Daily Archives: September 17, 2003

Greg Maddux failed in his second attempt to win his 15th game of the season last night. Javy Lopez caught Maddux for the first time since Christ was a Cowboy, and the Maddog left with a three run lead. But Atlanta’s bullpen coughed up both the lead and the game. David Pinto has several good posts regarding Maddux over at Baseball Musings for those of you who are interested.

I struggled to keep my eyes open last night as I watched HBO’s “Curse of the Bambino” documentary. And believe me, it was a struggle. The hour-long show was a bit better than the Yankeeography slop that the YES network churns out regularly, but it was far from memorable. Judging by his performance as the show’s narrator, it appears as if Ben Affleck had a hard time staying awake too. Affleck comes off like a rank amatuer, and is ill-suited for the job at hand.

The show is essentially a slight, self-aggrandizing tribute to Red Sox Nation. Thanks primarily to historian Glenn Stout, there is more balance and attention to accuracy than can be found on any Yankeeography. But overall, the show was unfocused and trite, rehashing familiar moments. Perhaps, if you are a Sox fan, the show was oddly gratifying. I found it a bore, which is a shame, because the Sox are such a rich subject.

If you are a Chicago fan, I’m sure you are thinking, “Cry me a river, fellas.” Of course, the highlight of the piece was getting to see Edward Cossette’s fat head. Edward had several quotes that made the cut, and my only complaint is that there wasn’t even more of him.

Ben Jacobs has another nifty analysis over at Universal Baseball Blog, Inc. This time, he compares the freak Alfonso Soriano with the super freak Vlad Guerrero. Larry Mahnken gives his take on ‘Lil Sori too. Good stuff, men.

Rocket Clemens pitched seven innings and allowed two earned runs, which was good enough to notch the 308th win of his career. Derek Jeter had two hits, Godziller collected 3 RBI, and the Yanks beat the O’s again, this time by the score of 6-3. The Yankees’ number for clincing the division is down to seven games.

In Boston, Pedro Martinez pitched a complete game, and the Sox edged the D Rays, 3-2. The Red Sox are now 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners, who lost to Texas. Alex Rodriguez smacked his 44th home run of the year; Rob Neyer thinks it’s time for us to stop worrying and love the bomb—give the man the MVP already. Here, here.

This is not a good time to be a Mariners fan.