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Baseball Today: Friday, April 20

Getting ready for Armageddon . . .

NOT BAD: Normally, the way the Red Sox won yesterday's game in Toronto, rife as it was with comebacks and mangerial strategems galore to chew on, would be the talk of the day heading into this weekend's series with the Yankees. (All stories projo.com)

BETTER: But they were trumped yesterday by the Yanks, who pulled out one for the ages by rallying for six runs with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. (New York Post) If John Sterling didn't stroke out yesterday, he never will; I think he had to get out his checklist as he rattled off his signature calls, one by one:

-- ''IT IS HIGH!!! IT IS FAR!!! IT IS . . . GAAAAAAAHHHHNNNNNN!!!!!''

-- ''AN A-BOMB!! FROM A-ROD!!!''

-- "ALEXANDER THE GREAT!!!!!''

And, then, of course:

-- "BALLGAME OVER!!! YANKEES WIN!!!! TH-UHHH-UHHH-UHHHH-UHHH-UHHH . . . YANKEES!!!!!! WIN!!!!!!!"

(Honestly, I don't think he's gotten that rabid since Game 5 of the 2001 World Series. I say that because Charlie Steiner, and not Sterling, was behind the mike for Aaron Boone.)

A-GAME: Bill Madden thinks we're seeing a new, more confident, less burdened Alex Rodriguez. (New York Daily News) Others are less restrained. Joel Sherman says A-Rod is the new David Ortiz (New York Post), and Mike Vaccaro thinks the sky might not even be the limit anymore. (New York Post) And as far as Larry Mahnken is concerned, Alex Rodriguez is the heavenly father. (replacementlevel.com)

MUCH NEEDED BOOST: Mike Lupica thinks A-Rod's heroics have breathed new life into the tired Red Sox-Yankees rivalry (New York Daily News)

REALITY CHECK: The last word comes from Joe Torre, who, as always, keeps it all in perspective: ''It certainly makes you feel good going into Boston, but if you remember, last year, we played one of the ugliest games of the year (a 12-2 loss to Baltimore) before we went up there and won five games." (New York Daily News)

Curt Schilling vs. Andy Pettitte, tonight at 7:05. See you there.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Judging from the cheering we heard, Red Sox Nation outnumbered the Blue Jay faithful at the Rogers Centre this week. The Tao of Stieb blog wasn't impressed. (taoofstieb.blogspot.com)

WE'RE NUMBER THREE: Forbes lists the Red Sox as the third-most valuable franchise in the major leagues, behind the Yankees and Mets. Each team has an in-depth breakdown, and Forbes says the new ownership team ''has transformed the Red Sox from a sleepy asset into a cutting-edge organization.''

WHAT IF: Jim Kaat gives a White Sox-centric interview to White Sox Interactive (duh), but it includes a little snippet of 1967 -- ''Whenever I run into Carl Yastrzemski or Hawk Harrelson, they’ll say the same thing, that [the Red Sox] would never have won the pennant if I hadn’t gotten hurt in that Saturday game.”. (Kaat had to leave Saturday's game, the first of the two-game weekend series, because of a bad elbow, and the Sox came back for a 6-4 win that set up Sunday's heroics.) (whitesoxinteractive.com)

PLANET CHARLIE: Let's see: Charlie Manuel casually announces at the end of a press briefing, without prompting, that he's moving his No. 1 starter, Brett Myers, to the bullpen. The assembled media are stunned into five seconds (timed) of silence. Then they burst out laughing. They insist Manuel is joking, and one of them offers to bet the manager $100 that it was all a gag. When he convinces them it isn't, they try to get Myers' reaction. Myers sticks his arm in one of the reporter's face and tells him to direct his question there.

Oh, yeah. The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg has absolutely found the perfect team to follow on the D.C. Sports Bog. (And, yes, that's 'Bog' and not 'Blog'. Something about Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen; you can read the explanation here. (washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog)

YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG: Phil Sheridan, though, says ''the public perception about [Manuel] is comically wrong -- and a lot of conclusions are jumped to from that wrong foundation''. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

SILVER LINING: The good news for Manuel is that Ryan Howard may not be hurt as badly as first feared. (Philadelphia Inquirer) They're saying the same thing in Seattle about Felix Hernandez. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE: Judging by these comments, don't be expecting Jose Guillen to kiss and make up with Brendan Donnelly anytime soon. (mlb.com)

IN THE AREA: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, suspended Braves infielder Willie Aybar -- reportedly dealing with substance-abuse issues -- is with his brother in Boston, 'trying to get his life and baseball career back in order'. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

NEW ONE ON ME: Miguel Cabrera has . . . a what?? (Fox Sports)

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:56 AM | Permalink