Game 75

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 3, New York Yankees 11

Pardon my French, but what the fuck just happened?! I shouldn't even ask. I know exactly what's happened and has been happening for roughly the entire month - this team needs it's ass kicked internally, so that the external ass kickings can stop. Sitting in back of the reserved tier (that's the top level for those you unfamiliar with Yankee Stadium's layout) in the far right field corner last night, surrounded by Yankee fans who had every right to make as much noise as they wanted about their team's success and my team's failure certainly brought on more than a touch of heresy inside. This was a game that hurt so much to watch that I basically did the equivalent of turning off the TV - I talked to Micah, who was with me at the game with his parents, about various related and unrelated things. He called the Ortiz homerun (although he wanted hit to us instead of several levels below), but by that point the entire thing was so abstract to me that I couldn't muster the energy to try an encourage a rally. Besides, by the second Johnny Damon homerun, when the rest of the lineup hadn't hit anything off of Vasquez, I was getting a bad feeling. The Ortiz homerun was just a waste...the Sox needed a multiple hit rally at that point, not a solo shot.

Not that it mattered, anyway. Of the nine hits the Red Sox got, three were solo shots and the other six were wasted - once again, the Sox offense couldn't drive in anyone on base. Three errors led to four unearned runs and with someone like Derek Lowe pitching, every extra out is like tossing around a live hand grenade - you know that you're going to screw up his rhythm and he's just going to go off. The Yankees pulled off four stolen bases off of Lowe, including a double steal - Millar/Lowe couldn't hold anyone on and Varitek couldn't gun anyone down. The result was this rediculous eight run deficit. It is now when Terry Francona needs to hold a team meeting and just cut into everyone. Manny needs to start playing like he's a member of a good team again, the infield needs to stop making these STUPID errors, Embree needs to get his stuff back, the offense needs to start hitting when there are men on base and the entire club needs to get back into it and stop pretending like they want to give second place to Tampa Bay. If Francona cannot do this, then irrespective of how good his grasp is of the money ball game, he is a poor manager and should be fired. End of story.

In other news, when decked out in my gear and with my hair down, I look like Johnny Damon - according to a four or five drunk fans who told me so last night. It was probably the most amusing part of the ballgame and I may post a picture of this at some point. Wakefield pitches tonight - could this be the night of redemption? Lieber is not nearly as good a pitcher as Vasquez is and it's quite possible the Sox will have shamed themselves into another explosion (maybe even a sustainable one?) after last night's foolishness. We'll see. I, for whatever reason, still believe. YANKEES SUCK!