Projo Sox Blog

But last night's Red Sox-Rays thriller was the essence of what attracts so many of us to this wonderful, exasperating, uplifting, heartbreaking and, in the end, thoroughly entertaining game. Here were the upstarts, teetering under the weight of a September losing streak -- their effort and their heart questioned by a columnist in their own town -- being tracked down by the unflappable, monolithic defending World Series champions. Their first-place lead in jeopardy, in a place where they haven't won all year, they cling to a narrow lead all night, even though they squander opportunity after opportunity, until there are four outs to go. Then the roof falls in: Walk, home run. 4-3 Red Sox, Papelbon coming in. Game over, lead surrendered, momentum shifted . . . perhaps forever. Right?

Wrong.

No matter where your loyalties lie in the A.L. East chase, there's no denying the Rays credit for their 5-4 victory last night, achieved by scoring two runs off one of the game's top closers in the ninth inning. The Red Sox' view, as captured by our own Joe McDonald in his story of the game, is that Jonathan Papelbon failed . . . and he did. But the Rays have every reason to be saluting themselves for the way they rallied last night, and salute themselves they did. "I think it's pretty significant, particularly how we did it," said Joe Maddon (Tampa Tribune). "It shows our heart," said Scott Kazmir. (St. Petersburg Times) "It was magic, all things considered. And it was so necessary," wrote Joe Henderson in the Tribune. Even outsiders, like ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra, were impressed.

So Tampa Bay won a game at Fenway Park this season, finally. The Rays will leave Boston in first place no matter what. And they sent a message that the division race isn't the ritualized crowing of the Red Sox that everyone assumed it to be, especially after the happenings of the last week or so.

Quite a turnaround.

And, yes, it's why we watch.

ARE YOU IMPRESSED NOW? That's what Baseball Analysts' Patrick Sullivan is asking the Times' John Romano, author of the where's-the Rays'-heart? column yesterday morning.

AND JUST TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE UNBELIEVABLE . . . The hero of the night started the day in Scranton, Pa., getting ready for a playoff game with the rest of the Durham Bulls. Our own Paul Kenyon (online only), Yahoo! Sports' Gordon Edes and Romano tell the story of Dan Johnson, who got caught in Boston traffic, didn't arrive at Fenway in time to start the game (as Maddon had intended), but drove a 3-and-2 Papelbon fastball into the bleachers behind the Red Sox bullpen leading off the ninth to tie the game.

E.S.P.: For about 7 minutes it looked as if the night's hero would be Jason Bay, who hit the two-run homer off Warwick's Dan Wheeler in the bottom of the eighth. But, writes Sean McAdam, he had a premonition the game wasn't yet over.

WE WON, AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS: That was Wheeler's happy assessment of the night's proceedings, even though he was saddled with a blown save and almost lost the game. McDonald talked to him in this online-only piece.

A MAN, NOT A MACHINE: Joe Haggerty, in his Hacks With Haggs blog, says last night proves that Papelbon (right) is human. In a bit of bad timing, SI.com's Tom Verducci had posted a column a bit earlier labeling Papelbon "probably the best closer in the game" because he has the "ability to consistently lock down more than the final three outs."

THIS IS A RECORDING: McAdam chronicles an all-too-familiar night for Daisuke Matsuzaka and says that, nearly two years into his stay, the Sox still don't know exactly what they have.

QUICK BITS: McDonald and Kenyon report it looks like Julio Lugo's season is over . . . David Ortiz wasn't in the starting lineup, but Kenyon reports it was because Kazmir was starting, not due to any wrist discomfort. He did get into the game in the seventh and wound up going 0-for-2 . . . McAdam has more postgame tidbits.

IT WAS A HAIR-RAISING FEAT, AFTER ALL: Two members of the 2004 Red Sox -- Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon -- earn spots on the San Diego Union-Tribune's Don Norcross' All-Hair Baseball Team.

MOVE OVER BABE, HERE COMES DEREK: Derek Jeter passed Babe Ruth for second place on the Yankees' all-time hit list (left, AP Photo) in the Yanks' 7-1 win over the Angels. (New York Daily News)

TAKE A SEAT: The Yankees expect Ivan Rodriguez to be suspended for his fight with Torii Hunter Monday night. Hunter should also be punished, as well. (New York Post)

NOT WITH A BANG, BUT WITH A WHIMPER: Andy Pettitte's second tour of the Yankees isn't going the way he anticipated, either personally or for the team, and he's unsure what the future holds. (New York Daily News)

WHATEVER WORKS: You've probably seen this by now, but some unemployed guy in Asbury Park took advantage of the striking resemblance he bears to Joba Chamberlain, to, ah, woo perhaps as many as 100 women over the course of the summer. (New York Post) (Bet none of them were from Boston.) He then went on Howard Stern's radio show and revealed more about himself, including the facts that he was a high school teammate of current Blue Jay Kevin Mench and is "probably" facing jail time for what he did but "really doesn't care." (thefightins.com)

I'LL BE BACK: Billy Wagner broke down and cried during his meeting with the press yesterday, but vows he'll be pitching somewhere in 2010 after undergoing surgery for the torn medial collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. (New York Post) He understands, though, that the Mets can't wait for him and that he'll probably have to go elsewhere.

A.L. RACES: The Central Division got a lot tighter yesterday as the White Sox lost a doubleheader to the Blue Jays (Chicago Sun-Times) -- who've now won 10 in a row, by the way, and arrive in Boston Friday night -- and the Twins beat the Royals (Minneapolis Star-Tribune), cutting Chicago's lead to one game . . . Minnesota also sliced a game off the Red Sox' wild-card lead; it's now at six . . . The Angels' loss (Riverside Press-Enterprise) kept their magic number for clinching the West at two, and lowered their lead over Tampa Bay in the battle for best record in the A.L. to one-half game.

N.L. RACES: A pair of 10-8 games -- a Mets' win over the Nationals (New York Daily News) and a Phillies' loss to the Marlins (Philadelphia Daily News) -- pushed New York's lead in the East to 2 1/2 games . . . It's still the Cubs by 4 1/2 in the Central, but only because both teams keep losing. Chicago's now dropped eight of nine after last night's 4-3 defeat in St. Louis (Chicago Sun-Times), which was followed by a Lou Piniella eruption, but the Brewers just keep falling, too. Their streak is at seven of nine after a 5-4, 11-inning defeat at the hands of the Reds (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Milwaukee still leads Philadelphia in the wild card by three, with the Cardinals 3 1/2 back and the hard-charging Astros, 9-3 winners over the Pirates last night (Houston Chronicle), now down by only four . . . The Dodgers beat the Padres (Los Angeles Times) and the Diamomdbacks lost to the Giants (Arizona Republic), putting Los Angeles up by 2 1/2 in the West.

IT'S BACK! The tight National League races have Baseball Musings' David Pinto once again figuring the massive tie scenario. We'll be checking back daily, David.

UNREWARDED: Cliff Lee is a shoo-in for the A.L. Cy Young Award -- SI.com's David Sabino chronicles how good he's been this year -- but the blog Boy of Summer makes the case that Roy Halladay's been the better pitcher this year. So does old friend Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus.

NO WORRIES: The Hardball Times' Josh Kalk analyzes the issue and concludes that CC Sabathia's high pitch counts as a Brewer probably won't affect him next season.

NOT THIS YEAR: It looks like MLB's streak of setting new attendance records every year is coming to an end. (The Biz of Baseball)

TALE OF TWO JOES: Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown reports it's been a good year for the one in Los Angeles, not as nice for the one in New York.

LOCAL BOYS: It appeared as Paul Konerko suffered a serious knee injury last night in the nightcap of the White Sox' doubleheader with the Blue Jays, but Chicago is hopeful Konerko only has a ligament sprain, not a tear, and might be back in the lineup in a few days. (Chicago Sun-Times)

HERE AND THERE: The Reds' Brandon Phillips suffered a broken finger that will sideline him for the rest of the year (cincinnati.com) . . . After a controversy erupted when he said he might pitch somewhere other than Atlanta in 2009 (Big League Stew), John Smoltz clarified his remarks by saying he'd stay with the Braves for as long as they wanted him (mlb.com) . . . Carlos Zambrano had a successful side session yesterday and will make his scheduled start Saturday for the Cubs (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . More good news for the Cubbies: Rich Harden returns to action on Thursday (Chicago Tribune) . . . Freddy Garcia will make his Tigers debut a week from tonight (Detroit Free Press) . . . The A's have released five-time All-Star Mike Sweeney (San Jose Mercury News) . . . Travis Hafner is back with the Indians and he contributed to last night's 6-1 win over the Orioles (Cleveland Plain Dealer) . . . Mets reliever Ambiorix Burgos wa arrested for an assault on his girlfriend (New York Daily News) . . . Looks like the Marlins might get their new park, after all. (AP via sportingnews.com)

AND FINALLY . . . And you thought he was gone.

Curt Schilling made his weekly appearance on WEEI yesterday and used Tom Brady's injury as a stepping-off point for a full-frontal attack on New York. "The euphoria in New York is palpable" about Brady's injury. "They want us to be as bitter and mad and miserable as they are, and unfortunately it's not going to happen." And from there, well . . .

-- "The Yankees suck this year and they are bitter and mad and making excuses over that."

-- "I was front row and center when their, quote/unquote, dynasty ended." (Unsure whether he's referring to the Diamondbacks' beating the Yanks in 2001, or the Red Sox beating them in 2004.)

-- "Now they got Tom going down so New York's excited. It's unfortunate, but when you crawl to the top of the pile you will have people trying to knock you down."

Schilling was the subject of a rather straight news story in the Daily News (save for the lead) and, of course, a snarkier one in the Post. And then the New York blogosphere erupted.

Barstool Sports sided with Schilling. ("[When] you're right you're right.") Disagreeing -- if the stratospheric, NSFW venom oozing from these sites can accurately be captured by that particular word -- were The Bronx Zoo ("fat, obnoxious, [obscenity]-talking blowhard"), Was Watching ("old, out of shape, over-opinionated, still trying to live off his glory days"), River Ave. Blues ("What did we do this season without a flurry of dumb Curt Schilling quotes?"), IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS . . . caught ("What we missed was your intellect"), matsuifan.com ("We didn't cheer when Schilling got injured because he sucks and we wanted to face him this year") and NYY Stadium Insider ("Curt Schilling's inane babble hits an all-time low"). The quotes I pulled, by the way, were of the PG-rated variety; click the links to get the full force of the blasts.

Little wonder, then, that the Red Sox said 'no' to TBS' request to use Schilling as an analyst next month. (projo.com)

-- ART MARTONE