AL East Roundup: Bobby Abreu Decides To Earn His King’s Ransom

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	26	12	–	7-3	L1	—
New York Yankees	18	20	8.0	5-5	W1	117
Toronto Blue Jays	18	22	9.0	5-5	W3	115
Baltimore Orioles	18	23	9.5	4-6	L5	114
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	17	22	9.5	4-6	W3	115

White Sox 5, Yankees 3 (gm 1). Mike Mussina gave up 5 runs in 5+ innings for the Spankees in game 1.

Yankees 8, White Sox 1 (gm 2). The Yankees salvaged a split in the nightcap as Bobby Abreu remembered that he makes $15 million for a reason. He hit his first home run since the second game of the season. Hideki Matsui had 3 hits and drove in 4. This was a huge win for the Yankees as their next six games are against the Mets and the Red Sox. How fun would it be if the Yankees were 10 back a week from now?

Blue Jays 2, Orioles 1. AJ Burnett went the distance and struck out 10 in the game that somebody had to win. And the Orioles have yet another 5 game losing streak.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Alex Rodriguez is now 8-47 (.170) in his last 13 games as his average has fallen from .367 to .311. The slump may in part be due to the recent struggles of Jason Giambi who normally hits behind A-Rod.
• Trying to shake the Yankees out of their recent funk, Joe Torre tried a new lineup last night. Alex Rodriguez did not hit 8th.
• John Lester will get a start this weekend at AAA as the next step in his return from cancer.
• The Top 10 Red Sox surprises of 2007, in pictures. #1 should have been a picture of a Yankees fan rambling on with every excuse in the book trying to explain that it is “still early” and “we’ll be fine” and “we just want to make the race exciting this year”. Oh wait. That’s not a surprise.
• Josh Beckett will miss his start tomorrow, with just his latest blister problem.

AL East Roundup: Can Roger Clemens DH On His Off-Days?

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	25	11	–	8-2	W2	—
Baltimore Orioles	18	20	8.0	6-4	L2	118
New York Yankees	17	19	8.0	5-5	L1	119
Toronto Blue Jays	15	22	10.5	2-8	L1	116
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	15	22	10.5	2-8	L1	116

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5. Sometimes a team just has one of those seasons. It might be a little early but the Sox are definitely having one of those seasons so far. Trailing 5-0 in the 9th inning, the Evil Empire Jr. rallied for 6 runs to take the rubber match of the series against the Orioles and all of the sudden the Sox have opened up a 8 game lead. The one bit of bad news was Josh Beckett being forced to leave the game early with skin inflammation of a finger. Any hopes of Beckett going 35-0 went right out the window.

Mariners 2, Yankees 1. The Yankees have now played 13 series this season and have only won 3 after losing 2 of 3 to the M’s this weekend. Derek Jeter is having another great year and Jorge Posada is hitting well, but outside of them, nobody is hitting, including Alex Rodriguez who has 1 home run in May. But hey, Maybe Roger Clemens can play DH on his off days. Well, on the off days that he doesn’t want to go golfing.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Joe Torre has more important matters on his mind as his brother remains in critical care following a kidney transplant.
• Scott Proctor dropped his appeal of his 4-game suspension and will be able to return on Thursday.
• As if the Roger Clemens story wasn’t enough of a circus, it looks like if things go as scheduled, his first start for the Yankees will be in Fenway Park.
• Josh Beckett has a history of blisters on his fingers, but he is hopeful that this time he won’t be forced to miss a start.
• Miguel Tejada has now played in 1,118 consecutive games, giving him the 5th longest streak in history.
• Derek Jeter committed his 7th error on Sunday, but it was his first since the 11th game of the season.

AL East Roundup

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
New York Yankees	1	0	0	1-0	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	1	0	0	1-0	W1	—
Boston Red Sox	0	1	1.0	0-1	L1	161
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	0	1	1.0	0-1	L1	161
Baltimore Orioles	0	2	1.5	0-2	L2	160

Twins 3, Orioles 2. The O’s dropped their second straight in Minnesota. One day after being bested by a Johan Santana, with less than his best stuff, Baltimore blew an early 2-0 lead and fell to a guy named Boof. Former Devil Ray Aubrey Huff had two hits for the second straight game and his second RBI.

• Bernie Williams called manager Joe Torre and several of his teammates before the opening day match up with the Rays. Bernie insists that he is not retired but that he would not play for any team other than the Yankees in 2007. Williams declined a minor league contract offer from the Yankees before the season began.
• The Red Sox send Josh Beckett to the mound against the Royals. Beckett won 16 in his first season with the Sox, but was considered a disappointment with 5.01 ERA. The Sox and Curt Schilling dropped the opener to Kansas City.
• Toronto will go with AJ Burnett as they try to take two straight in Detroit. Burnett won 10 games in his first season in Toronto, but missed two months.