SPOUTING OFF ON AN OFF DAY

Well, the Red Sox are rolling right now. This was their first road series win since they took 2 of 3 from the Yankees near the end of May. This is their first road sweep since they took 2 of 2 from the Orioles on April 20 and 21st. This is their first 3 game road sweep of the season.

The Indians were hot, even though they hadn't beaten the greatest of teams in their winning streak. The Giants are 30-40, the D-Bax are a game below .500 and the Rockies are 22-48 (5-31 on the road). But they were still a pretty hot team that was rolling with alot of momentum.

This series came down to a few key plays. There was Damon's homerun in the top of the 9th in the first game that gave the Sox a cushion. Then his catch in the bottom of the inning to end the game and rpevent the tying run from scoring. Tuesday night, Trot Nixon made a sensational catch to rob extra bases from the Indians and keep Cleveland out of the game. Last night, a pair of doubles strung together by Payton and Olerud gave the Sox a 5-4 lead which they would hold.

As it is right now, the Red Sox are in good position. We're only a game behind Baltimore (who just lost Surhoff to the DL) and 4 games ahead of the Yankees. We have a visit to Philadelphia coming up this weekend. Meanwhile, the Yankees host the Mets (the Yankees are on a 13 game homestand, the Red Sox do not have a homestand over 10 games/days this season. weird.) and the Orioles play the Braves in Atlanta.

Speaking of the New York Yankees, here's a thought about them as I've seen them "dominate" on their 2 week homestand:

The myth that Don Mattingly is a great hitting coach. Mattingly was a great hitter. Anyone that retires with a career average over .300 is pretty dam good at hitting. It seems as though every time I turn on ESPN or Fox or YES! when I'm at school, and a Yankee hitter does something good, they show Mattingly or talk about him and what a great job he is doing. Frankly, I just don't see how he could fail at his job. Jeter, Matsui, Sheffield, Rodriguez, Posada, and Tino all excelled at hitting. The 10 regular hitters playing for the Yankees have a combined 2005 salary of $106.6 million. How the heck could somebody fail given those players. Mattingly hasn't worked with mediocre hitters to make them great like Papa Jack has with David Ortiz. Ortiz wasn't a power hitter before he got to Boston. Now he's one of the top homerun hitters in baseball.