After watching last night’s Red Sox/Yankees game, I was not in any mood to post something today. But I thought it might be therapeutic to write some of the reasons that I hate the Yankees so much.

1. I hate Derek Jeter’s smug little cocky smile. I would like to punch him in the face. Unfortunately, he’s too busy rounding the bases against the Sox.
2. I hate the Yankee pinstripe uniforms. Why are these so acclaimed? They are the ugliest uniforms in all of baseball, and the interlocking N and Y are stupid.
3. I hate that the Yankees will have retired uniform numbers 1-10 once Jeter and Torre have retired. This bugs me. I don’t really have any legitimate reasons why.
4. I hate Yankee Stadium. It’s a giant toilet bowl filled with the most obnoxious turds on the planet.
5. Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens. These guys had the potential to be legends in Red Sox history. They could have walked into any bar and never needed to pay for a beer. Unfortunately for them, they are both money-grubbing-whore traitors.
6. I hate that Yankee fans use their 26 World Series titles to trump any argument. Here is a new argument for you: How many have been in this decade?
7. I hate that Joe Torre looks like Droopy Dog. This was one of the few cartoons I liked as a child. Now when I see it, I violently throw up.
8. I hate that Mariano Rivera enters the game to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. Rivera grew up in Panama. Something tells me he wasn’t rocking out to Metallica’s Black album.
9. I hate Joba Chamberlain. He is a head hunting, lard ass piece of crap. Joba, here are two words of advice: Stair Master.
10. I hate that the New York Yankees may be the best team in baseball this year.

I feel a little better now. Check back tomorrow. I like the Red Sox chances today with Josh Beckett on the mound.

If you’re a true baseball fan, then this will be the most exciting weekend of the season. It really doesn’t get much better than this. This is Rocky vs. Drago, Daniel-san vs. Cobra Kai, Hatfields vs. McCoys. Boston vs. New York.

Can you remember when a game with these two teams didn’t matter for something? Earlier this season when Boston held a 14-game lead, and the Yankees were battling the Devil Rays for last place, those games mattered. They matter because you can never count either team out. The Yankees have managed to do a complete 180 this season. They’ve improved their pitching, everyone is hitting, and A-Rod is proving himself to be the best player in baseball.

Who would have thought that the Yankees would have the second best record in baseball with 15 games to go? The Red Sox would, that’s who. Boston has kept the same approach all season: solid pitching, being selective at the plate, and playing strong team defense. Even with the best record in baseball for the entire season, Red Sox players have assumed nothing. They knew New York would be back. The Yankees have way too much talent to be mired in last place.

What concerns me as a Red Sox fan is that New York is hot right now, winning seven out of the last eight and sweeping the Red Sox just a few weeks ago. But this is a different Red Sox team than the last time they faced each other. Boston is doing the little things that make champions: drawing walks, taking the extra base, clutch hitting. They are never out of a game, which is evident with their last two wins, and the Sox bullpen is as good as it’s been all season.

This has the makings of a great series. Both teams are hungry and know the AL East title is on the line.

It’s only mid-September, but the playoffs start tonight.

It has been over a year since David Ortiz has hit a walk off home run, but there may have been no better time than last night to start again.

Ortiz provided all the offense for the Sox last night, with two home runs and all five RBIs. Last night’s win was huge for the Red Sox. They are now positioned five games ahead of the Yankees, with the three biggest games of the season coming up this weekend.

Big Papi has been hurting all year, suffering from both knee and shoulder injuries. Unlike Manny, Ortiz will play hurt and has been contributing all season. Although his home runs are way down from last year, his batting average is the highest of his career. Over the last few games, it appears that the David Ortiz of old is back.

Ortiz has been on a tear lately, with three home runs against the Devil Rays, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Manny is coming back, J.D. Drew is starting to produce, and the Yankees are in town Friday. This is where the Sox go for the jugular and put an end to the AL East race.

It’s not going to help his injured knee, but it’s time for Big Papi to carry this team.

The Red Sox have a dilemma for the 2008 season. They have four quality outfielders, Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury, and only three positions for them to play.

With Manny under contract for one more year and no other team in baseball willing to put up with Manny being Manny, he’s in for next season. J.D. Drew is under contract for four more years, and the Red Sox aren’t giving up on him yet. So this leaves potential Gold Glove Coco Crisp and up-and-comer Jacoby Ellsbury.

Coco is batting .217 with 24 stolen bases and, most importantly, has become the best defensive outfielder in the AL, all for only $5 million per season. On the other hand, Jacoby Ellsbury has dominated at every level of the minor leagues. He has come up to Boston and proven to be a quality major leaguer whose deserves to be on the Major League roster playing everyday.

So here is this week’s question. Who will be the Red Sox centerfielder in 2008, Coco Crisp or Jacoby Ellsbury?

The most recent Fair or Foul Question of the Week asked, “What should the Red Sox do with Mike Lowell?” The votes have been tallied, and with 59% of the vote Boston fans chose to keep Mike Lowell for the next three seasons instead of going for a bigger name in Alex Rodriguez.

I had really mixed feelings about this question and here’s why: Mike Lowell is one the classiest athletes in all of sports. He plays the game hard and has solidified the third base position for the Sox both offensively and defensively. Lowell is having a career year and is leading the Red Sox in batting average, hits, and RBIs. He is clearly the MVP of the team.

On the flip side, Lowell is 33 years old and had the best season of his career this year. Who’s to say that he can continue at this pace? Also, although he is still a solid defender, his days of being a Gold Glover appear to be over. Is he worth the $13-15 million a year to keep him? Or is it better to put that money towards someone else?

My opinion is that this is Mike Lowell’s last year in Boston. The Red Sox are going to make a big push for A-Rod this offseason. Red Sox owners have been enamored with A-Rod since their failed attempt to trade for him in 2003. He consistently puts up big numbers at Fenway and is still a good defender.

Not to mention, stripping the Yankees of their best player would be pretty sweet.

Last night the Red Sox showed the difference between a good team and a team that is going to go deep into the playoffs.

Boston spotted Tampa Bay a seven-run lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning after a second poor start by Tim Wakefield. Usually this is the time Francona starts to empty the bench and concede the loss, but last night the Red Sox showed some resilience and battled back, with 15 runs in the final five frames to pull out a 16-10 victory.

There were several key players who came through in the clutch. First of all, Julio Lugo came up with three big hits last night: a single, a double, and a steamrolling of Dioner Navarro on a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia in the 4th inning. Secondly, Mike Lowell went about business as usual as Boston’s Most Valuable Player this season with a 4 for 5 night.

Which brings me to J.D. Drew.

I have been pretty vocal regarding the Drew signing. I disagreed with the length and cost of his contract, and I have routinely pulled my hair out watching Drew go through the motions in a horrible season. Last night, Drew may have taken the first steps to turning this season around.

J.D. was 3 for 4 with a home run and four runs scored, but the most important thing Drew did last night was drawing a walk in the 6th inning to load the bases, which was followed by a Kevin Youkilis triple to give Boston the lead. In the past Drew would have either struck out or hit into a double play to kill the rally, but instead he showed poise and the disciplined batter’s eye that Boston was hoping for when they signed him.

If Drew can build on this performance, it will give the Red Sox lineup the boost it needs for the playoffs, and maybe even give J.D. Drew a clean slate with bloggers.

The Red Sox mailed it in for last night’s game. Terry Francona put out the worst lineup of the year to face a pitcher that has some good success against Boston.

I don’t know if Curt Schilling pissed off Francona, or wrote something bad about him on his blog, but there was no way the Red Sox were going to win for him. With Manny still faking his injury, and Big Papi taking a game off the to rest his knee, the Sox had absolutely no power in the lineup. Heck, even J.D. was given the day off. Drew was coming off a good series in Baltimore where he had a couple of doubles and several walks. It was nice to see him being selective at the plate and actually getting on base. So why take him out and lose that momentum?

In case you haven’t seen it here is the lineup and batting averages of last night’s starters.

That was not a typo above – Julio Lugo was the designated hitter for last night’s game. How does that make any sense? He’s batting .239. He was possibly the worst player for that spot. What’s next? Is Doug Mirabelli going to be a pinch runner?

I understand that Francona wants to get guys like Kielty, Cora and Lugo extra at-bats, but not all of them at one time. There should be at the maximum one weak link in the chain… not three!

The race in the AL East is still close enough that every game counts. Boston is up by five games with a big series against New York this weekend. The Red Sox can’t afford to give up games to bottom feeders like Tampa Bay.

I hate to jinx anything with the Red Sox, but Josh Beckett is going to be the first Boston pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Pedro Martinez.

After a disappointing first year in the American League last year, Beckett has come back to have the most successful season of his seven year career. He is the Major League leader in wins with 18 and is limiting hitters to a .245 batting average. He has turned into the prototypical power pitcher out of the same mold as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens.

Pitchers Dan Haren and Johan Santana are going to be Beckett’s strongest competition for the award. Both are the aces of their staffs. Both are in the top 5 in the American League in both ERA and WHIP. But what the Baseball Writers Association of America has to consider is that both of their teams have been out of the playoff race for the past six weeks. Meanwhile, Beckett has been pitching in a pressure cooker since opening day. Every game is a playoff game when you play in Boston.

With his fiery attitude and assaults on the team’s water cooler after a disappointing inning, Beckett has shown that he is ready to be the big-game pitcher the Red Sox hoped for when they traded for him. Let’s hope he is recognized for his efforts.

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been horrible during his last two starts for the Red Sox. His ERA is an absurd 16.88 in September. After allowing 8 runs to the Baltimore Orioles last night, he looks like a shell of the pitcher who not long ago appeared to be the future ace of the Sox pitching staff.

Coming over from Japan, major leaguers had no prior experience with Dice, so the first time against these teams he was showing stuff they had never seen before. Now that he’s going through these lineups a second time, the players are getting used to him – his slow wind-up, his weird butt wiggle, the variety of off-speed pitches.

Also, Dice isn’t throwing as many first-pitch strikes as he was earlier in the season, so he’s getting into more batter counts, allowing the hitters to wait on his fastball. When Dice K isn’t locating his fastball for first-pitch strikes and keeping batters off balance with the off speed pitches, he looks downright ordinary. He’s finding out that he can’t just throw fastballs past major league hitters.

As good as Dice K was in Japan, the talent over there pales in comparison to Major League Baseball, and a drop-off in performance was to be expected. Consider this: he is technically a rookie and has 14 wins playing in the toughest division in the league. If this was anyone else, they would already have his name engraved on the Rookie of the Year award.

Another thing to consider is that Dice K was used to pitching every 6th day in Japan. Pitching every five days and routinely throwing over 100 pitches per game may be wearing him down. If I were Terry Francona, I would give him his next scheduled start off. The Sox have a comfortable lead in the standings, and some guy named Clay Buchholz who’s proved to be a pretty good pitcher is ready to take his spot in the rotation for a game.

I’m really not worried, and here’s why: Dice K is respected by his teammates and members of the organization for his tireless work ethic and loyalty to his team. He is a true professional who will make the necessary adjustments to be a big part of the Red Sox playoff run, in this season and many more to come.

Great! The Red Sox are playing the Baltimore Orioles again. Boston is already 10-4 against them this year and winners of the first game of this series. The Orioles are 24 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and have routinely found ways to lose ballgames this year. I wonder how this series is going to turn out.

Regardless of what you see in the standings, the Orioles are the worst team in the American League. This is a team with a $95 million payroll, the 1oth highest in all of baseball, and they have been getting pounded lately. Recent loses have included a 30-3 nail biter to the Texas Rangers and 17-2 thrashing at the hands of the always tough Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Not only are Oriole fans outnumbered at home by Red Sox and Yankee fans, but they are shelling out a lot of money to see players like Kevin Millar, Jay Payton, and Aubrey Huff, players who have bounced around to several teams and routinely stink it up. To make matters worse, the Orioles have lost ten straight games at home, and Baltimore’s three best pitchers are on the disabled list at the price of $19 million a year.

Watching last night’s game, things got so bad that Oriole announcers Jim Palmer and Gary Thorne were yelling at the Oriole players in disgust when they threw to the wrong bases, allowing the Red Sox to sneak back in the game. Maybe Jim “Jockey underwear” Palmer could have dusted off his jock strap and attempted yet another comeback. It couldn’t be any worse.

This is an organization that had some great Hall of Famers over the years – Cal Ripken, Jr., Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer – and has won the World Series three times. But with an owner like Peter Angelos spending wastefully on a glorified men’s softball team, it appears that the Orioles have flown the coop.