AL East Roundup: Red Sox Threaten To Run Away With Division

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	19	9	–	7-3	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	13	16	6.5	2-8	W1	128
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	16	6.5	5-5	L1	128
Toronto Blue Jays	13	16	6.5	4-6	L4	128
New York Yankees	12	15	6.5	4-6	L1	129

Mariners 15, Yankees 11. “Mariners flash May power” reads the headline. See what they did there? May Power. Don’t you just love how they tried to give the headline a real-word double meaning by tying the 15 runs in with the current holiday season. Meantime, Kei Igawa was staked to a 5-0 lead and by the time the 5th innings was over the Yankees were getting pummeled 14-8. We know a lot of Yankees fans are loathing the Igawa signing but seriously, what do you expect if the Yankees don’t give him any run support?

Red Sox 2, Twins 0. We have to reach deep into the recesses of our alcohol-ladened mind to try and remember David Ortiz as a Minnesota Twin. We are told it really did happen, and we can hardly blame the Twins fans if they don’t recognize the prodigal son when he returns every year. The “not-familiar” part is of course, every time he hits a home run as he did last night. His solo shot in the 6th was that Tim Wakefield would need and all of the sudden the Sox have a 6.5 game lead and we don’t see anybody in this division that will be able to catch them.

Orioles 3, Indians 2. The Orioles got 2 runs when they most desperately needed them. Having lost 8 of 9 and trailing 2-1 in the 8th, Nick Markakis got a sac fly to tie the game and then next time up in the 10th won the game with a walk-off single.

Rangers 7, Blue Jays 1. All of a sudden the Jays have lost 4 in a row.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Carl Pavano is paying a visit to Dr. James Andrews. Pitchers only go to Andrews for one reason. Surgery and usually of the season-ending kind, not that Yankees fans would mind that.
• When the Yankees landed Kei Igawa, The Yankees thought they got the consolation prize when they failed to land Daisuke Matsuzaka. Turns out he isn’t even the second best Japanese pitching import this year. In fact the Red Sox landed the top 2 with Hideki Okajima in the bullpen and Igawa looking an awful lot a reincarnation of Hideki Irabu.
• A statistical breakdown of the AL East. Like we need to be reminded how bad the Rays bullpen is *commence with banging of head on desk*
• Another AL East pitcher heads to the DL. This time it is the O’s Adam Loewen, who will miss two months with a stress fracture in his elbow. We are getting a little tired of the other teams hogging all the starting pitching injuries. Is there some way we can get Jae Seo or Casey Fossum some of what they are having?
• It doesn’t end there. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL for the second time this season.

AL East Roundup: Somebody Had To Take Blame In South Bronx

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	13	14	4.5	5-5	L2	132
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	12	15	5.5	5-5	W1	131
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130
New York Yankees	10	14	6.0	2-8	W1	132

Red Sox 6, A’s 4. Josh Beckett has 6 starts. Josh Beckett has 6 wins. Roger who?

Tigers 3, Orioles 2. Gary Sheffield is warming up and we couldn’t think of a better team for it hapen against than the O’s. A few days after being benched because of a slow start, Sheff went 4-4 with his 3rd home run. Steve Trachsel gave a rare strong performance by a Baltimore pitcher as he lasted 7 innings. Somehow Trachsel pitched 7 innings and the game last less than 6 hours.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 6 (11 inn). Victor Zambrano made his first start of 2007 and the Mets fans are still angry. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in just 2.2 innings. Travis Hafner won the game in the 11th with an RBI double against a defensive shift.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Things aren’t going so well in the South Bronx. Two days after giving the GM and the Manager a show of support, the Yankees fired their strength coach. The coach had zero experience with professional baseball players before the season and many of the players had already complained publicly. The hamstring injury to Phillip Hughes while in the midst of throwing a no-hitter, was the final straw.
• Last season Roger Clemens signed with Houston on May 31. This year with all the pitching injuries on the Yankees roster, he may not be able to wait that long.
• JD Drew missed a game with “viral symptons“, also known as “just being JD Drew”.
• Adam Loewen is the latest AL East pitcher to feel pain in his arm. He is scheduled to see a doctor to determine the extent of the injury.