Friday, September 30, 2005
The Big One
But it wouldn't be that way if it hadn't been for the heroics of David Ortiz, who pulled Boston's fat out of the fire last night against the Blue Jays.
The MVP contender tied the game in the eighth inning with his AL-leading 47th homer, then singled home the winning run in the ninth to give Boston a critical 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.
For the Red Sox to win the division outright, they will have to sweep the Yankees. If they win two, they will finish the season tied and force a one game play-off next Monday. And the situation becomes all the more interesting because of the AL wildcard which will also be determined, and which will be one of these two teams or the Cleveland Indians. If the Red Sox and Indians both win two of three this weekend, there will be a double playoff, with Boston traveling to New York for the AL East tiebreaker and the loser playing the Indians for the wild card.
Cleveland faces the Chicago White Sox, who almost made things more complicated then they already are watching their 16 game lead in the AL Central dwindle to 2.5. But the White Sox narrowly avoided one of the biggest collapses in baseball history by clinching the division against the Tigers last night, while the Indians fell to Tampa Bay.
Back to New York vs Boston, the pitching match-ups for the weekend look like this:
Friday: Chien-Ming Wang vs David Wells
Saturday: Randy Johnson vs Tim Wakefield
Sunday: Mike Mussina vs Curt Schilling
October baseball rules.
6 Comments:
By 
cakreiz, at
Fri Sep 30, 10:12:00 AM:
Here's what I don't understand. I've watched a total of two innings of baseball so far this year. I'll watch some of the Yank-Sox games this weekend- and I haven't missed anything. Just like last year. It's just like the NBA playoffs... why bother watching the regular season- just wait for a few playoff games. Cynical, I know.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Fri Sep 30, 11:53:00 AM:
Heretic!!
To even mention the NBA in the same sentence with baseball disqualifies you from serious baseball talk, in my opinion.
Volumes have been written giving the answer to your question. I cannot improve on them.
By cakreiz, at
Fri Sep 30, 12:59:00 PM:
LOL...! Sorry, dude. In my opinion I should be disqualified from talking seriously about baseball because I've watched 2 innings this year. Considering I watched 0 NBA quarters last year, I don't know where that puts me.
I proudly watched the final rounds of the Masters and British Open. And I watched all of the Agassi-Blake US Open tennis match. Does that qualify me for commenting on something?
By Charlottesvillain, at
Fri Sep 30, 01:09:00 PM:
Well, maybe Hurricane Katrina or Al Quada.
By Josh, at
Sat Oct 01, 03:20:00 PM:
I'm a San Diegan and a Padres fan, so take this with a grain of salt...
At the beginning of the season, I predicted a west coast Series, the LA Angels and my Padres. Both the Pads and the Angels are in the playoffs. SD is good enough to beat St Louis or Atlanta in the first round, then probably the Astros (who I favor for the wild card in the NL).
Either Boston or New York, or both, will fall off in the playoffs and the Angels will win the ALCS.
I've already got money saved to see all 4 games (a SD sweep of LA)...
Looking forward to next season already... :)
By cakreiz, at
Sun Oct 02, 01:37:00 AM:
See the Yanks clinched. Didn't watch a single pitch. Good game, I assume? :)
I haven't even checked to see if Boston has any chance at the wild card (v. Cleveland). Do they?
