Nice Little Run

            "Yo."  I saw Acc's number pop up on my caller ID.  "What's up, captain.  It's 5-0 good guys."  This is what I wanted to hear.  "Who made it nice," I wanted to know.  "Justin Christian, Sexon, and A-Rod.  Moose is sick, dude."    Nice.  And at the time the possibility was still out there that the Red Sox could lose and the Yankees would be just one out in the loss column going into this weekend. 

            Not to be.

            Was that ever really in doubt?  I just couldn't imagine a scenario in which the Red Sox would allow themselves to lose to the worst team in the league to give that crack of an opening to the Yankees.  Although the shakier and shakier Jonathan Papelbon almost coughed up another one.  Turns out that was some double play the Sox turned in the 11^th with first and third and nobody out.  So we're stuck at two.

            It would have been nice to have been just one out to start this weekend, as you could have dropped two out of three and still walked out of there just two games back.  Doable.  Now you're looking at three games back.  Less doable. 

            I keep walking around telling everyone the Yanks are going to get swept this weekend, and everyone keeps telling me I'm insane.  So maybe I am.  Maybe I'll soften my prediction to the Yankees stealing one.  I'm just not sure how it's going to happen.  I'm thinking Wakefield is the best bet. 

            So I'm back onto this Wild Card.  I'm thinking the one scenario I didn't lay out yesterday was the Tigers taking the Central and the White Sox dropping back.  I like the chances of staying ahead of the Sox better than I do the Tigers.  You never know, but I'm just thinking out loud here. 

            So I've heard Washburn, I've heard Brian Giles, and I've heard A.J. Burnett.  I don't hate any of them.  It all depends on who we would be giving up.  And I haven't heard boo about that.  But really I'm still looking for a bat.  This whole idea that Posada is going to stick around and be a DH/1B is not making me warm and fuzzy.  At this point I really don't see a scenario in which Giambi should be sitting out.  He's the toughest out in the lineup.  I get that he's old and rickety, so rest him if you need to, but don't start pulling him out against lefties so you can get Sexon and Posada at-bats.  That's a bad idea.  In the meantime, I'll be the guy in the corner with his fingers crossed that the Yanks can work out a deal for a solid bat who can play the outfield.  Either that or the AL institutes a 10-man lineup with a second DH.

            So why not make some predictions for this weekend, just for a goof.  Here goes.  Beckett will get in trouble in the early innings on Friday night, but the Yankees will bail him out by swinging at bad pitches, and he'll then settle down.  By the fifth inning or so, when it becomes clear that he's out of the woods and the Yankees have missed their opportunity, Yankee fans everywhere will be thanking whoever they pray to that the game isn't nationally televised so that they don't have to listen to Buck/McCarver/Jon Miller/Joe Morgan gloss over every jam and insist that Josh Beckett is the second coming of Cy Young, regardless of the fact that he's 9-6 with a 4.00 ERA.  Then he will coast through the seventh and either be pulled out or get back into trouble.  Joba will pitch well, strike out a bunch of guys, not make it out of the sixth, and get another loss or no decision.  On Saturday, Pettitte will wiggle out of jams in the first three innings, and will have thrown 75 pitches with no outs in the fourth.  This will be your high-ish scoring game that goes into extra innings.  Sid off the skids will pitch better than anyone expected on Sunday and be a huge story - for three innings.  Then, not so much.  David Ortiz will hit a bomb, probably in a huge spot, but will not have found his rhythm enough to hit a lot in the rest of the series.  Manny will rake.  And do something stupid.  Youkilis will argue every ball and strike.  Yankee fans will feel a twinge every time they see Pedroia step up to the plate, Lowell will hit balls off the Green Monster, and Varitek will argue every close call with the umps.  He will also take an overly demonstrative passive-aggressive posture with one of the Yankees for a perceived slight, while the two national broadcast teams gush over him, despite the fact that he's hitting .217.  Many fans will think they're funny wearing Madonna masks in the stands.  They won't be.  It will be less funny after Allie hits his bomb.  Giambi will get one too.  Francona will leap at the chance to throw Papelbon back out there, even with a 10 run lead, just to attempt some sort of offset for the fiasco at the All-Star game.  The fans will give him a huge ovation, as if he was somehow a victim and didn't get himself into his own hot water.  Cano will continue to hit, Molina will throw somebody out, Varitek won't throw anybody out, but the Yankees won't take advantage anyway.  Okijima will continue to be shaky, and the Farnsworth bubble will burst.  I will waste a lot of valuable time watching/stressing about these games, and that will confuse my mother-in-law.  Last but not least, this series will not decide the AL East.

            Or something like that....