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: Manny Starting To Be Manny

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	15	5.0	5-5	W2	131
Toronto Blue Jays	13	15	5.0	5-5	L3	131
New York Yankees	11	14	5.5	3-7	W2	132
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130

Yankees 4, Rangers 3. It is strange that the Yankees could have such a pivotal game so early in the season against the Rangers. Of course, it is easier when facing a rookie manager that intentionally walks Jason Giambi to face Hideki Matsui in the 8th inning. Huh? We know he is a rookie manager, but hasn’t he watched baseball in the last 3-4 years. Matsui does one thing very well. He drives in runs. He has a knack for it. The Great Mariano seems to be settling down also, which is not good for the rest of the AL East. He converted his second straight save, but we knew that was bound to happen.

Yankees 5, Rangers 2. The Yanks can make up a lot of ground if they were able to play double-headers against the Rangers every day. Mike Mussina only worked 5 innings, but he only gave up 1 run and the bullpen held on.

Red Sox 8, Mariners 7.Manny Ramirez is an idiot-savant. He knows one thing and he knows it real well. He hits. He hits baseballs. And he hits them very hard.Manny hit two home runs including the game-winner in the 8th. That should scare the Yankees more than anything. The Red Sox have a huge lead and Manny is just starting to be Manny.

Indians 6, Blue Jays 5. Remember in the off-season when the Jays spent a lot of money and all the pundits predicted they would contend with the Sox and the Yankees. Ha! They are still the Jays, and once again it proves that just because you write big checks does not mean you automatically win more games. Next time maybe invest in players that won’t break down three weeks in to the season.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The poor Evil Empire. This is what happens when your entire roster is made up of 37 year old players that make $16 million per season. They are old and they are fragile and they get cranky when if they don’t get their afternoon naps. The Yankees were forced to call up two more starting pitchers from the minors and when they make their first starts, New York will be the first team to ever use 10 different starting pitchers in the first 30 games of the season.
• Bob Ryan makes a case for the Red Sox going after Roger Clemens or another pitcher. We can’t see it this year unless somebody comes up lame. Right now Julian “i’m craaaazy” Tavarez is there 5th starter, but they won’t need him in the playoffs. The rest of the rotation looks to be fine.
• Of course bullpen help might be a different story. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL.
• The lack of hitting may not be “driving O’s batty“, but their pitching should be driving them bat-shit crazy. The worst thing for us yesterday? The O’s didn’t play so we couldn’t write about them losing again.