There Is No Joy In Beanville

A NATION turned its lonely eyes to Schilling last night, who did what he normally does to the Yankees. The score was 5 to 3 when Schilling finished the 7th inning, and everyone but the Red Sox manager knew a well rested Jonathan Papelbon should pitch the last two innings. But by the time Francona brought Papelbon in, the bases were loaded, with no one out.

Papelbon wriggled out of the situation with only one run scoring, but Melky Cabrera led off the ninth inning with a double, and with two outs Captain Jeter drove him in to tie the score. Final score, Yankees 8 Reds Sox 5 after 10. Old friend David Wells would take the mound less than 12 hours later to see if the Sox could salvage one.

The Red Sox scored their normal 5 runs in this series, but this was different than the other games. The Yankees are near the end of 21 games in 20 days, and the doubleheader that opened the series was just too long. The Sox traded Arroyo and then watched Wells, Wakefield and Clement go down with injuries: rookies who started well were over exposed, the bullpen wore down, and Boston's free agents in the bullpen, Tavarez and Seanez, just weren't very good.

By the time the Yankees came to town, the pitching was worn out and the Yankees responded perfectly, with great patience, many walks and 13 runs per game for the first three games. Nevertheless, the two teams looked like two aging heavyweights staggering around the ring in the second game, the longest nine-inning game in the history of baseball.

Last night's game was different: they took on Boston's two best pitchers and beat them. Both arms were rested, and denied the Yankees several times. But the Yanks just kept on coming, and with a little help from Francona perhaps, they prevailed.

Fifteen games with the Sox are over, and we play one more today and three more in September at home. Frankly, that's too many. These two teams have seen too much of each other the last few years.

Soxaholix

PS: With 2 home runs and 5 rbis in the game, the Giambino has 2 more rbis than Manny Ramirez, who killed the Yankees in the series. I may win my long-shot bet.