Red Sox / Yankees - Live Blog

At the last minute I decided to live blog tonight's game. What prompted the decision was me listening to Chris Berman doing Baseball Tonight on ESPN. They had just got done with the A's / Rangers highlights and Berman threw out the gem that Mike Piazza continues to impress with his switch to DH. Mike Piazza is hitting .242 with 1 HR and 4 RBI as the DH for the A's. Yeah Boomer - that's really impressive!

(7:44) Just as an aside - the Boys & Girls Clubs are an official charity of MLB. The NFL also supports the Boys & Girls Clubs but they do it through the United Way (unless things have changed). I think the way MLB does it is much better. Why lose money to the middle man when dealing with a charity? It makes no sense to me.

(8:00) The Red Sox have to start hitting home runs. Period. As a team the Red Sox only have 2 more HR than Alex Rodriguez and the only person other than David Ortiz to have more than one HR is Doug Mirabelli who only plays every 5th game.

(8:15) I hope the plate umpire squeezes the Yankee starter as bad as he's squeezing Dice-K who had Bobby Abreu struck out twice but didn't get the call. Even though A-Rod came in to score - I'm glad Dice-K pitched him inside and hit him. Yankees lead 2-0 on Giambi's double (had to love the "steroids" chant in the crowd). The Dice-K / Pedro similarities continue including a problem getting out of the first inning unscathed.

(8:37) OK - it looks like the ump will have a tight strike zone for both teams which is OK by me since I think Dice-K is better prepared to handle that than Chase Wright who was very lucky to get out of the first inning (Manny and Ortiz kill those pitches if they see them again).

(8:42) Joe Morgan said that Willy Mo Pena is playing because Coco Crisp is injured. That's news to me and coming from Morgan - I doubt if its true. Dice-K settles down in the second inning (just like Pedro used to do).

(9:05) I have to wonder if Pedroia wasn't playing so deep if JD Drew would have been able to charge in and catch that flair by Giambi? The Yankees lead 3-0 but they aren't hitting Dice-K, however, if this was a chess match I would compare it to a better player sacrificing some pawns in order to probe the defense of the opponent. Look for the Yankees to go scoreless in the next three innings. Meanwhile - I doubt if Wright makes it out of the 5th inning with the number of pitches he's thrown and the way he's been walking the razor's edge.

(9:17) I leave the room to grab a beer and Manny hits a bomb. Then JD Drew hits one. Then Mike Lowell hits one. Then Jason Varitek hits one out. Holy crap! I started out this post tonight by noting that the Red Sox needed to start hitting some home runs but I never imagined they would all come back-to-back in the same inning!

(9:52) I was correct about Wright not making it to the 5th but I was wrong about the Yankees not scoring on Dice-K - Jeter's HR ties the score at 4 each.

(10:21) End of six and Yankees lead 5-4. I'm going to have a bowl of ice cream. Chocolate marshmallow.

(10:40) Mike Lowell hits a 3-run HR off Scott Proctor. I swear I can't see Scott Proctor pitch without thinking about the Seinfeld quote, "According to the state of New York - you are the assman." Swear to God. Red Sox lead 7-5.

(11:00) Dice-K leaves the game after A-Rod starts off the 8th with a single. Hideki Okajima comes in and Joe Morgan says that Okajima isn't a "trickster". Umm sorry Joe - that's exactly what he is. Okajima relies on deception because he's not a fireballer. Oh and remember how you said Willy Mo Pena was playing because Coco Crisp was injured? Isn't that Coco Crisp out in center now? Joe Morgan is just awful. Does anyone out there like Joe Morgan as an announcer?

(11:15) Dustin Pedroia makes a nice stab to keep the score at 7-6. I think Francona pulled Dice-K when A-Rod got on base because he wanted to make sure that Dice-K could only win the game. Now I wonder if we'll see Jon Papelbon (I'm hoping we don't because that would mean that the Sox scored a couple in the bottom of the inning).

(11:33) Papelbon giving that cop a high-five on his way out of the bullpen is one of my favorite things in baseball. That cop must be a god to his friends and family for being Papelbon's good-luck charm. Johnny Damon flies to left - one out. Jeter fans - two outs. Nice pitch calling by Varitek on that strikeout. I think Abreu puts the bat on his shoulder (one swing you big phony). Abreu walks. I guess it was destined to come down to this - A-Rod vs Papelbon. Ground out - the Red Sox win. Thaaaaaaaa Red Sox win.