AL East Roundup: Yankees And Red Sox Continue To Roll Towards October

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	22	10	–	7-3	W3	—
New York Yankees	16	16	6.0	7-3	W2	125
Baltimore Orioles	16	18	7.0	4-6	W2	123
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	19	8.5	4-6	L3	122
Toronto Blue Jays	13	20	9.5	2-8	L8	121

Yankees 6, Rangers 2. The Yankees scored 4 in the bottom of 1st and never looked back as Mike Mussina worked 6 and said “We don’t need no stinkin’ Rocket”

Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 3. $100 million? So that is what a #3 starter goes for these days? Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 8 in 7 innings and now has three good starts this season. One was versus KC on opening day and two against the Blue Jays, both of whom are among the worst teams in baseball.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jays manager John Gibbons and the rest of his coaching staff were given a vote of confidence despite recent discussions by JP Ricciardi about the staff’s performance.
• Roger Clemens faced his son in a workout session in Lexington, Kentucky.
• Terry Francona has asked Curt Schilling to tone down his comments to the press. Any chance it will work?

AL East Roundup: The Royals Are The Feast Of The East

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	5	4	–	5-4	L1	—
Boston Red Sox	4	4	0.5	4-4	L1	154
New York Yankees	4	4	0.5	4-4	L1	154
Baltimore Orioles	4	6	1.5	4-6	W1	152
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	3	6	2.0	3-6	L1	152

Orioles 2, Royals 1. If there is any consolation to the 3-6 start for the Rays it is that just about everybody else in the AL East has had a shot at the Royals except for the Rays. The O’s are the latest with a chance to feast on Kansas City, scoring the winning run on a Jay Gibbons single in the bottom of the 10th. The human rain delay, Steve Trachsel worked 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits.

Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4. Tomo Ohka worked 6 innings but gave up 5 runs on 8 hits and a walk.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Sounds like the Yankees have finally restocked their minor league system after years of trading away all prospects. In particular, the AAA team is loaded with good arms.
• The Yankees are stealing more bases this season. Four of the top 16 thieves are Yankees.
• Darrell Rasner will take Mike Mussina’s spot in the rotation on Tuesday. No word yet if Moose is going on the DL.
• With the Red Sox rainout yesterday, Terry Francona adjusted the rotation and now Diasuke Matsuzaka will get two cracks at the Yankees.
• So far, the 2007 version of the Orioles is bizarro-Baltimore. The pitching has been good, but the hitting is slow to get started.
• Jaret Wright was placed on the DL by the Orioles.