Do I See a Silver Lining in that 4-3 Loss?

It was a pretty bleak in the Bronx this afternoon but there was a silver lining and it came in the form of a Jason Varitek bomb off Mariano Rivera. While the Red Sox went down 4-3 to the Yanks, Tek’s ninth inning blast off Rivera was confirmation that the Sox have taken ownership of the great Mariano. And if the game tying blast wasn’t enough to prove the thesis, Billy Mueller followed with a sharp single and Johnny Damon came about four feet short of planting a two-run tree in the right field seats. It is pretty clear for all to see that the Sox no longer fear Mr. Rivera. They knocked him around twice during last year’s regular season and who can forget game 4 of the ALCS. If you throw today’s game in the mix, the Sox have gotten to Rivera five times since July 1st of last year. That amounts to domination in this day and age.

Rivera’s struggles stem from the fact that Boston’s lefties are perfectly comfortable standing in on Rivera’s cutter. That pitch has dogged hitters for a decade, but the Sox are just opening up their stances and having no trouble pulling the ball. If I were the Sox, I would send out a missive to the league, with a video attachment, demonstrating how it is done. Clearly, the Sox have the recipe and it now needs to be disseminated. Who knows, if the secret is finally out, the Yankees have a problem that they had not contemplated. Moreover, it is a problem that cannot be fixed with all the money in the world. If the Sox had to lose a game to find this out, it was well worth the cost.

As for the rest of the game – it was fairly ugly and fairly typical of last May and June. There were plenty of base-runners and some ill-timed double plays. Trot proved once again that he is useless against lefties, even those lefties like Mike Stanton who are on loan from the March of Dimes. I wonder if Nixon could hit off 48 year old Bob Ojeda. Foulke pitched a solid eighth, but you got to question what he was doing throwing that cheese to Jeter with a full count in the ninth. That brings me to Clement who was a bit shy of mediocre. He pitched well in a couple of spots and his defense really let him down, but his control wasn’t great, as evidenced by three walks in four plus innings. Varitek was supposed to help with that but I guess we now know it will take some time.

Today’s big goat was Edgar Renteria who is off to quite a start in his new digs. Aside from going 0-4 with a key inning ending double play, our two-time gold glover muffed a sure double play that led to the Yanks big three run inning. He makes that routine play and its two outs with no one on. Post muff, its second and third with nobody out. Sheffield then grounded out, meaning the inning would have been over at that point had Renteria not flubbed the easy chance. So what happens next? Godzilla parks a two run Honda in the right field parking lot. So just like that the Sox are down 3-0. Edgar then had a shot at redemption in the sixth with one out and runners on first and second, but rather then deliver a big knock, he hit into an inning-ending double play. So in a nutshell, Renteria is 0-8 with one error and two other misplays in just two games. That isn’t exactly the way to make new friends. If Edgar takes a collar or boots one tomorrow, not even the fat kid in the corner is going to speak with Boston's forty million dollar man.

Tomorrow we throw Wakes against Moose in a rematch of games 1 and 4 of the 2003 ALCS. I don’t like the matchup at all and I am not sure why the Yanks are only minus 135. Shouldn’t you hve to pay at least 150 for a yanks win? The Sox will need the offense to come alive if they are going to avoid the sweep. You hear that Manny.