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September 13, 2007
BLAST FROM THE PAST: It had been over a year since the Red Sox won a game with a walkoff home run -- last September 6, when current Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena turned the trick -- and even longer since they'd gotten a walkoff homer from David Ortiz, who seemed to be doing it every other day for a stretch last season. And, truth be told, if the Devil Rays had a more skilled right fielder than the clueless Delmon Young, they might still be waiting for one. But Young ran to the wrong spot, started doing a dizzying maypole dance, and never got a glove on a ball that landed one row into the right-field seats, giving Ortiz his first walkoff of 2007 (above, Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach) and the Red Sox a much-needed victory, 5-4 over Tampa Bay. (projo.com) Ortiz -- who had hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, cutting the Rays' lead from 4-0 to 4-3 -- is getting the props this morning but it was the bullpen that really won it with 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. (projo.com) The relievers were summoned early because Jon Lester served up his first stinker in quite a while, struggling through 3 1/3 torturous innings. (projo.com)
SUPER MODEL: FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry puts forth the notion that the Red Sox ''are the model organization in [baseball] today.'' He lists six reasons why.
CAN'T SEE WHAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU: Seth Mnookin says that it's gone almost completely unnoticed, but J.D. Drew is now the hitter the Red Sox thought they were signing. Yet he remains a target of Red Sox Nation, which irritates Jason Varitek; 'Tek says the fans don't know how much power they have and they could put that power to good use by cheering, and not booing, Drew. (Newburyport News)
MANY HAPPY RETURNS: The Japanese media following the Red Sox threw a birthday party for Daisuke Matsuzaka -- who turns 27 today -- and Dice-K promised them that, ''Next year will be a better birthday than this year.'' (Boston Herald) Tom Verducci thinks that if he wants to be wearing a World Series championship ring when his next birthday rolls around, the Red Sox had better give Matsuzaka some rest in the weeks ahead to get him ready for the postseason.
DEVILISHLY CLEVER: The Biz of Baseball reports that Tampa Bay will change its name to the ''Rays'' at season's end, jettisoning the ''Devil'' part.
HERE THEY COME: Last night's victory means the Sox will have at least a four-game lead in the loss column over the Yankees heading into this weekend's showdown; the Yanks, getting a surprisingly strong performance from Mike Mussina, won their seventh straight, 4-1 over the Blue Jays (New York Post) and will conclude their series in Toronto tonight while the Sox get the day off. On the LoHud Yankees Blog, Peter Abraham writes the Yankees didn't seem to care one way or the other about Young's butchering of a catchable drive that handed the Sox a win, since they've been remarkably successful at eliminating outside distractions and focusing on the task at hand since the All-Star break.
(Everyone knows I'm a big fan of Abraham, but I have one quibble with this entry: Calling Ortiz' homer a "pop-up". The ball was hit 380 feet and was a no-questions-asked home run in every major-league park except Fenway; in Yankee Stadium, that's ball's well up into the third deck. Young should have caught it, no question, but it was no "pop-up".)
CANADIAN CLUB: The Blue Jays had a video of fans hitting Alex Rodriguez with a baseball on their center-field scoreboard last night, and Joe Torre thought it was a disgrace. (New York Daily News)
TODAY'S THE DAY: The Yankees should know today whether or not Roger Clemens will be able to start Sunday night at Fenway. (New York Post)
STARTING NINE: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick lists nine players who need to step up in the season's final weeks. No Sox make the cut.
A.L. RACES: The Angels kept pace with the Red Sox in the quest for the A.L.'s best record by clobbering the Orioles. (Los Angeles Times) The Angels, however, are worried that center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. may not return from his sprained ankle in time for the playoffs (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Indians lost ground as they were beaten by the White Sox (Cleveland Plain-Dealer) . . . In the wild-card hunt, the Tigers beat the Rangers (Detroit News) . . . The Mariners finally won a game and aren't yet clinically dead. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
THE REAL STORY: Writing in the New York Sun, Jay Jaffe doesn't think the Mariners should be faulted for thei collapse. He thinks they should be lauded for staying in contention as long as they did.
N.L. RACES: Every game but one had playoff implications, as the Cubs beat the Astros (Chicago Tribune), the Dodgers beat the Padres (Los Angeles Times), the Mets beat the Braves (New York Post), the Pirates beat the Brewers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), the Diamonbacks beat the Giants (Arizona Republic), the Reds beat the Cardinals, handing St. Louis its sixth straight loss (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and the Rockies beat the Phillies (Philadelphia Inquirer). (Despite last night's loss and the angst it spawned in Philadelphia, John Donovan lauds the Phils on SI.com.)
To see how all those games affected the races, check out the divisional standings and wild-card standings. (Projo Stats)
A CLOSER LOOK: SI.com's Jon Heyman examines the ups and downs of the races.
SELF-REFLECTION: John Smoltz admits the Braves ''aren't as good'' as the Mets, which is why they're 9 1/2 games behind them in the N.L. East. The Braves hope their flagging wild-card chances will get a boost Friday with the return of Chipper Jones. (Both stories Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
THE PAIN, THE PAIN: The Mets' Orlando Hernandez says his right foot still hurts, which throws New York's pitching plans into a state of flux. (New York Times)
MEMORIES: Mets fans will enjoy this collection of vintage radio clips from the old broadcast team of Lindsay Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner. (bobster1985.tripod.com)
STANDING OUT IN A CROWD: The Washington Post estimates there were no more than 400 people in attendance at yesterday's Marlins-Nationals game at Dolphins Stadium, and one of the 400 was so abusive to home-plate umpire Paul Schreiber that Schreiber had him thrown out.
QUICKLY: Puerto Rico no longer wants its players to be subject to the first-year draft (mlb.com) . . . Tom Glavine desperately wanted to return to Atlanta to end his career, but the Braves blew him off last winter. So he went back to the Mets. (New York Post)
OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe missed his start because of a contusion in his pitching hand and is, according to the Dodgers, day to day (Los Angeles Times) . . . Tim Naehring doesn't sound too pleased over being fired as the Reds' minor-league field coordinator. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:59 AM | Permalink
