SOX TAKE GAME 1 OF UNTIMELY DOUBLEHEADER

I really hate how we have to play a doubleheader. It screws up our rotation, wears out our bullpen and doubleheaders are notoriously difficult to sweep, which is what we need to do. The good news is, as I type this, both New York and Cleveland are losing. The bad news is, we're tied and New York and Cleveland are playing the lifeless Orioles and D-Rays, respectively.

Rodney Harrison is out for the season. This is a huge loss but I won't be predicting doom like some national sports writers. Yes, Harrison is a great player and a leader, and yes, our secondary is already a little thin, but the Patriots have a great ability for adjusting to a player's absence. Just compare the offensive line play of the Pats in the 1st half after Light went down and the 2nd without Light. We should be fine, but it will be more difficult to three peat and we can't afford too many more injuries in the secondary.

12 OF 12 BY #12

The entire game, Patriots fans everywhere had to endure the nearly intolerable Roethlesberger ball washing by CBS's announcers. At the end of the game, their silence about this "legendary" "quarterback" was golden.

Roethlesberger went into this game with a ridiculous passer rating because he almost never passes. To the Steelers, a pass is a trick play like a flea flicker or a double reverse. This game, he was forced to attempt to be a quarterback and the country saw that he isn't one.

The Patriots started the game off well. They forced the Steelers to go 3 and out. Dillon ran for 1, then 6, then 7. Brady threw to Givens for 15. Faulk ran for 3, then Watson caught a 10 yard pass. Dillon took it to the end zone from the 4 to give the Pats an early lead.

The Steelers repsonded quickly when Ward caught a pass from Roethlesberger and went 85 yards for a touchdown to tie the game. The Patriots response was a 3 and out including a sack of Brady for a loss of 11.

The Steelers drove down to our 15 yard line and kicked a field goal. Throughout the drive, the Pats were able to come close to Roethlesberger only to let him slip away. On the drive, Rodney Harrison hurt his right leg on an ugly fall. He wouldn't return.

The Patriots offense put together what looked like a solid scoring drive. The Pats couldn't get much going on the ground but were able to convert some key 3rd downs to get the ball to the Steelers' 14. Brady hit Faulk on a screen and Faulk was one man away from taking it in for 6. That man was able to strip Faulk though and a fortuitous bounce landed right in the arms of the Steelers.

Pittsburgh screwed up big time on their ensuing offensive posession. Randle El caught a Roethlesberger pass and ran down to our 11. Before he was about to be wrapped up, he attempted a foolish lateral that Hines Ward couldn't handle. Eugene Wilson, a.k.a. The Presence, was able to fall on the ball.

The Patriots went 3 and out on their posession and lost Matt Light to injury. After Light, the blind side tackle, the most important offensive line position, was injured, the Steelers attacked our left side with gusto and got alot of pressure on Brady forcing Tom to throw the ball away on many occasions.

Parker got a 10 yard run through the middle for a Pittsburgh 1st down but the Steelers once again stumbled. On 3rd down, Wilson seemed to intercept a terrible pass by Roethlesberger but the play was challenged and overruled. Roethlesberger pooch punted and it was nearly downed inside our 1 yard line but it rolled into the end zone for a touchback.

The Patriots once again did nothing on offense. Dillon ran for a 1 yard loss, Brady threw an incomplete pass, then threw to Brown for no gain. Miller once again punted the ball.

The Steelers drove the ball to our 29 yard line and lined up for a field goal. The kick was good but the play was taken off the books as the Steelers false started. The 52 yard attempt after the penalty missed wide left.

The Pats got the ball with 2:34 left in the 1st half and attempted a scoring drive. Brady threw mostly to Faulk who had some big runs after catches. The Pats got the ball down to the Pittsburgh 3 but a false start penalty moved it back to the 8. Brady was pressured on 1st and goal and his pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Once again, the Steelers were the beneficiaries of a nice bounce and they intercepted the pass. They then took a knee to end the half, going into the locker room with a 10-7 lead.

The Patriots started off the 2nd half with a drive that was hurt by an 8 yard loss on a sack. Vinatierri attempted a 53 yard field goal but it just missed. Roethlesberger and the Steelers responed with another incomplete on 3rd down and were forced to punt. The Patriots got the ball back but then prompty returned it to the Steelers when Faulk fumbled again on a run up the middle. The defense held the Steelers to 3 tho, making the score 13-7.

On the next drive, the Patriots didn't score, but they moved the ball near midfield. Miller's punt and the coverage by Don Davis pinned Pittsburgh back at their 6 yard line. They ran the ball a few times before being stopped and forced to punt. Tim Dwight came up with a nice return that gave the Pats the ball on the Pittsburgh 30. The Patriots were unable to do anything though but they were able to get a field goal to make the score 13-10.

The Steelers answered with a 3 and out. The Patriots got the ball back on their 14 yard line. Brady hit Givens for 14, then Branch for 8, then Brown for 19. After a 5 yard reception by Brown and a 3 yard run by Dillon, Givens had a 30 yard catch to give the Pats a 1st and goal on the 7. Dillon ran outside to the right and took it to the house to give the Patriots a 17-13 lead.

The Steelers couldn't muster much on their next drive and finally the Patriots were able to get to Roethlesberger. With 7:27 left in the game, the Pats drove the ball down field eating up over 4 minutes of clock and putting up 3 more points with a field goal. The field goal would prove vital.

The Steelers, down by 7, embarked on a nice drive with little more than 3 minutes left in regulation. The key to the drive was a 4th and 11 play. Roethlesberger threw downfield to Quincy Morgan who was being covered 1 on 1 by Chad Scott. The pass was incomplete and it looked like Scott was doing a good job of covering Morgan. Scott and Morgan were both making contact with each other. Morgan made the first contact. Chad played the ball and made no efforts to screw up Morgan beyond his own efforts to catch the ball. I mean, does this look like pass interferance?

Wow, Scott's really all over him there. Anyway, the Steelers took advantage of the BS PI call and scored a touchdown.

What happened after the TD is what has happened alot during the past few years. Tom Brady drove the ball down field, hitting receivers on medium routes, the receivers are intelligent enough to get out of bounds, and then the Pats get into scoring range. Then Vinatierri walks out and wins the game with a clutch field goal. That happened on Sunday too. Patriots 23, Steelers 20.

SEE, IT ISN'T SO BAD

Was there a single Orioles fan in Camden Yards? What a nerve wracking game. It's true that the Red Sox may have gotten away with one, but how many times has Baltimore beaten us by a run because we couldn't capitalize on scoring opportunities? Or Tampa or Toronto. What's important, is that we're tied with New York with 8 games left in the season. We play 1 in Balto then 7 in Boston. Tomorrow, David Wells, with a bad knee, takes the mound against John Maine. Both starters are coming off bad outings. Wells has since taken a cortisone shot, Maine hasn't. Advantage: Wells.

After finishing with the O's, the Red Sox host the pesky Blue Jays for 4 days in Fenway. Then its the Big Series with New York.

To anyone who has been pessimistic about the Sox the past few weeks and scared of the Yankees, remember a few things. We were looking pretty pathetic last postseason, particularly when we lost 19-8 in Game 3. The Yankees are on a tear, but they've been an incredibly streaky team this year. They've gone on similar tears throughout the season. All of a sudden they'll start winning games then just as quickly, they'll revert to being a below average team. On the long run, this has resulted in them being a good team, but in the short run they can either be unbeatable, or incredibly easy to beat.

We can win this, and if we play as well as we are capable of, we will win this.

Just a side note, does anyone else think it is odd that the Red Sox ban the "Yankees Suck" shirts right around the same time Kevin Millar comes up with the motto of the 2005 Red Sox and it is "Fuck Everybody."

STAY OFF THE BRIDGES!

Red Sox fans need to stay away from the Charles, Mystic, Neponset, Merrimack, French, Housatanic, and Connecticutt rivers as well as the Cape Cod Canal. I know it looks bad, but it isn't. I know we're in second place now, but on the bright side, we're 0.5 games out of a playoff spot. We have 3 games left with New York so even if we fall a bit further back, we can make it up in the closing series. As we all know from last year, when the Sox get pinned up against the wall, that's when they're the most dangerous.

The good things going for this team:
David Ortiz is hitting like a man posessed.
Manny Ramirez is starting to hit again.
Wakefield has had three really good starts in a row.
Schilling looked amazing the other day.
The offense finally exploded yesterday.
We're home for 7 of the 10 games we have left.
The kids are looking pretty good.
Tek and Trot are due to explode very soon, same with Damon.

I think we're still going to make the post-season, even if we don't win the division. The Indians, who are 0.5 ahead of us in the Wild Card, should be passing the struggling White Sox in the Central. If the White Sox continue to struggle, we should be able to beat them out for the Wild Card. Once we get into the post-season, anything can happen.

THAT'S WHAT WE NEEDED

The Red Sox haven't put up double digits in runs since August 29th. They haven't put up 15 or more runs since August 10th. Huge night for the middle of the lineup. Ortiz, Manny, Trot, and Tek combined to go 16 for 20, score 12 runs, knock in 12 runs, and hit 5 homers. Ortiz and Manny hit 2 homeruns each, and Nixon was a double shy of the cycle.

The Red Sox desperately needed to win this game, and to win an easy one. New York has been rolling, we have been struggling. Now we have to build on this offensive explosion as well as the solid start by Schilling and rack up a few victories.

PATS GET EATEN ALIVE BY PANTHERS

It hadn't happened since December of last season. The Patriots lost. The Patriots lost to an NFC team for the first time since week 4 of the 2003 season against Washington. The Patriots hadn't played that badly since the infamous 31-0 defeat in Buffalo of that same season.

The defense was sporadic at best and the offense was flatter than Nebraska. The Pats got away with it against Oakland in Gillette, but unlike Oakland, the Panthers are a solid, well-balanced team.

The Patriots started off the game by moving back 5 yards thanks to one of many false start penalties. An incomplete pass, a 3 yard run, and another incomplete pass were followed by a punt. The Panthers moved the ball close to midfield and punted putting the Pats back to the 12 yard line. Right then and there, I was worried. The Patriots gameplan is that even if they don't score, they at least move the ball to give the D a rest and to gain an edge in field position. But now, Carolina had the field position advantage.

Once again, the Patriots began the drive with a false start penalty. Thanks to a 15 yard pass to Branch and a defensive holding penalty, the Pats were able to move the ball forward, advancing as far as the 36 yard line. Miller's punt was fielded by the Panthers at their 12, but Smith was able to return it 21 yards to the 33.

The Pats were getting good pressure on Dellhome. This was a key thing because when Dellhome gets pressured, he makes stupid plays. Remember in the Super Bowl two years ago, all of his "great" plays were pretty much jump balls downfield. Dellhome threw to Colbert three times in a row. The first two were incomplete. The third was picked by Starks near midfield. It couldv'e been a huge moment in the game except for the fact that Roosevelt Colvin was penalized for illegal hands to the face, so Carolina got the ball back, and an automatic 1st down. The Panthers once again moved the ball close to midfield, and once again, they punted.

The Patriots started on their 20 after the touchback. Brady hit Brown for 7 yards, and then hit Brown for 71 yards. Brown got most of the yardage after the catch. 1st and Goal on the 1 and Brady hit a wide open Daniel Graham for a touchdown.

The Patriots were on top, but it wasn't in normal Patriot fashion. They didn't grind the ball down the field with short passes and runs. They found a seem and Brown exploited it for a big play, and that was pretty much the entire scoring drive.

The Patriots fell to the same type of drive. The Panthers had a 23 yard pass and a 41 yard pass to set up a Stephen Davis TD run to tie the score.

The Patriots answered with a drive that consisted of a 4 yard run, a run for no gain, and an incomplete pass intended for Faulk. The Panthers drove into Patriot territory before punting, and pinning the Patriots at the 13.

The Patriots started their drive looking good. It was their first really good, consistent drive. Brady hit Givens for a 15 yard gain. Dillon ran for 2. Brady to Givens for 13. Brady to Dwight for 24 and then 9. On 2nd and short at the Carolina 23, Dillon ran for no gain, but the Pats were pushed back thanks to a Dan Klecko holding penalty. On the next play, Brady throws a pick. It looked as if the Pats were at least going to get 3 out of the drive and maybe more, but Brady returned to being inconsistent at the end of the drive.

Colvin began the defensive series with a sack of Dellhome and an 8 yard loss. The Panthers got 16 on the next play though. They then moved the ball to the 33 and hit a 51 yard field goal to get the lead.

The Patriots responded with a drive that consisted of a 14 yard run by Dillon and 4 incomplete passes by Brady. The Panthers returned the punt 76 yards all the way to our 13 yard line. A few Stephen Davis runs plus a pass interferance penalty later and the Panthers are up 17-7.

With 1:37 left in the half, the Patriots got the ball back. They really needed to put up a few points just to keep the game close and go into the locker room with a little bit of momentum. Instead, Brady got sacked and the Pats had to run out the clock.

The Panthers began the 2nd half with a mediocre drive that was aided by a Rodney Harrison unnecesary roughness penalty. They put up 3 more points with a 52 yard field goal.

The Patriots responded with a nice drive that sputtered near the end. Brady hit Branch for 4, Dillon ran for 3, and Branch caught another pass for 5 and a 1st down. Then Dillon was stopped for a loss of 3, but Dwight caught an 8 yard pass and Faulk a 22 yarder to the Carolina 33. Dillon ran for 5, then 1, then Brady threw an incomplete. Vinatierri hit a 45 yard field goal to make it a 10 point game.

On the first play of Carolina's next drive, Mike Vrabel picked off Dellhome and took it to the house to make it a 3 point game. At this point, I thought we were going to win the game. I was wrong.

The Panthers got the ball back but were stopped at their 40 by the defense. The Patriots got the ball back, then got a 1st down up to the 38. Then Hochstein false started for what seemed like the 14th time of the game. Brady threw a pair of incomplete passes. On 3rd and 15, Brady was sacked and lost the ball. Julius Peppers picked it up and ran 10 yards before being taken down at the 12. Another Stephen Davis Touchdown and the Panthers were up by 10 again.

The Patriots next drive was very indicative of how they played the entire game. On the first play, Dillon got called for a hold. Before the next play, Daniel Graham got called for a false start. On 1st and 25 on the 18, Brady hit Branch for only 5. 2nd and 20, again Branch, and again only 5. 3rd and 15, Brady misses Watson. Miller punted and it only went 27 yards. Carolina started at their 45.

Although Carolina only moved the ball 1 yard on their 3 and out drive, they were able to pin the Pats at their 3 yard line. Graham once again had a false start making the situation even worse. From the 2, Brady hit Givens for 6 after an incomplete pass. Miller was able to make a good punt though but the Patriots were wasting time and were on the wrong end of the field position struggle.

The Panthers once again went 3 and out. The Patriots defense was finally showing up. But the offense couldn't muster anything. Time was running out. The Pats went 3 and out. There was less than 7 minutes on the clock in the 4th. The Panthers had a 1st down in their next drive but were only able to get up to the 30.

With less than 4 minutes left, the Patriots got the ball back on their 19. Brady hit Branch for 17. After an incomplete, he threw to Givens for 19. After another incomplete, Brady hit Faulk for 1. On 3rd down, Ricky Manning was called for defensive holding giving the Pats a huge 1st down. Brady threw incomplete to Branch. On 2nd and 10 in Carolina territory, he hit Watson for 7. Then Watson fumbled the ball. Carolina recovered at the 29. The game was effectively over.

With 2:17 left, the Panthers ran the ball, got a 1st down, then kneeled to end the game.

With full credit to the Panthers, the Patriots lost because they shot themselves in the foot. Brady had 23 compeltions and 21 incompletions. He's better than that. Dillon ran for an average of 2.6 yards a rush. He's better than that. The Patriots had 12 penalties for 86 yards, had a crappy punt, a crappy punt coverage, turned the ball over 3 times, had no kickoff or punt return game whatsoever, and dropped the ball too many times. They didn't look like champs, they looked like chumps.

It doesn't get any easier. The Patriots have to go to Pittsburgh to play the North Division Champion Steelers. Then they're home to the West Division Champion Chargers. Then on the road in Atlanta and Denver. It might just be the beginning of the season and the team needs time to gel with no Croenell, and no Weiss, no Bruschi and no Johnson. Or it may be that this team has some serious problems.

FIGHTING BACK

If you look at the scores of these two games, coming to the conclusion that these two teams are exactly the same might seem impossible. However, that's exactly what I think. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are the same team. Alot of great hitters combined with alot of mediocre pitchers. When the two teams meet, the team that screws up less and rises to the occasion more, will win. The fact that in the past 3 seasons, the Red Sox are winning the series between the two by one game speaks volumes to the similarity of these teams.

Friday was the Red Sox turn to play like crap. Saturday, the Yankees gave it a shot. They couldn't get outs, they played terrible defense, and they couldn't hit. Meanwhile, the Red Sox, Curt Schilling really, pitched well, and capitalized on Yankee mistakes. The end result was a 9-2 victory.

Boston College beat Army 44-7 on Chestnut Hill. After this win and beating BYU. The cupcakes on the schedule are no more though. BC hosts #11 Florida State, who beat Miami last week (we haven't beaten Miami since Flutie did it in '84), next Saturday in their first ever ACC conference game. Then they're on the road at #25 Clemson. BC has a total of 4 ranked teams on their schedule right now. Thankfully though, only two are on the road.

Wakefield faces Randy Johnson tomorrow afternoon at The Stadium. If we win this game, we'll have a 5 game lead with 21 games left and 3 head-to-head games left with the Yankees. Five games is somewhat comfortable, 3 isn't.

HARDCORE ANALYSIS

I'm gonna start with the Patriots game so my aggravation over the 8-4 loss to the Yankees can subside just a little bit.

The Patriots began their title fourth title defense and the third in a row by playing like the worst team in the league. The Raiders moved the ball with an ease I haven't seen anyone move it against us in years. Seven plays, 72 yards, just over 3 minutes. Two medium yardage plays followed by a pair of 29 and a 28 yard passes. Then the Raiders got in with a short pass.

The Patriots responded with a slightly unimpressive 60 yard, field goal scoring drive. Most of the plays were relative failures but a few big plays on 3rd downs (specifically to Ben Watson) kept the ball moving into field goal range. Halfway through the 1st quarter, and the Champions were down 7-3.

At this point, the Raiders appeared to be the better team on the field. However, their reign as rulers of Gillette Stadium was over after this drive. The defense came out and stopped them. Oakland would eventually regain the lead after the Patriots went up 10-7, but they never looked as impressive as they did in the first eighth of the game.

After trying a deep passing and up the middle strategy on their first drive, the Patriots went with more plays like the passes to Watson. Mid-ranged pass plays to receivers in the open field. They combined this with misdirection plays, play action, and some clever screens. The Raiders defense lacked the patience and discipline to survive the misdirection plays, and their coverage was laughable. Furthermore, they rarely pressured Brady giving him all day to look for weaknesses in their coverage zone.

Starting on their own 32, Brady hit Branch for 29, crossing into Oakland territory. Brady then went to good ole Troy Brown for 20 more yards. After a false start, Brady hit Branch for 10 yards to the Oakland 10. The Pats went back to the run game but it resulted in a loss. Brady, out of the gun, hit Branch for an 18 yard Touchdown. 10-7 with 2:05 left in the 1st.

Lamont Jordan drove down the field in response with 10 other Raiders on his back. Oakland got to the Pats' 25 yard line, tried a Field Goal, and missed it. The Pats sputtered and moved the ball only 7 yards on their next drive. The Raiders had the ball on their 27. Collins threw a homerun ball to Moss, being covered one-on-one by Poole with Harrison giving support way up top. Unfortunately, Poole got too aggressive and tried to make the big play at the wrong time. This resulted in a big play for Oakland. A 73 yard TD pass giving them a 14-10 lead.

The Patriots offense returned to its impressive form. Dillon ran twice, one for 8, the other for a loss of 2. On 3rd and 4, in typical Tom Brady fashion, Givens got a 5 yard pass for a 1st down. Once the Pats got rolling on a drive, they were close to unstoppable. The Raiders were penalized for an illegal substitution. On 1st and 5 from just across midfield, Givens caught a 26 yard pass. Brady then hit Graham for 17 more yards. At the 5, Brady threw an incompletion, and then threw to Tim Dwight for the first time for 5 yards and 6 points. The Point After made the score 17-13. The Patriots would not yield the lead again.

The end of the half consisted of three drives that never went anywhere significant. The Raiders were stopped at their 43, the Pats at their 41, then the Raiders at their 22 to end the half.

The Patriots began the second half with a drive that didn't score, but did accomplish alot. The Patriots got to around midfield and then punted. Josh Miller, who has been great in his 20 games as a Patriot, pinned the Raiders at their own 4. The Raiders then went three and out. The Patriots started the next drive on their 40. Even though they only advanced the ball 7 yards, Miller was able to once again pin Oakland at their own 4. The Raiders once again went 3 and out.

The Patriots started at the Oakland 40. They got to the 31, on the edge of field goal range. On 4th and short, they went for it and got stuffed. Even though they gave the Raiders the ball, they didn't give them great field position. Collins was hit while throwing, the ball popped out, and Vince Wilfork had the wherewithall and ability to grab the ball. The Patriots got the ball on the Oakland 20.

Incomplete pass to Branch, 12 yard completion to Branch, 8 yard run by Dillon. Touchdown. After the blocked extra-point, it was 23-14.

The Raiders started at their 11. They compiled 3 yards in 3 plays and punted. The Pats went 3 and out, but took some time off the clock. They probably should have taken more time off and tried better to get a few 1st downs. They were still able to keep the Raiders from getting great field position.

The Raiders started their last drive of the 3rd quarter with a few scary plays. Crockett went around the end for 19. He then got 7 more to bring the ball near mid-field. But there was a flag. Offensive holding. No-one knew it, but this was the dying gasp of the Raiders. They appeared to rebound with a 6 yard completion to Moss. Those yards were taken back by Mike Vrabel when he sacked Kerry Collins. Collins had often been under pressure but had mostly been able to get rid of the ball before being taken down. Actually, he usually grounded it intentionally but wasn't called for it. After an incomplete pass, the Raiders were forced to punt.

The 4th quarter began with the Patriots up 23-14, in posession of the ball, and being in a 2nd and 6 situation on their 30. The Pats were able to take another minute off the clock and move the ball a few yards before punting. The Raiders were able to drive into Patriots territory, but still had to punt.

With 12:03 left in regulation, the Patriots could seal the game with a long drive, or a score. They got a score. The Pats probably would ahve rather gotten the 84 yards on 10 rushing plays taking up 5:00 of game clock. Instead, they got most of their yardage off big plays and only ate up 2:34 of clock. But they scored and made it a two touchdown, two 2 point conversion.

The Raiders drove again, but were stopped again and forced to punt again. The Pats took up about 3 and a half minutes of the clock in a conservative drive then made a major mistake allowing Oakland to block a punt. The Raiders offense had typically been able to begin their drives very nicely only to see them stall as they drove down the field. After the blocked punt, they had a very short field to work with. They moved the ball 21 yards and into the end zone. The 2 point conversion attempt failed with Randy Moss committing an unecesary PI penalty.

Janikowski missed a field goal earlier and he screwed up once again by kicking the onside attempt out of bounds. Dillon was able to rush for a 1st down, the Pats downed the ball a few times, and Game 1 was over.

The Patriots won 30-20, but the game wasn't that close. The Pats held a stellar offense to only 20 points, which was impressive. But the Patriots offense, with guys like Brady, Dillon, Branch, Graham, Brown, et cetera, was only able to put up 30 points against a terrible defense. Seven of these points were on a drive that was only 21 yards long thanks to a turnover forced by the defense.

For most of the game, the Patriots played New England Patriots football. They did the field position thing, exploited the Raiders weaknesses, and capitalized on mistakes. But the Patriots also had a few lapses in concentration. The very first drive of the game was very poor on the part of New England. The 73 yard TD pass to Moss shouldn't have happened if Poole, who was essentially on an island against Moss, had played more conservatively. The blocked punt and the blocked extra point are frighteningly similar incidents. Maybe its just a coincidence or maybe the kinks will be worked out in the long week between now and playing Carolina, but the special teams cannot be allowing blocks. It would screw up our entire strategy of field position and kicking field goal if we can't get into the end zone.

RED SOX CAN'T KNOCK DOWN YANKEES

What's worse than the Yankees beating the Red Sox? Listening to it on Yankee radio with Yankee Information Minister John Sterling. Every time the Yankees hit the ball, whether they hit it fair or foul, soft or hard, on the ground, or in the air, his voice would reach a very excited pitch. The fact that Jeter got more credit for the Matsui-Jeter-Posada throw out of Varitek at home speaks volumes. Granted, it was a quality relay. But Matsui made the initial throw, and Posada was able to hold on despite being knocked on his ass by Tek. And the stupid nicknames Sterling had for every player were sickening. He's the same guy who desecrated the memory of Babe Ruth by calling the steroid popping first baseman Giambino. Pretty soon he'll be calling Mike Mussina the Iron Moose, or maybe the Yankee Dipper (he does that little dip before delivering the ball).

Enough about Sterling. Let's look at how many times the Red Sox F*cked up. That's why we lost this game. We got 11 hits, but scored only 4 runs. We made 4 errors.

The Red Sox got a few "gift" hits to begin the game. They were balls that weren't hit hard but were hit in just the right spot. Sterling went on and on about these hits even in the 8th inning of the game. Anyway, Damon dropped a blooper in front of Lawton. Renteria struck out, followed by Ortiz being fooled on some up and in pitches. Manny hit a 2 out infield single. Nixon was unable to capitalize and hit a foul out.

Jeter and Bernie began the Yankees offensive attack with a pair of groundouts. A-Rod legged out a 2 out double. With a slight shift on, Giambi hit a ground ball into what would normally be a gap. Graffanino was positioned perfectly, but he played too quickly. He didn't take his time to set and throw out Giambi at 1st. Instead, he threw wildly allowing A-Rod to score and Giambi to get to 2nd. The error by Graffanino allowed a run to score, made Wells throw 6 extra pitches, and allowed the Yankees to go through their lineup faster.

The Red Sox appeared to have something going in the 2nd. Varitek hit a broken bat infield single to third. After Millar popped out, Bill Mueller hit a ball squarely into right field. After the basehit, Graffanino hit one to left. It wasn't able to score Varitek because it was hit so hardly, right to Matsui who was able to get it back into the infield very quickly. Damon hit a SAC Fly to score Tek and tie the game. Renteria doubled and a Lawton miscue allowed 2 runs to score on the play. Ortiz wasn't able to continue the rally as he grounded out to short.

The Yankees answered in the bottom of the 2nd with a Posada homerun on an 0-2 pitch followed by three straight groundouts.

The Red Sox appeared to continue their rally. After Manny grounded out, and Trot struck out, Varitek worked a 2 out walk with a very good at-bat. Millar did something productive apart from making T-shirts and hit a double to left. Svuem sent Varitek and thanks to a good throw by Matsui, a good relay by Jeter, and some strength from Posada, Varitek was thrown out. I thought it was somewhat silly to send him considering that you would have 2 in scoring position. Also, throw outs at home are huge momentum changers. It's weird how the Red Sox play such conservative base running, hoping for the big inning, except when it comes to the 90 feet in between third and home. Perhaps this aspect of our strategy should be more consistent with our base running in between the other bases.

The Yankees hit another solo HR in the 3rd, this time by Alex Rodriguez. In the 4th the Red Sox went down in order and with only 6 pitches needed by Small. Previously, Small had been made to work a little bit. But now the Red Sox were going to let him cruise for a bit.

The Yankees claimed the lead with a 2 out RBI single by Jeter into center field. The Red Sox answered in the top of the 5th with 2 pop-outs and a hard line out by Manny. 7 pitches for Small in the 5th. In the bottom of the 5th, Wells was able to hold New York to 0 runs for the first inning all game.

In the 6th, the Red Sox had a bit of a rally but it came to nothing. After Nixon grounded out, and Varitek flew out, Millar was hit by a pitch. Mueller then singled to left. With 2 on and 2 out, Graffanino hit a hard liner, but it was right at Matsui who made the play to end the inning.

The bottom of the 6th was one of the worst innings of baseball you could ever see. Sierra lined out to begin the inning. Posada then hit a relatively hard hit ball down the line towards first. Millar did a good job to stop it, but then he fumbled around with the ball and his throw was unable to eliminate Posada at first. It should have been no-one on with 2 outs. Instead it was 1 on with 1 out. Cano hit a single to center. Posada had to initially stop at 2nd. Then, Damon booted the ball. Posada advanced to 3rd and Cano to 2nd. Then Posada tried to score. He would have been thrown out at the plate if not for a TERRIBLE attempt of throwing made by Renteria. Posada was able to score easily, and Cano moved to 3rd. Instead of 1 on with 2 outs, it was 1 on with 1 out and 1 run in. Wells got Lawton, whose been atrocious with New York, to groundout. He was then pulled for Chad Bradford.

Jeter worked a walk off Bradford. Bernie, hitting from the left, hit a single to score Cano and move Jeter to 3rd. A-Rod hit a single to knock in Jeter and move Bernie to 2nd. Bradford was brought in to pitch to Jeter, Bernie, and A-Rod. He gave up a walk, and two singles to these three guys.

Myers was brought in to face the lefty Giambi. This despite Giambi's 4 for 9 career numbers against Myers. Giambi improved that impressive total to 5 for 10 with an RBI single to center. Myers then got Matsui to hit a deep fly out to finally end the inning.

Poor defense by Millar, Damon, Renteria combined with poor pitching by Wells, Bradford, and Myers, and some good hitting by the Yankes resulted in a 4 run inning that completely altered the dynamics of the game.

The Red Sox were able to create an opportunity for themselves in the 7th and 8th, but weren't able to get more thana run out of it. We lost because we played like crap, plain and simple. If we lose the enxt 2, the race becomes painfully close. It's too close as it is.