Sports Redux: Rain and Pain

Sometime between the first rain delay of Friday night's Red Sox/Yankees game and the second, it began to set in that Tampa Bay was an American League East title-winning team. Despite the fact that the Tigers did all they could to help out the Sox in their ALE quest, the Yankees decided Friday night that they weren't giving up their season without getting something out of it. If they had to play in the rain, play in the chill and play in Boston when all knew that there would be no Pinstripes in the postseason, the least the Yanks could do was drag Boston down (just a bit) with them. So the Yanks spanked the Sox 19-8 (yes, another weird 19-8 score. This year, the role of Bronson Arroyo was played by David Pauley).

What happened? While Detroit was doing everything they could to help out the Sox (by beating Tampa Bay, 6-4), the Sox was on the receiving end of a beatdown. Why? Because the Yankees weren't ready to go out without a fight. Because Dice-K was scratched on account of rain. Because Ortiz was pulled. Because J.D. Drew's still not back. Because Lowell's hip is bothering him again. As we prep for the postseason, there's much to be nervous about.

But there's good news. Jacoby Ellsbury not only homered around the Pesky Pole to kick off the bottom of the first, he also earned his 50th steal of the season, making him only the third Sox player to reach that milestone (Tommy Harper and Tris Speaker, trivia nuts). Youk hit his 29th homer. And while we'd like to phrase this more gracefully, let's just be honest: John Lackey sucked during his Angels start against the Rangers on Friday night.

So here we are: while the rest of the leauge scambles around and fights those last battles for playoff spots and division titles, the Red Sox just have to play two more games against the Yankees, get through without any further injuries, and prepare to fly out to Los Angeles/Anaheim. The series begins on Wednesday. Soxtober is almost here.

Photo by flickr user VickieVictoria