Tampa vs Cleveland
TAM: McClung (6-11, 7.11 ERA)
CLE: Lee (18-4, 3.90 ERA)
advantage: Cleveland

Toronto vs Boston
TOR: Lilly (9-11, 5.72 ERA)
BOS: Arroyo (14-9, 4.29 ERA)
advantage: Boston -- Arroyo has not lost in September. Lilly just got rocked in his last start.

Chicago vs Detroit
CHW: Contreras (14-7, 3.66 ERA)
DET: Douglass (5-4, 5.62 ERA)
advantage: Chicago

So the moral of the story here is that Chacon needs to win. Unfortunately, this is the closest pitching matchup of the four AL games that anyone is watching.
NYY: Chacon (7-10, 3.49 ERA)
BAL: Cabrera (10-12, 4.58 ERA)

How 'bout this for a very optomistic (and perhaps unrealistic) view of those same pitching matchups:

1. Sweet Lou is starting certified lefty-killer E. Perez tonight, and hitting him 4th (Cliff Lee being a southpaw and all). Besides, by the law of averages, isn't McClung due for a shutout now?

2. By LOA again, Arroyo must be due for a September loss, and Lilly is clearly due for a win. Plus, certified Sox-killer Reed Johnson is playing tonight.

3. LOA again, Contreras has won 7 straight starts - time for a loss, Jose! Meanwhile, Douglass is a far better pitcher at home (3-1, 3.52 ERA) than he is on the road (2-3, 8.33 ERA) - and the game is in Detroit.

4. Chacon always comes through when the Yanks need a win. And boy do we need this one . . .

Faithfully helpless, that's us!

I know that Sierra can hit a fastball and he's better from the left side, but can't they just stop the experiments and put Bubba every day in CF and let Bernie DH or sit him and let Sierra DH.

Does anybody disagree with this?

IMO, Torre should have insisted that Bernie play LF regardless of the way he felt, but that's not Torre's way with "his guys."

We could really use some more outfielding talent. Maybe we could pry Jason Bay away from Pittsburgh.

20 pitches from Cabrera, 9 strikes, 3 outs.

Although Matsui and Sierra did hit the ball pretty hard.

Got to work Cabrera into trouble, boy. Grind it, as they say.

Sierra is now 4 for 12 v. Cabrera Joe, is it time to sit him now? or do you want to wait until he's 4 for 14? OK, I thought so too.

Let's go, Yanks!

I get the feeling that Bernie may be contemplating retirement, and wants to go out on a high note.

That's why he's the only one hitting tonight.

Though I have to give Giambi credit for the walks, and Sheff for almost hitting a HR.

Only 69 pitches by Cy Cabrera through 5. Its going to be a long night of lamenting if they don't step it up.

Good thing Millar sucks and flied out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

I noticed at Saturday's game that the Yanks were not patient at the plate at all. At least tonight they seem to be running up the count.

The Sox Jays game is on pace to finish waaaaaay after ours...

Now ADD ON

We gotta win this one.

Sorry to be a filth-mouth.

Here comes the DP.

The jays left them juiced. I can't believe its still the 4th. inning. I would not bet that they will lose this one.

...WTF?!?! IF AROD HAD TIME TO REVIEW TAPE BETWEEN INNINGS INSTEAD OF GOLD GLOVE DEFENSE, HE'D WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN AND HIT 60 HOME RUNS.

I have to remember, I'm having fun, I'm watching a game, I'm not working, I'm having fun.

Based on that logic, Mo is the MVP.

(For the Yankees, just in case confirmation is needed)

Good start, Jorge has a hit. Ruben cannot screw this up this inning.

Finally, two runners on, no outs. Let's go yankees!

Now is the time to get them. Byrdak, Kline, Julio, whatever. That Chris Ray guy is their best bullpen pitcher (ok, maybe B. J. Ryan, but he sucked against Sox).

Captain's going to show them how it's done.

One more bomb should cement the MVP

Now make it hold Shawn, just one more inning.

Ok, keep them there, Shawn.

G-man, Sheff and Mats up next inning, and please, someone, anyone PH for Sierra.

I would go with Andy Phillips.

Bad call on ball four there...

Joe asking for inning plus from Gordon, lets hope it works out

Another nice outing from Chacon. It's up to Flash to get out of the jam, and up to the offense to put up a few insurance runs.

NOW

I think Chacon stays, I dont think Gordon would be a good idea in the middle of an inning.

Not that it matters, but anyway. So far so good.

Top of the 7th, 7-2 Jays

Roll the dice and go with a PR?

That's what he does. But is it necessary with Sheff batting behind Giambi?

GO D-RAYS!!!!!!!!!!

So its not only the Yanks that lose v. them.

Shaun P in 7 is 1 for 4 thus far.

It is upto us to make that count.

We need this run. Mora and Tejada coming up.

Damn!

PLEASE

shocked

C'mon Flash, let's nail this one down and get us some sleep!

Now up to Mo.

Now we need some runs - let's go, Bernie - make up for that horrible call by the home plate ump.

Make it count guys! Some insurance for Mo now.

Rob ROY! Rob ROY! Nice hit there.

Let's go, Cap'n!

If A-rod isn't the MVP, Mo is!!!

Still at the top of AL East, and at the very least, sole possession of WC lead.

Now that the Yansk game is over, i can finally begin to function for the rest night

And yes Alex (#305), the whole neighborhood heard mine ;-)...

OK, there we go - let's get those last 5 outs, now, eh? Wish I had a Labatt's 'bout now . . .

I'm all over Sox/Jays on Gameday. I feel like I'm there cheering in the stands. Go birds!!!!

Thank you.

Bklyn, we'll keep you up to date - but I'm sure you could turn the game on and the Sox will still lose. =)

Ouch. 1-0 was a tough loss for them today.

Now, you need to predict the performance for tomorrow... How will Clement do? Can Small be big again? and will TB pull off an amazing sweep?

I have no idea what to expect tomorrow - except that we'll all be back here, helplessly watching and keeping the faith.

Two to go!

And oh, Schoeneweis is a lefty. =)

Big, fat, cookie monster singles. Stupid, lazy, ugly manny coming up.

Tomorrow is our day people. Win and we are in the drivers seat!!!! WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

There we go, boys! First place all alone!!! Its been fun - have a nice day in Japan, mike, and a good night to everyone else.

Back where we belong!

The fact is he is hands down the best player in baseball right now. They can give the stupid MVP to the cookie monster if they want, but if they do, they were not paying attention to what this guy does on the field AND at the batters box.

Our grandsons will ask us about A-Rod they way we ask ours about Mantle.

man f you ortiz.

If Small can win tomorrow, he will have earned a special place in Yankee fans' memories forever.

Think about it for one second. Small wins and we go into Fenway a game up. The first game at Fenway features Wang vs. Wells. Wang gets a similar opportunity. Winning the next two games with virtual unknowns at season's start would put us in a position to win the division with Randy Johnson on the mound. It's a big if, but who would have thought we'd see Small and Wang in a spot like this?

Great drama.

That having been said....

Clement is 0-2 vs. Toronto this year with an 8.66 ERA and a .282 BAA. He's made 5 September starts this year and he is 1-3 with a 5.79 ERA and a .273 BAA.

About two weeks ago (9/13) he went 6 innings against the Jays and gave up 6 runs.

Here are his BAA and OPSA breakdowns on the season:

VS. LEFT: .273 / .786 VS. RIGHT: .240 / .646 HOME: .258 / .705 AWAY: .256 / .736

Look for Frank Catalanotto, Eric Hinske, and Corey Koskie to test out the Pesky Pole against Mr. Clement. We can only hope.

Most importantly, are guys just need to focus on the task at hand and earn another win to at least maintain the lead, or better yet, take advantage of an unlikely loss by the Sox!

Sure better than being tied or behind, that's for sure!

Small's win tomorrow would virtually guarantee us a one game playoff in Yankee Stadium. That's how I look at it.

Shall we?

AVG. A-Rod .319, Ortiz .296
OPS. A-Rod 1.03, Ortiz .993
OBP. A-Rod .421, Ortiz .392
SLG. A-Rod .610, Ortiz .600
HRs. A-Rod 47, Ortiz 46
RUNS A-Rod 119, Ortiz 115
HITS A-Rod 188, Ortiz 174
TBs. A-Rod 359, Ortiz 353
SBs. A-Rod 18, Ortiz 1
HBP. A-Rod 16, Ortiz 1
GIDP A-Rod 8, Ortiz 13

Ortiz leads in the following stats:

2Bs. Ortiz 39, A-Rod 28
RBI. Ortiz 144, A-Rod 129
BBs. Ortiz 98, A-Rod 90
SOs. Ortiz 120, A-Rod 137
XBH. Ortiz 86, A-Rod 76
SFs. Ortiz 9, A-Rod 3

Plus, A-Rod plays a Gold Glove 3B every night. A-Rod has played about 1360 innings in the field this year, which translates to 151 full games. He has had 406 Total Chances between 3B and SS and has only 11 errors.

Ortiz has played 10 games at 1B and 78 innings, which translates to a little more than 8 full games in the field. He's had 82 Total Chances and has made 2 errors. In fact, in Ortiz' CAREER he's played a total of 221 games in the field and 1093 innings at 1B.

Let me repeat that....he has a career 1093 innings in the field....A-Rod has 1360 this year...at 3B!

More argument needed? I think not.

"Wright, who is now in the Yankees' bullpen . . ."

Now if we can just get Crosby into the lineup tonight instead of Sierra . . .

A very sweet win, that a lot of people contributed to. A-Rod was huge, Chacon was the player of the game, Jeter drove in the winning run, Mo was, well, Mo.

And special props to the oft-maligned Jorge Posada. He was the winning run, and his gunning down of Matos saved the Yankee lead. Probably sucked to be him Tuesday night, with that awful stuff from eight different pitchers, but he stepped up for this one.

I guess the only outcomes that matter right now are tonight's (in order from best to not so good but not terrible either):

Thursday

1. Sox lose, Yanks win = Yanks two games up, need just one win for the division, Sox need a sweep for the division

2. Sox win, Yanks win OR Sox lose, Yanks lose = Yanks 1 game up, Yanks need 2 wins for the division, Sox need a sweep for the division

3. Sox win, Yanks lose = tie, first team to two wins gets the division

If I've done this right, the nice thing is that, thanks to last night, the Yanks have to win only two more games, regardless of what happens tonight. Boy, I hope I've figured this right . . . someone please let me know if I haven't!