Quick notes:
Watching Rivera strike out Lowell to end the game last night capped off a huge win for the Yanks in another wild weekend series in Boston. I thought Lowell put a cheap shot on Cano Saturday by crushing into his chest on a routine ground ball to second, but since it wasn't ARod, it wasn't a story. Tim MaCarver praised Lowell and the play. I'm sorry that the Yanks fired you Timmeh, but it was a bush league play. Lowell's excuse was just as lame. He said he learned that play in the Yankee system. OK, Mike. Sure thing. He could have seriously injured Robbie.
Mussina's meltdown was another bad performance by him and we have to wonder if he'll figure out how to make 86 mph fastballs work. Torre should have pulled him because Mike had men on base all game, but...alas..Torre threw him out there in the sixth and he gave up back to back HR's to wipe out an enormous three run HR by Posada, who is having an incredible year. The seventh inning was another defensive disaster for this team, so the Yanks needed to win last night to wipe out that nightmare.
Has anyone ever seen a right fielder as afraid going back on the ball as Abreu? Last year I thought he played way too deep and now I know why. He made two errors in two games that gave up leads for the Yanks and yet he shockingly made a great catch last night in the gap to snuff out a Boston lead and rob Pedroia of another extra base hit.
The Red Sox faithful were geared up for ARod to show his face in Fenway. Gammons was making ludicrous comments that defended Alex from the press by trying to bring in "privacy rights" for athletes. Hey, Peter...there are no privacy issues when he gets caught hanging out with a bombshell that's not his wife heading into a strip club so stop embarrasing yourself. They had on blonde wigs and were shouting in unison "Ha," when the ball was popped up to him, so his two out, two strike blast off of Papelbon was sweet revenge for him and the Yanks.
It was cold and pouring rain when Rivera entered the game. He's been shell shocked this year and the Yanks have never been able to give him the opportunities to right "the ship" so far. The Red Sox also have a habit of scoring on Moe a little too much but last night he battled and won an epic at bat against Big Papi, who just missed a "jack." Then he struck out Manny, hit Youkilis and took care of Lowell in vintage Rivera style; twisting him into a pretzel for strike three and the game...
Will this be the win that finally carries over into a hot streak for this team? DeSalvo and Clppard open the series in Chicago against a struggling team. but unless the offense hits like they have against the Boston starting staff I wouldn't be that optimistic.