Hardball Heaven

A tight, well-pitched ballgame last night between Jon Lester and Kelvim Escobar quickly turned sour for the Sox, as the Angels put together a six-run 7th inning to pull away. First game goes to the Orange County Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, 8-3. And it gets tougher today with rookie phenom Jered Weaver (7-0, 1.15 ERA) going for the Angels.

The loss created a virtual dead heat in the AL East, as the Yankees continued to roll last night behind a gem from Chien Ming Wang. The gap is now a half-game, and the teams are tied in the loss column. Of course, the annoying Yanks fans are puffing out their chests this morning on the local sports radio station. Every now and then, I get thisclose to calling in and making a few points, but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. Besides, that's what blogs like this are for...

What kills me about Yankee fans right now is that they truly believe their team deserves Purple Hearts for keeping the race close without Sheffield and Matsui. Are you kidding me? They say that it would be exactly like the Red Sox losing Manny and Ortiz. Yeah, okay... only problem with that analogy is that the Yankees can absorb the loss of two key bats because their deep pockets allow them to field a pretty deep lineup. Yank-me fans forget that they've got Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, and Jorge Posada to pick up the offensive slack. Who do the Red Sox have to pick up the slack if Manny and Papi were out at the same time? Ummmm... Trot Nixon, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek? It's not even close.

We're starting to see some trades trickle across the wire as we head toward Monday night's deadline. Biggest one so far was Brewers trading Carlos Lee to the Rangers for Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, and Laynce Nix. Some relievers have also changed uniforms. Today's Herald reports that the Sox are making Trot Nixon, Wily Mo Pena, and (hmmmm...) Coco Crisp available. Are they making an all-out effort for Dontrelle?