Monthly Archives: September 2003

Greg Maddux will try and win his 15th game of the season tonight against the Phillies. If he is successful, Maddux will break Cy Young’s 98-year old record of consecutive seasons with 15 or more wins, with 16. I’ve been rooting for him to get the record all year, but haven’t mentioned it, cause I didn’t want to put the whammy on him or nothing.

Maddux isn’t talking too much about it either, but the rest of the Braves are:

Leo Mazzone (pitching coach): “It’s a standard of consistency that will never be matched again…”I’ll say it. I want him to get it real bad. He’s meant too much to all of us, on the field and in the clubhouse. He’s been a great influence on the other pitchers. We won’t see the likes of him come by again.”

Don Sutton (announcer): “He could have slammed his hand in the car door. He could have slipped on a flake of cereal his kid left on the kitchen floor. There could have been a player’s strike, and there was. So many things have to go your way. Not only do you have to be good, but you have to be blessed with good fortune.”

John Smoltz (Braves closer): “Absolutely, he wants it. He’ll make it seem like he’s oblivious. Last year he struggled, too. He wanted it. There are certain things you can downplay and certain things you can’t.”

He’s got four more starts left in the season. Good luck Maddog.

Two years ago today the Twin Towers fell. It is a beautiful morning in New York today, clear blue skies with a distinct autumn chill in the air. This is almost exactly the same weather we had two years ago. I heard several conversations on the subway this morning about 9.11. People sharing where they were, and what they saw. I don’t want to think back on it, and re-open those wounds.

But it is meaningful to remember the lives that were lost on that day. It is 8:00 a.m now. In an hour, there will be a moment of silence around town. I will be at Yankee Stadium tonight. I’m sure I’ll get the chills during the seventh inning stretch.

King Kaufman has an interesting article on the derth of football blogs today at Salon.com. Both Edward Cossette and I were quoted in the piece. To be honest, I don’t read much about football, so I don’t know exactly why it hasn’t caught on in the blogging world.

My guess is that most football writing centers around front office and locker room gossip. But that wouldn’t make it much different from any other sport really. Statistics are not the lifeblood of football like they are in baseball.

“In football, statistics are a lot simpler, and mean less, because the situations are a lot more widely varied,” says Sean Smith, whose Purgatory Online blog is about the Angels. What he means is that while baseball is built on a straightforward batter vs. pitcher competition, everything that happens on a football field is dependent on the performance of teammates and opponents. “Compared to football, it’s easier to figure out which [baseball] statistics are meaningful,” Smith says.

Considering how popular statistical analysis is in baseball, it’s confusing why football hasn’t attracted a similar audience. Kaufman opines:

Football, aside from being massively popular, seems ideal for the blogosphere. It’s highly technical and complicated, yet it can also be followed and understood on a “Did you see that hit?!” level. It seems to me that brainy programmer types can appreciate the intricacies of strategy, blocking schemes, zone coverage and quarterback checkdowns at the same time that the, shall we say, less complicated among us can appreciate the game on a more foam-finger-in-the-air level.

The problem with football is that you only have games once a week. What are you going to write about: practice?

The Yankees and Tigers played a game that felt like it was staged by Mack Sennett last night at the Stadium. There were eight errors, three each by first basemen Nick Johnson and Carlos Pena. But if the state of affairs was ugly, it was also amusing for Yankee fans, as they bombed Detroit 15-5.

Johnson made up for his fielding nightmare by scoring four runs. Godzilla hit a homer, and had three RBI; he now leads the team with 99 (Giambi, who was hit by a full-count pitch with the bases loaded, has 96). Aaron Boone hit his first homer at the Stadium and Jorge Posada had seven RBI (89), including a salt-in-the-wounds grand slam in the eighth inning.

The Tigers followed Jorge’s 28th homer with three more errors. Oy.

The Yankees lead remains at 3 1/2 over Boston, who shut out the Orioles yesterday, 5-0. Prince Pedro Martinez pitched eight commanding innings, allowed three hits, walked two, and whiffed nine. Both Oakland and Seattle won too, so there was no change in the playoff standings.

Jayson Stark is the latest writer who thinks this will in fact be Boston’s year:

“If I had to pick one team, I’d pick them,” says one GM. “And the only reason is, I think Pedro (Martinez), (Derek) Lowe and (Tim) Wakefield give them a chance to get the game to the seventh inning. Which is what they need, because their bullpen scares the hell out of me. But they’ve got the best offense in baseball, which makes them the least likely team to get shut down by good pitching.”

Stark adds:

We’re going to pick the best story: Cubs vs. Red Sox. Why the Cubs? Because Prior and Zambrano are a combined 14-1, 1.40 since the break, and if Kerry Wood is your third-best starter, nobody can top that. Why the Red Sox? Because this is baseball’s best lineup since the ’95 Indians — and they can run Pedro out there twice in a short series.

Now if those two teams really played in a World Series, it would be reasonable to wonder if anybody would win. But our first prediction is: Somebody would. Our second prediction is: That team would be the Red Sox, because they’re better-balanced. And our third prediction is: The party in New England wouldn’t end till Opening Day.

There are several good articles out there which may be of interest to you, so without mincing words, here they are:

1. My good pal, a label-mate Christian Ruzich has a piece on Baseball Prospectus about playoff tiebreakers. Don’t miss this one. Great job as always, Ruz.

2. Peter Gammons has two good articles this week:

Watching the Angels outhit the Yankees, Twins and Giants last season, and watching what magnificent offensive teams like the Braves, Cardinals, Red Sox and Yankees do to opposing pitchers, has raised another criticism — that pitching is simply dreadful. Two American League general managers think that’s not the case. “I actually think there’s a lot of really good young pitching coming along today in both leagues, a new cycle,” Oakland’s Billy Beane said. “The problem is that hitters have improved so much the pitching numbers don’t show it.”

“I would agree that there’s not enough pitching,” Kansas City’s Allard Baird said, “but there isn’t enough good pitching to contain all the improvements in offense throughout the game. Twenty years ago, the theory on hitting was to be aggressive, swing the bat and that it couldn’t be taught. That’s completely changed.

“Hitting is being taught today, better than ever before,” Baird said. “Watch the approaches many hitters take today. They’re taught to go deep in the count, to get the pitch they can handle, and more and more hitters have learned to not be afraid to hit with two out. The game is so much more aware of on-base percentage than years ago, it isn’t funny. Look how well so many hitters can take the ball out over the plate and put it in play hard. Hitters now have video, they are schooled in pitch recognition and visual training, they are bigger and stronger and able to manipulate the bat better than ever. The bats are better, lighter, better-balanced, specifically made for individual hitters.”

3. Steven Goldman is back with another installment of The Pinstriped Bible. Goldman’s column is a must for Yankee fans:

Call me a party-pooper, but it seems obvious that no matter what the outcome to this season the real excitement is going to take place this winter. This kind of thinking doesn’t enter into the all-bottom-line-all-the-time Yankees organization groupthink, but 2003 already qualifies as a success. Any team that has to do without Derek Jeter, Nick Johnson, and Bernie Williams (or the local equivalents thereof) and still has a strong shot at 100 wins and a playoff spot has had a tremendous year. With three .400 on-base percentages out of the lineup, well, the Titanic was more likely to keep floating.

There should be a lesson in here for offense-builders who still aren’t buying into what is now the Yankees/A’s/Blue Jays/Red Sox philosophy of working the pitcher for walks and high pitch counts: Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams, even though they are way off their usual games, are still on-base machines. The same was true of Robin Ventura while he was here. Even when they aren’t stinging the ball, these players still take pitches, pushing the starting pitcher towards an early exit even if they do not reach base.

…The Yankees will make the playoffs, and once that happens there is every chance that they can win another championship. It seems though, that the real suspense will come over the winter. This promises to be the most unsettled cold and flu season in recent Yankees history.

4. I enjoyed Ken Rosenthal’s take on the Manny Ramirez controversy (remember that?):

“Cowboy up” is the team’s new motto, and if Ramirez won’t fulfill that pledge, the Red Sox have enough tough-minded grunts who will. Heck, even manager Grady Little strapped on his boots last week, benching Ramirez for one game after the ailing slugger failed to show for a doctor’s appointment one day and refused to pinch hit the next.

Little’s unspoken message — Manny will play when I say he’s ready to play — was a turning point both for the franchise and the manager’s own credibility. Ramirez’s unprofessional conduct united the Red Sox as never before. If the Sox reach the postseason, his infamous sore throat should be considered the MVP — Most Valuable Pharyngitis.

5. Speaking of the Sox, Aaron Gleeman provides a link to the now infamous Kevin Millar/Bruce Springsteen video tribute. Worth a look for a cheap laugh.

6. Jon Weisman writes a good recap of last night’s impressive Dodger victory over The Big Unit and the D-Backs.

7. And Ed Cossette has another terrific, literary-minded post today over at Bambino’s Curse.

8. The Baseball Crank offers a cool piece on the 1928 clash between the Philly A’s and the Bronx Bombers.

9. Jay Jaffe, who is always on point, comes through as usual, with his report on Monday’s game at the Stadium.

10. And finally, Irina Paley, a native of Washington Heights, has a new Yankee-based blog. Best of luck Irina. Welcome to the club.

The Yankees didn’t exactly break out a can of whup ass on the lowly Tigers last night. Instead, they struggled to earn a 4-2 victory. According to The New York Times:

“This is not like other sports like football or basketball where, salary-wise or talent-wise, you might have a lot better team and can just go out and muscle people,” said the Yankees’ manager, Joe Torre. “You just can’t do that in this game.”

But never mind how frustrating the game was to watch, they got the win and that’s all that counts. Jose Contreras started off brilliantly, but fell apart after he tweaked his ankle fielding a grounder. The bullpen did a fine job, and Mariano Rivera survived a ninth inning error and a long foul ball to earn the save.

Bernie Williams delivered the game-winning single, and Godzilla Matsui made a nifty shoe-string catch in death valley. Jason Giambi was given the night off.

The Red Sox beat the Orioles, 9-2 and continue to trail New York by 3 1/2 games. But they gained a game on the Mariners in the wildcard race, as Seattle fell to the Rangers in extra-innings.

Larry Mahnken has been doing an impressive job covering the Yanks this season. He has a good critical eye and he’s a passionate screwjob too. It’s been fun to read his column and watch how he tries to balance his emotions vs. his intellect.

Think the Yankees series against the Tigers is critical? Mahnken does:

If there ever was a team this season that needed a three game series at home against the Detroit Tigers, it’s the Yankees right now.

And if there ever was a team this season that you felt nervous about going into a three game series against the Detroit Tigers, it’s the Yankees right now.

…The Red Sox got back into the race on merit, by playing .800 ball against great teams for two weeks. But if they finish the comeback and overtake the Yankees for the AL East title, it’ll be because the Yankees gave it to them. There are only three games left on the schedule against a team that offers a serious challenge to the Yankees, and that’s not until the very end of the season, where hopefully it won’t matter. The Red Sox are good, but they’re not so good that they can expect to keep winning 80% of their games against even the weakest competition. If the Yankees win 2/3 of their games like they should expect to, it would take a miracle for Boston to win the division–a miracle that seems even more unlikely after last night’s collapse. But if it were to happen that way, I don’t think you can blame the Yankees for blowing the East (they’d be in the playoffs anyway), you’d have to give the Sox the credit they deserve.

But I don’t want to give the Sox any credit, and I don’t want to give them any chances. The Yanks have to win these games.

Edward Cossette, author of the fine Red Sox blog, Bambino’s Curse has an especially good post today. Ed and I are kindred spirits. Even though he’s a stinkin’ Sox fan and I root for the lousy Yankees, we share similar sensibilities about art, music, and literature, which of course, effects how we write about baseball.

Today Ed writes about the literary tendecies of Red Sox Nation (check out the linked articles by Simmons and Boswell too):

I’d love to teach a survey course called “English 1918: The Red Sox as Tragic Hero.” A sample essay question on the midterm might be: “Which of the following literary characters best exemplifies the Red Sox fan experience. Odysseus from Homer’s The Odyssey; Joe Christmas from Faulkner’s A Light in August; Ned in Cheever’s short story The Swimmer.”

The “Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus would be required reading of course.

I want to offer my bestestest wishes to Mike C at Baseball Rants. His wife had a baby girl last Friday. That’s a beautiful thing.

The Yankees got just what the doctor ordered on Monday as their dormant offense exploded for 16 hits and nine runs in an afternoon game against the Blue Jays. Derek Jeter had three hits, Jason Giambi added a couple of his own (to go with a couple of walks), and Hideki Matsui went 3-5 with 3 RBI on Godzilla bobblehead doll day at the Stadium. Mike Mussina wasn’t in top form, but he was good enough, and the Bombers cruised to a 9-3 win. Nice way to break the tension fellas. Thanks.

Jay Jaffe, the Futility Infielder was at the game, so stop by his site later today for his write-up. While you are at it, check out Jay’s piece about Sunday’s game, and his celebrity sighting of note.

The Red Sox offense didn’t skip a beat either, pounding out ten runs of their own against the O’s. But their pitching and defense let them down in a rather royal way and Baltimore escaped with a 13-10 win. B.Y Kim took the loss, and there were a couple of crucial calls that went against the Sox too.

The Yankee lead in the AL East is 3 1/2 games (4 in the loss column). Jose Contreras will start against the Tigers in the Bronx this evening.

The Red Sox rolled into the Bronx this weekend and smacked the Yankees all about the mouth and face on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Pedro Martinez was back in good form on Friday as the Sox bulldozed the Yanks, 9-3. Andy Pettitte gave up a lot of hits, but I didn’t get the sense that he was creamed; it just wasn’t his night.

Things got worse on Saturday when Boston gave Rocket Clemens and the Yanks pitching an 11-0 beating. With memories of The Boston Massacre in the air, the Sox were poised to return the favor.

But Boomer Wells pitched arguably the biggest game of the season for New York on Sunday afternoon, and he responded in typical fashion, throwing 7.1 innings of shut out ball. Jeff Suppan matched Wells, and pitched a terrific game too. (Whaaat?!?!) The Yankees didn’t hit a ball well against him until Bernie Williams connected for a two-run homer in the seventh.

Derek Jeter made a surprise start on Sunday, indicating just how desperate the Yankees were for a win; he collected a single, stole a base, and then made a crucial one-out error on a Johnny Damon grounder in the eighth. It led to Boston’s lone run of the day, which came on Manny Ramirez’s bloop single to right.

Alfonso Soriano returned the favor in the bottom of the inning with a bloop double of his own. After stealing third base—and almost sending me into cardiac arrest in the process—Nick Johnson singled him home. Mariano Rivera, who replaced Wells with one out in the eighth, allowed a single in the ninth, but that was all, and the Yanks won, 3-1.

The Yankees win the season series against the Sox, 10-9, giving them the tie-breaker should the teams finish tied for first to end the year. The Bombers’ lead is 2 1/2 games (three in the loss column). Massacre averted.

Still, that didn’t stop Boss George from blowing his horn. If you are interested in that sort of thing, pull up your boots, cause the horseshit was thick and deep.

I was at the ballpark yesterday, sitting somewhere in upstate New York, along the left field side. It was a gorgeous day in the Bronx, sunny and clear, with a slight fall chill in the air. You could cut the tension with a knife. There was a nervous edge to the roar of the Yankee crowd. Every play they made felt like it was the seventh game of the World Series.

There were more Yankee fans than Red Sox fans, but not by much. And believe me, the Nation was vocal. That was cool. When they cheered for their guys when Bob Shepard announced the starting line ups, that was cool. But when they booed the Yankees line up, I started fuming.

The battle of the chants went back and forth all day long. It usually started with a Red Sox rally cry, which would quickly become so strong, that the Yankee fans then felt compelled to drown it out with boos and chants of their own. The most popular word of the day was “sucks,” proving that when it comes to creative thinking, there isn’t much that separates Sox and Yankee fans at all.

I went the game with my friend, Johnny Red Sox, and we had Sox fans behind us and in front of us as well. At one point in the middle innings, with the Sox rallying, a middle-aged Sox fan said to me, “Hey, you are pretty quiet down there.” I looked up from my scorecard incredulously.

“Well, there isn’t much for me to make any noise about is there?”

“No, there isn’t.”

And your point is? Well, I kept quiet. But as I passed this guy on our way out, I couldn’t resist taking the low road.

“Hey, you are pretty quiet up there.”

He laughed. I wished his team good luck, and declined suggesting that he take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.

The Yanks host the Blue Jays this afternoon at the Stadium for a make-up game. Kelvim Escobar starts against Mike Mussina. The Red Sox are in Baltimore tonight. The Orioles and Devil Rays had a good time spoiling things for the A’s and M’s over the weekend; they could be give both Boston and New York some trouble in the next three weeks.

Yankee reliever Chris Hammond tells the Post that New Yorkers aren’t the easiest people to please. Hey, no kidding fella. Hammond said he doesn’t enjoy pitching in the Bronx even a little bit:

“Just because the fans don’t give you any room for error,” Hammond said. “That’s helped me because all my bad games have come on the road. My goal the first couple of weeks was not to get booed off the mound. Some guys like playing in Yankee Stadium and some don’t.

…”Antonio’s ERA was one-something and he gave up a homer and was booed off the field,” Hammond said. “That was the first time I saw what kind of fans they were. That helps me pitch there but I don’t like to pitch there. I like to be comfortable pitching with the fans behind me.”

I can’t kill Hammond here. Sure, he sounds a bit naive, but what he’s saying is essentially true: from Mickey Mantle and Jason Giambi down to Bobby Meachum and Antonio Osuna, New Yorkers are not shy about booing until they are blue in the face (or until you give our spoiled, demanding asses something to cheer about).

The Yankees lost on Wednesday, while the Red Sox nipped Chicago in extra innings. But the Yanks bounced back last night to avoid a sweep in Toronto; Boston had the night off, and the Yankees’ lead now stands at 3 1/2 games (four in the loss column). No matter what happens in the Bronx this weekend, the Bombers will remain in first place.

But there is a feeling that the Yanks are increasingly vunerable while the Sox are surging. Internal controversy has engulfed both teams of late; the Red Sox have done a better job of shrugging it off, and not letting it bother their performance. Don’t believe me? At least the Sox sound convincing:

“It’s been a relentless attitude,” Jason Varitek said. “It’s just something we developed into. Nobody has panicked. Different people have had to contribute, and it’s special when that many people can help.”

“I think we’ve had a very good rapport with everyone the whole season,” said Wednesday night starter Derek Lowe.

“But in the last two weeks, there have been things going on, things that people love to stir up and see cause some controversy. But we know that the only way to win is to stick together and we’ve had that mentality all year. The thing that I like about this team is that we don’t let anything affect us. It’s a great trait for a team to have.”

Joe Torre held a meeting before last night’s game. Just the kind of pep-talk that Boss George loves. But Joel Sherman warns today that if the Yankees should collapse in the final weeks of the season, Torre and GM Brian Cashman won’t be around next year.

Pedro Martinez goes against Andy Pettitte tonight; Clemens faces Wakefield tomorrow and Boomer Wells will pitch against Jeff Suppan on Sunday. Look for Pedro to exact a measure of revenge tonight.

Derek Jeter will not play in the series. But Luis Sojo might (cough, cough) after Erick Almonte hurt his leg warming up yesterday.

Emily is finally moving her stuff down to our new place tomorrow. I’ll be helping her out so I won’t be around to blog. But I’ll be back Friday, ready for another heart attack special between the Yanks and Sox this weekend in the BX. The Yanks have two more games in Toronto (Mussina pitches against Escobar tonight); the Sox play two more in the Windy City. It should be interesting to see if Boston can pick up any more ground on the Bombers.

How many homers will Ramirez hit in New York this weekend? I’ll be conservative and start with two…

Tom Boswell has a sympathetic piece on Bobby and Barry Bonds in The Washington Post:

Where did Bobby Bonds get the bad rep? Was he too smart, too independent, too pro-union? Did he party too much or, a more likely sin within baseball, speak his mind too often? Don’t ask me. We hit it off. Once, when we were talking, a player tried to push a rubber snake under my stool to make the kid reporter jump. Bonds tipped me off and we turned the joke around with me stomping the snake. That was Bobby Bonds to me.

How Bobby got on the wrong side of the baseball establishment long ago is ancient history now. What’s pertinent is the impact on a son when a father he adores is ushered out of town when he’s 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. How would any son, after that experience, feel toward owners, general managers, managers, coaches, reporters or fans? Would you trust them, consider them fair judges of a person’s character? Would you think they’d taken the trouble to know what made you tick?

Barry Bonds’s supposed split-personality — an obsessed, driven jerk within the game, but an amiable nice-guy to everyone who meets him outside a baseball context — has never seemed mysterious to me. Some players have a chip on their shoulder. Barry carries a grudge. Every time he sets a record, it feels like he’s settling a score.

…These days, we need to ignore everything that Bonds isn’t and focus on what he is. Don’t ask him to be an ambassador for a sport he doesn’t trust. Just appreciate what he is. Only Ruth, whose statistics far surpass Bonds’s, was better. Right now, Barry’s playing with an injured hamstring and can barely run. We’re not guaranteed how long he’ll stay at this level.

Peter Gammons still thinks the Yankees’ core makes them a tough out. He correctly praises Jason Giambi (the anti-Manny) for playing hurt all year (something Shawn Green has done in L.A. as well).

Meanwhile, Joe Torre tells George King that working for George isn’t a bed of roses:

“It hasn’t been fun,” Torre told The Post yesterday. “It’s always difficult, but it hasn’t been fun.”

Why?

“There are too many questions being asked,” Torre said before a long pause. “I am trying to be respectful here. After being here as long as I have [eight years], the fact that I am here as long as I have been here, I think there are certain things that should come with that. That they have been satisfied with my work. You would think that it would get past a certain point where, I don’t want to say not get criticized, but it shouldn’t be as uncomfortable.”

And this is a Post Exclusive. Hard to believe why Lee Sinins loathes the New York press. Oh, brother.

Bartolo Colon pitched a complete-game, two-hitter against the visiting Boston Red Sox last night in Chicago and managed to lose. Two bad both hits were solo homers (Kapler, Nixon). The Red Sox beat the White Sox 2-1 behind a strong outing from old man John Burkett; Boston now trails the Yanks by four games (five in the loss column). Manny Ramirez was benched last night, though he appeared fit to play. Manager Grady Little said:

“He’s available to DH today,” Little said before the game, “but my decision to wait is — I like the way our club has responded the last few days, and we’re trying to win the game. I’m putting the team out there that I think gives us the best chance to win tonight.”

That’s a good one, huh? The Sox front office does not want to suspend Ramirez. According to their GM, Theo Epstein:

“As a front office, we fully support Grady’s decision not to put Manny in the starting lineup tonight,” Epstein said. “Grady’s going with a lineup that gives us the best chance to win as a team, and tonight that does not include Manny, despite his availability to DH.

“Manny’s a big part of this ball club, and we all look forward to getting him back on the field very soon and watching him help this team win some important ballgames. Contrary to some reports, Manny has not been suspended. He’s not in the lineup tonight, and we all support Grady’s decision.”

You think the Red Sox are a better team without Manny? Mmmm. Let’s see if they are still a better team without him when they return to New York this weekend. (Manny will probably respond by crushing the Yanks.)

Ramirez might in fact be unhappy in Boston, but this story won’t hamper the team. The Sox can roll their eyes and offer the usual, “Manny is Manny,” and then sit back enjoy the production he gives them in the middle of the order.

The Yanks needed a spare infielder for the stretch drive, so who else do they call upon, but Uncle Luis Sojo? (Somewhere, Jay Jaffe is smiling.) Sojo actually played in the Old Timer’s Game this year, which begs the question: Is Luis the first player to ever play in an Old Timer’s Game only to be activated as a regular player later in the same season?

Minnie Minoso, eat your heart out.

Labor Day in New York gave rain. It was moving day for me, so go figure. What’s another curve ball? It was a long, emotional day, but I’m all moved in to the new crib; Emily will be moving her stuff in on Thursday. Two more days of limbo, and we’re good to go.

When I discovered that the Yanks got pounded 8-1 by the Jays, I said, “Fine. Today feels like 8-1 anyhow.” Doc Halladay did his thing, and continues to be a leading candidate for the AL Cy Young. Boomer Wells and Jiffy Pop Weaver were beat up but good for the Yanks. Jason Giambi went 0-4 and is now 0 for his last 24, which counts as the worst slide of his career.

The Red Sox won another wild affair to gain a game on New York; Boston now trails by 4 1/2 games. The Sox and Phillies played an interleague make-up game and it was a back-and-forth contest. Drama, anyone? But how are you going to have confidence in the Phillies? Trot Nixon hit a grand slam late and Boston won 13-9.

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez, who missed last weekend’s serious vs. the Yanks, is in the headlines. Apparently, the ailing slugger was spotted in a hotel bar with the Yankees’ futility infielder Enrique Wilson on Saturday night. Oops. Not exactly the kind of move that will endear Manny to his teammates, but one that is sure to keep sports editors happy throughout New England.

I walked from my old apartment up to my new place this afternoon in the middle of the Yankee-Red Sox game. It was a great day to be out, and I was going stir crazy with all the boxes and packing anyhow. Our new place is a good 10 minute hike from the nearest subway station (238th street), and it is a 20 minute walk from my old pad. It’s not only a walk; it’s a hike. Way up a big hill.

When I returned, I watched Clemens pitch the seventh with the Yanks leading 8-2. Boston’s defense was terrible and it helped the Yankees out to the big lead. There were errors all over the place. Johnny Damon sat today after his Pete Reiser act yesterday. Manny Ramirez, out with the same flu-like sickness which sidelined Pedro, didn’t play again. (In fact, he didn’t show up to the Park it was so bad.)

Two runs came in for Boston and Clemens left with the bases juiced. The Boston crowd gave him an ovation, and after Clemens left the field he came back out and tipped his hat and the cheering got louder.

It was the classy kind of act that you’d expect from the Boston fans. Say what you want about them but they know their baseball. I wouldn’t expect anything less from them.

“It was exciting and that’s what it should have been,” Jason Giambi said. “The reason why they boo him is because they miss him. And Boston fans are just like New York fans. They love great players.”

Gabe White pitched the eighth and Nellie came on to pitch the ninth with a four-run lead. Two men reached on scorchers to Boone at third. He couldn’t handle either of them and two men were on with no out. Nellie came back to get the next two men out (which included a nice pick this time by Boone), but he couldn’t shut the door, walking the bases loaded. That was it for Nellie; Torre called for Rivera to get the final out. First batter: Nomar. Boffo time.

Even when the Yankees seem to have a comfortable lead, the Sox are always in the game, ready to pounce. Rivera had a dramatic outing on Saturday, but he handled Garciaparra effectively today for the final out of the game, striking him out on five pitches. Whoopee. Yankees win, 8-4. Clemens won his 13th on the year and his 100th career game at Fenway Park.

The moment the game ended, I addressed my apartment and said aloud, “It’s been real, you’ve been great. But on that note I can leave a happy fan and a happy man. C ya…”

The victory puts the Yanks 5 1/2 up on the Sox (6 in the loss column). The Sox lose ground in the wildcard race as both Seattle and Oakland won again this afternoon. The A’s have won nine straight and lead the M’s in the west by two games. Somewhere, a distracted Michael Lewis, who is currently following Ah-nold around the country, must be pleased. The M’s lead the Sox by a game and a half in the wildcard.

The Yanks head to Toronto to face Roy Halladay tomorrow afternoon. Welcome to Canada: Bon chance. Boomer Wells will try to pitch his way back out of the doghouse for the Bombers. The Sox head to Philly for a make up game with the Phillies. Next, they are off the Chicago to face the White Sox. That should be festive.

Jeter had to leave the game with a “slight” muscle tear on his left side. Giambi went 0-4, though he did hit the ball on the screws his last time up. Giambi is one of the worst slumps of his career; he hasn’t had a hit in over 20 at bats. Posada had a couple of more hits today, while Wilson started in place of Soriano again. Matsui isn’t hitting and Bernie is hot and cold. Boone is looking better and Nick Johnson is proving why Yankee scouts have been crazy for him for all these years.