Magic Number Still at 9
The Sox and Yankees split the first two games and it all came down to last night. As expected. It was a great pitching matchup between Schilling and Clemens. As expected. And the game could have gone either way The pitching matchup was nearly perfect in Schilling and Clemens. And the end of the game, it could have gone either way, just as expected.
Nobody could have scripted it better - their best pitcher against our best hitter - bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 outs. Swing and a pop up. The game was over, Sox lose, and the Yankees officially take the season series. Hopefully that won’t mean anything, although if they do end up with the same record, that will mean home field for the Yankees again. But that probably won’t happen.
I, for one, am still not worried. With only 11 games to go, the Sox can still put this away with the help of 2 or 3 Yankee losses. Well, really, the Yankees could win out and the Sox would then have to go 9-2. This, I somehow doubt.
What the win last night would have done was give the Tigers a much better shot at taking the wild card. If these last 2 series have taught us anything, its probably that we really don’t want the Yankees in the post season. At least from a perspective of getting the easiest wins possible. Though an incomplete team still today, their strengths are such that they compensate for much of what they are lacking. This basically means that they can offense their way to victory, even if the bullpen stinks it up (like on Saturday).
I am sorry for you fans who paid $500 to watch the Sox not win last night, but it was still a fun and evenly matched series.
Bring on Toronto - these games should be easier to win. Should be that is…
Stumble it!