By ArtMartone
CSNNE.com
Welcome toFirst Pitch, aquick spin around the world of Major League Baseball . . . or at leastthe corner of it that most concerns the Red Sox. For a complete wrapupof Tuesday's action, check out Craig Calcaterra's AndThatHappened(hardballtalk.nbcsports.com).
ONE MAN'S HEAVEN IS ANOTHER MAN'S HELL: Sure glad someone's enjoying this. (cbssports.com)
Last night ended just as it began, with the Red Sox and Rays tied for the wild-card lead. But it took 3 12 hours of drama and torture (espn.com) that -- if the Sox weren't staring down the barrel of historical infamy -- would probably enthrall us just as much as it does the rest of the baseball world. (Well, maybe some -- like John Tomase of the Boston Herald -- can appreciate it.) But for many, like me, it's sort of an acid flashback (Boston Globe) that I'd just as soon do without, thanks.
Anyway, the Sox beat the Orioles (csnne.com), 8-7, thanks in large part to Ryan Lavarnway (csnne.com) and Alfredo Aceves (csnne.com). (And if you had them in the "late season Red Sox heroes" pool, go buy a bunch of lottery tickets because your luck is, as they say in Twitter-verse, trending.) It kept them tied with Tampa Bay, which choked off a bases-loaded, no-out Yankee rally by turning a fifth-inning triple play (cbssports.com) to keep New York's lead at 3-2, then benefitted from Matt Joyce obeying his father's orders (St. Petersburg Times) in pulling out a 5-3 win. (Tampa Tribune) And, to quote the headline on the St. Petersburg Times' Gary Shelton's column, Tampa Bay's season of wonder goes down to the wire.
So does the Red Sox' season of . . . hmm. What? Something less than wonder, that's for sure.
SO NOW WHAT? Since the Yankees truly don't give a damn, (New York Daily News) it's safe to assume David Price and the Rays will beat whatever group of minor-league meatball artists the all-we-care-about-is-the-playoffs Yankees send to the mound tonight. That leaves it up to Jon Lester, pitching on three days' rest, and the Red Sox to force a Thursday play-in game at Tropicana Field. The starting times are out for both that game and the first game of the ALDS. (csnne.com)
Boston Red Sox
Question is, will the Red Sox be involved in either?
WHAT'S THE POINT? Sean McAdam thinks it might not make a difference (csnne.com), because even if they win they'll have used up so much of their dependable pitching to get there that they'll be easy pickings for whoever the play in the ALDS.
HERE'S THE POINT: Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald says the Sox need to win and get to the postseason to erase the stench of the last month.
AND TO GET TO THE POINT . . . the desperate-for-pitching Sox may even turn to Clay Buchholz tonight. (csnne.com)
YOU COULD KNOCK ME OVER WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER: He loves Terry Francona and, based on his unhappy parting with the Red Sox, we can assume he's not Theo Epstein's biggest fan. So I can't say I'm shocked to see how Curt Schilling divvies up the blame for all this. (csnne.com)
SELF-PRESERVATION: Joe Biden's a member of Red Sox Nation these days, but his motives are strictly selfish. (boston.com)
LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE: When you've done your job and clinched your playoff berth when you should have, as the Yankees did, these are the kind of things you worry about at season's end. (cutoffman.mlbblogs.com)
MISERY LOVES COMPANY: It took them an extra day, but the Braves have also squandered their huge wild-card lead. They were clobbered by the Phillies last night (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and the Cardinals beat the Astros (St. Louis Post Dispatch), meaning Atlanta and St. Louis -- like Boston and Tampa Bay -- are tied going into the regular season's final day.
ADIOS, OZZIE: "He came in loud, brash and cocky before the 2004 season. It was only fitting that Ozzie Guillen went out the same way." So writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times on the news that Ozzie Guillen is leaving the White Sox to (probably) manage the Marlins. As my friend Bill Reynolds would say: Ozzie, they didn't make two of you.
AND FINALLY . . . Bill James turns movie critic and gives a thumb's up to 'Moneyball'. (ljworld.com)