Projo Sox Blog

Bottom of the seventh. One out. Red Sox leading by four. Bases loaded for the Yankees. Cleanup hitter -- the $300 million cleanup hitter (above) -- at the plate. Rookie pitcher on the mound.

The result? An inning-ending, game-ending -- and maybe for the Yankees, season-ending -- double play.

McDonald called it "a lifetime memory" for the rook -- Justin Masterson -- and it led to a 7-3 victory that extended the Sox' wild-card lead over the Yanks to six games. But the Boston Herald's John Tomase saw bigger themes in it all, saying the moment and the game -- not to mention the four wins in six tries on the road prior to last night -- is part of a 21st-century trend of the Sox "playing their best baseball at a critical juncture of the season with almost every unit coming together."

And that trend started, writes Sean McAdam, at this very location in 2004. Baseball history was made that season and the fortunes of the franchise were reversed when the Sox finally vanquished their seemingly unvanquishable foe, and at Yankee Stadium to boot. Last night was simply more of the same.

From the Boston view, that is. Looking at it from the New York side of the fence, the focus is more on Yankee failure than Red Sox triumph . . .

A-GAME: And the focus is on that $300 million man Alex Rodriguez, he of the 0-for-5, two GIDPs, leaving-the-bases-loaded-twice performance. (Not to mention a fielding error.) Peter Abraham says we should have known what was in store when A-Rod said these are like playoff games for the Yankees; what we got, he writes, was a typical Alex Rodriguez playoff performance. (LoHud Yankees Blog) Rodriguez heard it from the faithful; boy, did he ever. (New York Daily News) The faithful may be best personified by Bugs & Cranks' Ed Valentine, who lays out the statistical case against A-Rod. But the New York Post's Joel Sherman thinks Rodriguez is nothing more than a personification of the team's failures, and there was plenty of that to go around. (One little example: Jason Giambi's snooze at first base that allowed Coco Crisp to score from second on an infield hit, chronicled by both Peter Botte of the Daily News and Mike Puma of the Post.) In the end, though, John Harper of the Daily News may have summed up the Yanks' dilemma as he was describing Andy Pettitte, who didn't get out of the fifth inning last night: "[A] a little too old, a little too past his prime to recapture the glory days."

GET THE SHOVEL: "We're definitely digging ourselves a big trench to climb out of," said the ever-honest Johnny Damon. (New York Daily News)

DONE DEAL? Mark Kotsay-to-the-Red Sox has been in the air for nearly 24 hours now; McAdam has the details. Kotsay would provide outfield depth, which is certainly a concern now that J.D. Drew's on the disabled list -- stay tuned for more on that -- and also a little more left-handed pop off the bench. The sides talked all day (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and Yahoo! Sports' Gordon Edes is reporting the trade's been completed, pending a physical. If true, the news will no doubt disappoint the Phillies, (Courier-Post) though probably not the young male subset of Red Sox Nation. (UmpBump.com)

BACK IT UP: The back woes that have sidelined him for more than a week finally landed Drew on the disabled list yesterday; McDonald reports the Sox needed the roster spot to activate Wakefield. (The move was retroactive to Aug. 18, so he'll be eligible for activation in a week.) Wakefield, writes McAdam, made a successful return to action as he got credit for the victory.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MEDICAL LEDGER . . . The rest of the injury news yesterday was good. First and foremost, Josh Beckett says the tingling in his fingers is gone, and, pending how he feels today, he's on track to make Friday's scheduled start against the White Sox. And Mike Lowell's oblique injury has healed to the point that he's back doing normal activities. McDonald has both stories.

M-V-WHAT? Kevin Youkilis laughs off the notion that he's in the running for the American League MVP award. (New York Times)

I'LL MISS YA, YA BIG LUG: Mariano Rivera says it's strange to look across the field and not see Manny Ramirez in a Boston uniform. (Boston Herald)

LOOKING AHEAD: McAdam has news that the Sox will help the Mets open their new stadium next spring with an exhibition series there in early April. The tentative 2009 league schedule also has them opening in Boston for the first time since 2002, against Tampa Bay.

HEADING HOME: Carl Yastrzemski was released from the hospital yesterday, a week after undergoing triple-bypass surgery. (Boston Herald)

AWARD TIME: The International League handed out its hardware yesterday and the PawSox cleaned up. McDonald reports Jeff Bailey was named MVP and Charlie Zink was named Pitcher of the Year.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY: Bartolo Colon reached the 60-pitch limit last night, but that only got him four innings as the PawSox beat the Iron Pigs. (projo.com)

NO HALLADAY: The Rays had three victories over Roy Halladay under their belts prior to last night but they couldn't make it four as they were stifled by the Toronto ace (St. Petersburg Times), dropping their A.L. East lead over the Red Sox to 3 1/2 games overall and four in the loss column. Not only that, but they may have lost catcher Dioner Navarro for a bit because of some balky hamstrings. (St. Petersburg Times)

HEROES EVERYWHERE . . . EXCEPT AT HOME: You could understand the paltry attendance totals at the beginning of the year; this is a franchise that's done nothing but lose, lose and lose some more since its inception 10 years ago. But they've been near or atop the A.L. East for nearly five months now and they're the toast of the baseball world, so it's an utter disgrace -- and a complete indictment of their alleged "fan base" -- that the Rays would only draw 13,478 last night. (Tampa Tribune)

AND NEVER IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD: He doesn't mention them by name, but Joe Posnanski tears into Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson for twisting themselves into common-sense pretzels as they attempted to claim the A.J. Pierzynski play against the Rays a couple of days ago was, indeed, interference.

IT'S ALL GOOD . . . OR MOSTLY GOOD: Instant replay -- as you probably know by now -- starts Thursday (mlb.com), and SI.com's John Donovan and Yahoo! Sport's Tim Brown, among others, say it's about time. Not the Globe's Nick Cafardo, though.

A.L. RACES: In the Central, the White Sox increased their lead to two games with an 8-3 win over the Orioles (Chicago Tribune) while the Twins were losing their fourth in a row on the West Coast, 3-2 to the Mariners. (mlb.com) Minnesota now trails the Red Sox by 2 1/2 (three in the loss column) for the wild card.

N.L. RACES: It was enough the knock the Red Sox and Yankees off the back page of the New York Post. The Mets jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning, gave all of it back -- Pedro Martinez allowed five runs, and then the Met 'pen surrendered the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth -- and finally lost to the Phillies, 8-7 in 13 (New York Post), allowing Philadelphia to move into first place by one-half game in the East. The Phillies saw it as a replay of 2007 (Philadelphia Inquirer) -- Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan heard some of those same '07 echoes -- while, for the Mets, it was yet another indictment of their Wagner-less bullpen (New York Post) . . . Bullpen woes are also a problem in Miami, as the Marlins blew an 8-4, eighth-inning lead in a 10-9 loss to Atlanta (Miami Herald) that dropped them six back of the Phils . . . The Cubs remain five ahead in the Central after a wild 14-9 win in Pittsburgh (Chicago Tribune) . . . The Brewers, however, increased their wild-card lead to 4 1/2 games as they routed the Cardinals, 12-0 (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . It certainly is the Mild, Mild West: The sub-.500 Dodgers lost their fifth in a row, 2-1 to the woeful Nationals (Los Angeles Times), but didn't lose any ground as the Diamondbacks lost their second straight to the equally woeful Padres (Arizona Republic). That race remains Arizona by three.

TIME TO COWBOY UP: True to his tough-as-nails personality, Larry Bowa says there's "no excuse" for the Dodgers' lack of intensity at this stage of the pennant race. (Los Angeles Times)

HERE AND THERE: Marlins advisor Jack McKeon defended the team's decision not to part with 18-year-old prospect Mike Stanton in a potential deal for Manny Ramirez, saying, "Young players like [Stanton] are hard to find." (Miami Herald) . . . The Los Angeles Times reports Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana and Jered Weaver are auditioning for the last two spots in the Angels' postseason rotation . . . FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports the Rockies have placed Brian Fuentes and Willy Tavares on waivers in the hopes of trading them before Sept. 1, but the chances of dealing Fuentes may have dwindled after Colorado had to put him on the bereavement list for an undisclosed problem (mlb.com) . . . The Blue Jays have shut down Jeremy Accardo for the rest of the season (mlb.com) . . . The Royals' Jose Guillen nearly got into it with a fan last night. (mlb.com)

OLD FRIENDS: Bronson Arroyo pitched the Reds' first complete game of the season in Cincinnati's 2-1 win over Houston. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

AND FINALLY . . . David Chalk of Bugs & Cranks is a Rays rooter . . . but it when it comes to a certain subject, he's one of us.

-- ART MARTONE