Yanks lead is now 7 games, the biggest it's been all season. Tonight the Sox blew a 6-2 lead and lost 8-6. They left SEVENTEEN men on base.
Why? Have the Yankees "bought" another one? Must be all those late-season acquisitions, like always. Fuckin' Yanks. It's that damn Aaron Boone. He's hitting .154 since coming to NY. Oh wait, it must not be him. Well, David Delucci is hitting .182. Wait, it must be Jesse Orosco, with his 12.27 ERA. Ah! Gotta be Home-run-do Benitez. Shit... umm, yeah.
I know! Could it be because the entire baseball world that was so convinced Boston had finally built a Yankee-proof pitching staff was WRONG?
Scott Sauerbeck: 0-0, 0 Sv, 4.05 ERA. Scott Williamson: 0-1, 5.40 ERA. Todd Jones: 6.64 ERA. Jeff Suppan: 0-1, 8.82 ERA. What a bunch of great pickups. Who blew it for the Sox tonight? Here's a hint: his initials are Byung-Hyun Kim. If he keeps pitching like he did tonight, the Sox won't have to worry about how he'll perform in the playoffs. Sox are now 2 games behind Oakland for the AL wild card.
It's not just the pitchers' fault, the "best offense in baseball", that hit .308 in May, .315 in June and .289 in July, is hitting a whopping .247 in August.
In other words...
THEY'RE CHOKING!
You can't blame this on the payroll. The Yankees spark plug since coming to the team has been Karim Garcia (.343 BA with NY, .944 August SLG%) who makes less than $1M a year. Big names like Mondesi, Zeile, and Ventura, Benitez are gone (and thus, their salary hits don't count.)
Jeter's hitting .321, but he's overrated. Nomar's better. Right?
We all know the real reason for this...
-Mikey