I’m feeling much better after the Red Sox manhandling of the Yankees yesterday. The Sox showed a lot of character in this game, especially after Friday’s nightmare. Here are some of my highlights and lowlights from yesterday’s game.

1. Josh Beckett was awesome. Anytime you can limit that offense to one run, it’s special. 7 innings of 3-hit ball, 1 earned run, 7 K’s. Also, standing up for his team and plunking Giambi was great. Yankee pitchers have taken too many liberties with Red Sox players this year. Just a tremendous game for Beckett. Whoever makes the Cy Young plaque, remember there are two T’s in Beckett.
2. In a highly touted match-up of potential Cy Young winners, Chien-Ming Wang looked bad. 5 innings pitched, 9 hits, 5 ER. He is supposed to be the Yankees’ best pitcher. Now there is talk of Wang not even starting IF New York makes the playoffs. That’s hilarious.
3. “Super Sub” Eric Hinske. This guy is the ultimate team guy. He never bitches when he sits on the bench for weeks at a time. He can play 4 positions. Hinske hit a double and a home run in yesterday’s game. Also, anyone that blows up Jorge Posada turns into my new favorite player.
4. Jacoby Ellsbury: 2 for 2, 3 RBIs 1 stolen base. All this is in only 4 innings. This kid is a freak.
5. Big Papi being Big Papi. 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 RBIs. What a perfect time of the season to get hot.
6. J.D. Drew, 2 walks and the game winning RBI. Also it was nice to see his reaction after driving in Ellsbury. Maybe the Tin Man finally found his heart.
7. When did Jason Varitek turn into Doug Mirabelli at the plate? 0 for 5, 8 runners left on base. That is one ugly line. At least he called a great game behind the plate. Varitek usually plays well against the Yankees. I look for him to make a big contribution tonight.

Tonight: Schilling vs. Clemens
Schilling has pitched well recently. Clemens is coming off a bad start and cortisone shots in his elbow. Clemens is an old bastard. Let’s hope the Sox can get to him early in the game. Nothing would please me more than to see the “Rocketman” walking off the field to a mock standing ovation in the 3rd inning after getting lit up.

Let’s Go Sox.

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.

Well, it’s back to reality for New York after losing 2 out of 3 games in Yankee Stadium to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It’s sad times for Yankee fans when your season highlight is a 3-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox, dropping their lead to “only” 5 games.

Yankee fans can whine about having to “come down” after such an emotional series against Boston, but the facts remain. The Yankees caught the Red Sox at their most vulnerable. Boston was on the last leg of a 10-game road trip. Manny allegedly injured his oblique muscle, and J.D. Drew was sucking like his normal self. Anybody could have beat Boston those three days.

And how did both teams respond to such an “emotional” series? Philip Hughes, “Yankee Ace” of the future: 4 innings pitched with 4 earned runs in a loss against Tampa. Andy Pettite: 6 innings pitched for 11 hits and 5 earned runs (another loss). And the million-dollar man Roger Clemens put together another solid start today for a loss against Seattle (4 innings pitched, 8 hits, 5 earned runs). At the cost of only a million dollars, Clemens not only increased the Red Sox lead in the AL East but also helped Seattle inch closer to overtaking the wild card lead.

Meanwhile in Boston, the Sox have been playing kids against men and taking 2 out of 3 from Baltimore. I don’t know if anyone has heard about Clay Buchholz, the Red Sox rookie who threw a no hitter in only his second major league start, or Jon Lester, who has overcome cancer and is now 3-0 on the season, but the Sox are once again showing their superior pitching, farm system and front office. The reality is that this is just the first of many years to come of the Red Sox dominating the Yankees.

The Yankees can have their emotional series win. The Red Sox are going to have the title.

Everyone relax. There is nothing to be concerned about.

So what if the Red Sox were just swept by their most feared rivals? They’re still up 5 games in the AL East.

Who cares that the three best Red Sox pitchers just turned in their least-clutch performances of the year? They were due for a bad game.

Big deal that Manny Ramirez, arguably the greatest right handed hitter of all time, is out indefinitely with a strained oblique. This is precisely the reason we signed J.D. Drew. (ugh)

No problem that the Red Sox had 13 measly hits during the three game sweep. They’ll hit when it matters.

Who’s having doubts now that the Yankees are back in the wild card lead, setting up a potential first round match-up against Boston?

Um… I am.

First of all, let’s focus on the positives. The Red Sox played their two worst games of the year, and they are still 6 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East. The Yankees beat a depleted Sox lineup - no big deal. It’s August 30th and we are in the driver’s seat.

What did bother me about last night’s game was watching Roger Clemens bean Dustin Pedroia in the first inning without any retribution from Josh Beckett. If Schilling was pitching last night, Derek Jeter would be peeing blood this morning after getting drilled in the kidney by a 90 mph fastball.

Another thing, ESPN was making a huge deal about Clemens having a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He walked 5 batters! That should equate to five singles. Clemens’ performance was the ugliest 2-hitter I have ever seen. I guess it’s hard to have command of the strike zone when you have your million-dollars-per-start check in your back pocket.

Look for Schilling to shine today at Yankee Stadium. Saving the Red Sox from a sweep will sound good in his blog tomorrow… and in mine.

Johnny Damon is the Geico caveman without the brains. I choked on my coffee this morning when I saw this quote from Damon in the New York Post. “It’s taken a number of players to replace me,” Damon said of the Red Sox. “I’m Johnny [Bleeping] Damon.”

They didn’t replace Damon. They upgraded. The last time I checked, the Red Sox didn’t have an adulterous, weak-armed, caveman lookalike deadbeat dad playing center field. They have Coco Crisp, the best defensive outfielder in the American league, at 1/3 the cost of the 13 million dollar “man.” Theo Epstein did the right thing. He knew not to waste the money on an aging, injury-prone idiot. If Johnny hadn’t played for Boston, Brian Cashman wouldn’t have even looked at him, but the prospect of playing the Red Sox 19 times a year with the opportunity for Damon to inflict damage on his former team was part of the appeal.

Once again, Damon hasn’t lived up to his own hype, and the Yankees are kicking themselves for being on the hook for another season. One home run against your former team doesn’t amount to a 40 million dollar contract. Even a [bleeping] caveman could figure that out.

I feel so unsatisfied. The Red Sox just played one of their worst games of the year, and they have no one to blame but themselves. This was the supposed to be the game to set the tone of this series, and the Sox went on cruise control.

What is it going to take to give Dice K more than 3 runs of support? This guy had another solid performance. For nothing. Dice K should be leading the AL in wins, but unfortunately he has a 13-11 record. If the Red Sox were giving Josh Beckett this type of run support, no water cooler in Boston would be safe. But Dice K keeps handling it like a professional.

J.D. Drew played like his usual self. How’s this for a game? 0 for 4, 2 strikeouts, 4 left on base, grounded into 1 double play. Enough said about him. I need to go vomit.

Another thing that pissed me off last night was David Ortiz swinging on the first pitch from Joba Chamberlain in the 8th inning. This is a guy who Ortiz has never faced before, who had just walked Kevin Youkilis. Ortiz strikes fear in every pitcher he faces, especially 21-year-old rookies. He had the advantage here and gave up the at bat. It was just bad baseball all around.

With two games to go in the series, it appears for at least one night The Empire has struck back.

There are a few things in this crazy world of ours that I truly enjoy, like the sound of my children laughing and going to Disney World with my family. But what I might like best of all is what happened Monday night: I watched the New York Yankees lose 16-0 to the Detroit Tigers.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. It use to be you could spend 200 million dollars on ballplayers and assure yourself a trip to the postseason. Those days seem to be over. With a geriatric pitching staff, a manager who seems to be on life support (Seriously, has anyone checked for a pulse on Joe Torre lately?), and the 2007 AL MVP with one foot out the door, the Yankees have come full circle, from World Series champions to league laughing stock. It used to be if New York lost by two runs George Steinbrenner would have a fit in the papers. Now George just takes a few happy pills and dreams of the days when the Yankees were not the second best team in New York City. ESPN has it right. The Bronx is Burning.

Add this to the list of my favorite things: The Yankees watching the playoffs from home.

Try to remember a few weeks back. The Red Sox weren’t scoring runs, the bullpen looked ordinary, and the New York Yankees were climbing up the standings. As Boston held to a 4 game lead, thoughts of the Red Sox epic collapse in 1978 were in the minds of all Sox fans. Well, those thoughts are history. The Sox are back.

After a dominating 4-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox, where Red Sox starting pitchers gave up 5 earned runs and the Sox bats came alive to produce 46 runs, the Red Sox now lead the AL East by 7 1/2 games with a 3 game set at Yankee Stadium starting Tuesday.

The Red Sox are peaking at the right time of the season. With 31 games left, 18 of which are at Fenway Park, it’s time to print the playoff tickets… Objects in the mirror are NOT as close as they appear.