last few months). Takashi Saito came in to get a double play with the bases loaded to end the KC rally at 6-3. The Sox iced the game in the ninth with four runs, and now they are off to New York for three games with the Yankees this weekend.
New York can wrap up the division this weekend, or the Red Sox can wrap up a postseason berth with two wins. Both are forgone conclusions, so there's not too much drama this weekend. Jon Lester takes the hill against the Drunken Headhunter at the Wind Tunnel at 7:05 PM.
It was a bit of a bizarre game in Kansas City on Wednesday night.
Josh Beckett scattered 12, yes 12, hits to the Royals in six innings, but Kansas City could push across just two runs as the Red Sox came from behind to beat the pesky Royals, 9-2. Beckett also struck out seven.
Beckett was in dutch in the first four innings he pitched, and Kansas City finally scored two in the fourth to break a scoreless tie. Luke Hochevar was pitching very well for the first four innings, allowing just one hit.
But the Red Sox finally woke up and realized that it wasn't Zack Greinke on the mound, and tagged him for six runs in the fifth innings. Mike Lowell made the first out of the inning, and the next eight men all reached with six scoring. Then Lowell banged into a double play to conclude the rally.
Yep, Lowell made all three outs in the inning on two at-bats. That sure doesn't happen every day.
Beckett went the first six, and the bullpen core of Hideki Okajima, Billy Wagner and Jonathan Papelbon shut down Kansas City the rest of the way. David Ortiz, who had four RBI, had three of them in the ninth, as he hit a bomb to right field, his 25th home run of the year to conclude the scoring.
Beckett is now 16-6. The Red Sox Magic Number drops down to 5 (it will go to four if Texas loses tonight, and they are up by three runs as I write this).
Terry Francona also tied Mike Higgins for second on the Red Sox' all-time wins list with 560 with the win on Wednesday. He's still a long way away from the record of 1,071 set by Joe Cronin.
Clay Buchholz concludes the four-game set on the hill tomorrow night in Kansas City.
Could it be that Bruce Springsteen is now in his 60s? Well, it is true, as The Boss turned 60 today. The man can still rock, and one of the best shows I've ever seen was he and the E Street Band at Giants Stadium many years back.
Happy 60th birthday, Bruce. And in honor of that, here's a clip from YouTube of "The Rising," from his "Live in Barcelona" concert from 2003.
More and more, any chance the Red Sox had at making a late dash at the AL East crown seems to be coming to an end.
Zack Greinke vs. Paul Byrd didn't look too promising for the Sox, and Greinke lived up to his billing. He held the Red Sox to just two hits in six innings for his 16th win, and he looks more like this season's Cy Young Award winner.
The Red Sox avoided the shutout in the eighth, when Victor Martinez drove in a run on an RBI groundout. He also extended his hitting streak to 21 games.
Texas lost in Oakland, and the Red Sox Magic Number for a playoff berth is now at 6. New York won in Anaheim and cliched a playoff berth, and the Red Sox are now 6 back in the East with 12 to play.
Josh Beckett tonight and Clay Buchholz tomorrow will try to get the Red Sox a split in this four-game series against a Royals team making it tough on the visitors.
We had 17 teams in for Trivia Night on Tuesday night. The crowds have been a bit smaller in the last couple of weeks, and I hope it just because of the transition of summer turning into fall.
The night got off to a fascinating run between two teams, and they were both perfect through the first three rounds. I made a mention of it after The Q Train and someone out there accused me of being Yankee shill announcer Michael Kay (who always makes mention when a pitcher's got a perfect game going). Well, I guess I should have kept quiet as both teams got questions wrong in the General Knowledge round.
But it was still quite a horse race, and the team of Evolution is Not an Opinion was ahead by one point, and six points over Keep Choking The Chicken going into IQ Trivia. But KCTC had the best round of everyone, getting 4 of the 5 questions correct. I originally had Evolution getting three right and a one point victory. But Matt of that team came over to me and pointed out my mistake, that they only got two right, and the correction gave KCTC the win by three points.
My apologies to everyone for the miscue. The Mighty Quinn goofs up every once in a while