A FASHION tip for all those making the trip this weekend to that rat-infested yet charming slice of New England known as Fenway Park: Wear black. If you can’t make it, send flowers and a card.
Anything short of a three-game sweep by the Red Sox and it’s time to stop the traffic and let the procession of cars roll through.
Looking ahead to October, the A’s and Mariners pose serious threats to the Yankees’ throne. The Red Sox never really have, and the only way they can change that is to pull off a rare sweep.
Roger Clemens has a better chance of firing his first career no-hitter tonight at Fenway than the Red Sox have of sweeping the Yankees, despite the Yanks’ uninspired play the past month.
The problem with believing the Red Sox can sweep the Yankees – who won yesterday to take two of three from Toronto – is that in order to win all three games of a series a team must first win the opener.
Frank Castillo starts tonight for the Red Sox. His best pitch is a changeup. Clemens starts for the Yankees. His best pitch inspired the nickname Rocket. Plus, his fastball has aged better than Sophia Loren and can be heard much more easily than it can be seen.
Clemens has won five Cy Young Awards. Castillo has pitched for five teams in four seasons. Clemens is the first American League pitcher ever to win 17 of his first 18 decisions. Castillo has one win in his past six starts.
Picture Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette in his crew cut and glasses at the plate with a bat in his hands. That’s what Roger Clemens will be doing tonight, which makes a Rocket no-hitter a greater possibility than a Red Sox sweep.
In explaining his decision to let Clemens pursue free-agent dollars elsewhere, Duquette opined that The Rocket was in the “twilight” of his career. Clemens responded with back-to-back Cy Young Awards for the Blue Jays and will win another this season for the Yankees.
The Red Sox are reeling, and Clemens would love to be the one to nudge them all the way into winter.
So much was made of how much tougher the Red Sox would become once their fallen stars, Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, returned, as if all the overachieving efforts of lesser players could be taken for granted for the remainder of the season.
Turns out the Red Sox were tougher to beat without Garciaparra than with him. They were 61-48 when the All-Star shortstop returned from wrist surgery. They went 10-11 after his return. He checked back onto the disabled list Wednesday and might not be heard from again until 2002.
With or without Garciaparra, the Red Sox aren’t as good as the Yankees. Under fired manager Jimy Williams or converted pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, the Red Sox aren’t as good as the Yankees.
It’s sweep-or-bust for the Red Sox and in their guts they know it.
“We’re the ones trying to play catch-up,” Kerrigan said after the Red Sox ran their losing streak to four in Cleveland on Wednesday. “You can put it down that every game is a must-win for us from now on.”
A loss tonight would kill any realistic Red Sox hopes of winning the East. It would not kill the thrill of another re-enactment of the Yankees-Red Sox series.
Tomorrow afternoon’s pitching matchup features Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and Pedro Martinez.
El Duque hasn’t won a regular-season game since last September. Pedro, his season interrupted by rotator-cuff problems, hasn’t won since he suggested digging up The Bambino so he could “drill him in the [butt].”
He said then he didn’t believe in curses. He at least must wonder by now. Sunday night’s series finale features Mike Mussina against the man he replaced in the rotation. By then, David Cone and teammates will be pennant race ghosts, barring the unthinkable happening in tonight’s game: The Rocket being handed the Executioner’s job and handing it back.
Dress in black.
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YANKEES VS. RED SOX: THE RIVALRY CONTINUES
How Yanks and Red Sox have fared this season:
* April 13 – Red Sox 3 – Yankees 2: With the Yanks up 2-1 in the bottom of 10th inning, Manny Ramirez singled to center to drive in his second and third runs.
* April 14 – Yankees 3 – Red Sox 2: Alfonso Soriano accounted for all three of the Yankee runs with two RBIs and a run, including a solo shot to left in the ninth inning.
* April 15 – Red Sox 5 – Yankees 4: Homers by Jorge Posada and Paul O’Neill were not enough to withstand a Red Sox three-run seventh inning rally.
* April 16 – Red Sox 4 – Yankees 1: Mike Mussina suffered his first loss of the season as the Bombers could muster only five hits.
* April 20 – Yankees 6 – Red Sox 1: Andy Pettitte pitched a complete game six-hit gem.
* April 21 – Red Sox 8 – Yankees 3: Mussina got knocked out in the fourth inning after giving up four earned runs and six hits.
* April 22 – Yankees 4 – Red Sox 3: O’Neill and David Justice each homered in the bottom of the 10th to lift the Yanks.
* May 23 – Yankees 7 – Red Sox 3: Derek Jeter went 5-for-5 and Pettitte pitched 8 innings.
* May 24 – Yankees 2 – Red Sox 1: Mussina went eight innings and struck out 12.
* May 28 – Yankees 4 – Red Sox 3: Yanks knocked out David Cone early and Posada doubled in O’Neill in the eighth inning.
* May 30 – Red Sox 3 – Yankees 0: Pedro Martinez ended his Yankee win drought by pitching eight innings, giving up four hits and striking out 13.
* June 4 – Yankees 7 – Red Sox 6: Luis Sojo singles in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in David Justice.
Yankees lead season series: 7-5
