3.5 Games

A 22-0 spanking and a 10-7 win put the Red Sox just 3.5 games back of the Yankees. You know that at this point the Yankees are going down.

The Yankees' 22-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians was historic. The loss was the biggest shutout margin of victory in American league history and it also highlighted what is wrong with the Yankees - their pitching.

Javier Vazquez is supposed to be their Ace but he's inconsistent and his ERA of 4.62 is exactly equal to the league ERA (meaning that even their Ace is average at best). Kevin Brown is fragile. Mike Mussina (besides being a prick) has a Sidney Ponson like 5.43 ERA. Orlando Hernandez? You can be sure that the stroke of midnight is coming soon for the Cinderella-like El Duque. Lieber? Average. Loiaza? Awful.

The Yankee bullpen has been a strength but 3 out of the top 4 AL leaders in relief appearances are on the Yankees. Paul Quantrill is almost 36 and is headed for a career high in appearances (he leads the AL in appearances with 73). Tom Gordon is almost 37 and he too is headed toward a career high in appearances. Same thing with Mariano Rivera. Overused and burnt-out are adjectives that the NY press will start to use on a daily basis to describe the bullpen as the Yankee lead disappears.

The Red Sox have been just the opposite. Quality starts (6 or more innings) is almost expected even from Derek Lowe. Pedro and Schilling are busy making cases for a Cy Young Award while the Yankee starters are busy making excuses about why they have been so bad.

Yup - the Yankees are going down. And they won't even make the Wild Card.

An interesting side-light to this debacle will be the spotlight on Alex Rodriguez. "Alex - how come every team you play on turns into a loser?" "Alex are you a jinx or does your ego just suck out the will to play out of the rest of the guys?" Oh - the tabloids will have a blast at A-Rod's expense. I put the over under on a "Aaron Boone was a better player for the Yankees" story at 9/15.

For a Red Sox fan - this is great.