Sports Redux: Another Wild One At Fenway

Anybody who thought yesterday to charge $1.00 for blood pressure checks at Fenway can probably retire today a happy person.

Where to begin? Both starting pitchers - Schilling and Mussina - looked human, and both seemed to get untracked by a half-hour rain delay. Which was bad news for Schill, but good news for the Red Sox, as it meant that the game would ultimately come down to the bullpens.

So Yankee Scott Proctor wound up on the losing end of the wild 11-6 finish, though it should be noted that what really did him in was criminally negligent defense by New York in the seventh. First, Bobby Abreu misjudged an Ortiz fly ball to right that fell for a double. Last, Jeter muffed an easy ground ball that would have been a Wily Mo inning-ending double play.

But worst, from NY's standpoint, was a double-play ball that both Robinson Cano and Jeter made bad throws on. Thus making Doug Mientkiewicz lunge for the ball, putting his head right in the path of a charging Mike Lowell, ringing his bell bigtime and sending him to the hospital for observation. (Would it be evil to say we hope somebody saved the ball for Dougie to put in his trophy case? It would? OK.) A concussion and broken wrist seems to be the diagnosis.

The offense came from all over, particularly Lowell, Varitek, and Dustin Pedroia. Sadly, the only Sox hitter not to get a hit was Kevin Youkilis, whose hitting streak ended at 23 games. Of course, the Yankee pitchers walked him three times. Congrats anyway, Youk.

Want more bad news for the Yankees? The Clemens Cavalry won't be riding in to save them on Monday after all. Maybe this weekend, maybe some other time, but the word is Roger's suffering from a "fatigued groin" (quiet, you) and needs a little extra time. We're so proud of the "Where is Roger? clap, clap, clap-clap-clap" chant that erupted in Fenway in the late innings.

Andy Pettitte goes against the 8-0 Josh Beckett tonight in the rubber game, before the Sox head out for the West Coast.

Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who gained their first NBA Finals last night after years of close calls and terrible teams. LeBron put up another great game, but it was 31 surprising points from Daniel Gibson that sealed the deal. So now the Cavs meet the repugnant Spurs in the Finals, looking to claim Cleveland's first championship in anything since 1964. To put that in perspective, when the Browns won the '64 NFL Championship (the first Super Bowl was a couple years away), the #1 record in the country was "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had just made its network premiere.

All spellings of "Mientkiewicz" are subject to review. Image from JWRWorkings.com.