The Diceman Cometh

Joe(them guys will go down swinging)Nation

you just may be right, Nation...

dioner navarro is my new favorite (non-sawk) player.
his walk-off in the 10th at tampa bay reduced the magic numeral to 3.

schill was in october form (6.0 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, no walks, 6 K's).
pap threw a single pitch in the 8th with the game on the line.
manny & youk are back.
young jacoby looks like he belongs.
drew's swinging a hot stick.

barring a major collapse, the division is ours...

yahbo.

Joe(..hoping no vindictive gods are eavesdropping)Nation

lotsa hits today/night -- they thumped the A's 11-5.
gagne actually pitched a shutout inning in relief.
magic numeral = 2...

Yankees won yesterday, clinching a playoff spot. Only question is whether we or they are wild card.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AL East Div Champs

the celebration on the field was unreal!

after the sawx won, they let the fans hang around for over an hour to watch the NYY-ballymore game on the screen.

the players waited around in street-clothes in the clubhouse.

when ir looked like the orioles might come back from a 3-run deficit, they changed back into "party" garb, and got the bubbly ready.

sure enough, mora squeezed home the winning run... and bedlam ensued

pap looked to be the wildest one out there.
at one point he was wearing a bud light carton on his head.

they sprayed the faithful from the top of the dugout.
they high-fived everyone they could -- even francona got into the act.

good thing saturday's is a night game -- some of those dudes are gonna be hung-over when(ever) they finally wake up.

first div title since '95.
wake is the only holdover from that squad.

so, the Magical Integer for clinching best over-all record is 1...

PHOTO GALLERY...

Pap needs a tan. Whoa! Fluorescent white legs!

But -- ah -- awesome -- they're lookin' very happy, as well they should be.

it was quite a relief watching sunday's game, knowing it wasn't a must-win...

the real season starts tonight!

Cy Beckett vs Lackey.
"Lackey" is a tough surname to have if you wanna get ahead in life.
he's 1-4, 7.46 ERA for his career at fenway.

look for manny to be back in his familiar clean-up spot.

big papi got a cortisone shot in his knee on saturday.
he says it made the pain go away.

wake's back is acting up, so they were smart to leave him off the roster for this round...

OK, let's put it out there.

I say: Sox in 4.

Cy Beckett, you gotta be kidding

4 hit complete game shutout????
8 K's, no walks, 83 of his 108 pitches were strikes...

damn...

an amazing Cy Beckett factoid in this morning's globe:

he has now thrown 3 postseason shutouts in 7 starts, including his last 2 starts.

can you say "big game pitcher"?

nice to see the stankees picked up right where they left off last october in detroit

tonight we find out if Dice-K is worth 103 mill...

NO.
Even if he wins.

i agree -- so far he hasn't lived up to the hype... but!
they've got him tied up for 5 more years, so he does have time to get his crap together...



sweet walk-off win "last" night, courtesy of Manny being Manny

after intentionally walking the guy (papi) who's famous for them, Manny absolutely crushed a K-Rod fastball into the unseasonably warm Bahstin air, sending 37,700 into a frenzy.

he even did post-game interviews, something he hasn't done for years.

dice was dicey, but the bullpen (4.1 shutout no-hit innings) picked him up.

now its off to anaheim, where Schill can seal the deal tomorrow...

That ball was absolutely crushed....a shot. Is there a replay online? I want to see it about 50 more times.

Fun fact: one of my friends I grew up with faced K-Rod once in his life in the minors, and hit a HR off him.

Sign up that kid in the stands.

Hey, Slaps, how long did your friend stay in baseball?

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