Projo Sox Blog

And why not, because the brand of baseball put on display by the Red Sox and Rays over the last three nights . . . well, put it this way. If these three games had been played in October, especially the last two, we'd be talking about them for decades. Whatever partisan petticoats you wear -- and mine, I freely admit, is red -- shouldn't blind you to the fact that this was baseball at its absolute best, in excitement if not always in execution.

Joe McDonald tells us all about last night's 14-inning affair, which turned on Carlos Pena's three-run homer with two outs in the 14th off Mike Timlin -- the entire rally, in fact, started with two outs -- and wasn't decided until the Rays had to call on Jason Hammel after Troy Percival was injured to wiggle out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the 14th. The fact that it was the wet-behind-the-ears Rays pulling it out over the battle-scarred Sox made it even more compelling.

"If that's what playoff baseball's all about," said Hammel, "it's going to be fun." (Tampa Tribune)

It sure is.

DEJA VU: Timlin (right) was in the game because, obviously, the Sox had pretty much run through their bullpen in the first 13 innings. What we heard afterwards is what we've heard from him so often this season: He thought he made a good pitch, and the guy just hit it. That being the case -- if hitters are now consistently hitting his good pitches -- and with his ERA now at 6.09, you wonder if there'll be a spot on the postseason roster for him.

HOMETOWN HERO: Reveling in the moment -- but in a very respectful way, I must admit -- was Boston native Carlos Pena, who touched Timlin for the game-winning homer.

WE'RE BELIEVERS: Everyone was down on the Rays after they dropped the series opener Monday night, but their performance over the last two nights is winning over Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune and John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times. As for the Rays themselves . . . well, they always believed. "It's hard to top [what the Rays did Tuesday] night, but we may have,'' said Joe Madden. (St. Petersburg Times)

THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS FOR THE SOX . . . and last night it was Josh Beckett's performance. Steven Krasner tells us all about it in his final Inside The Game feature. (Go to bottom for details.)

BETTER ANALOGY: Many people -- me included -- have been talking about the resemblance these Rays bear to the 1967 Red Sox, but Chad Finn thinks a better comp is the 1991 Braves. And, you know, he's right.

LUCKY BREAK: Percival says he's fine (Tampa Tribune), but that might not be such good news for Tampa Bay. His ERA since the All-Star break is 8.10, his ERA since returning from his latest stint on the disabled list is 27.00 (baseball-reference.com), and rotoworld.com points out that if he hadn't been removed from the game last night the Rays "probably wouldn't have won."

WAIT, I KNOW YOU: Scruffy Wallace (left), the bagpipe player for the Dropkick Murphys, was very nearly the guy who interfered with Mike Lowell's second-inning fly ball. (Boston Herald) But a fan right behind him reached over Wallace (who was also trying to snag a souvenir) and deflected the ball to the ground. That meant that Wallace got to stay at the game, while the other fan was escorted out.

ELIJAH BEING ELIJAH: Every so often, Elijah Dukes reminds the Rays why it was such a good idea to get rid of him. (New York Post)

LET'S GO OVER IT ONE MORE TIME: I say this every September, but: Please, someone explain to me when -- and why -- this became such a source of hilarity in baseball. (St. Petersburg Times)

WE'LL NEVER FORGET: The players who lived through it, like current Sox starter Tim Wakefield and new NESN analyst Lou Merloni, will always remember Sept. 11, 2001, particularly since the Red Sox played in New York on Sept. 10. (Boston Herald)

NOTHING'S CHANGED: He's out for the season, and most people assume his time in Boston is over, but Julio Lugo says he's still the Red Sox shortstop. (Boston Herald) "I just got hurt," he shrugs. His replacement, Jed Lowrie, is slumping but the Sox claim they're not worried. (projo.com)

YOU SEE? Curt Schilling found a Yankee fan who said he was right in his anti-New York diatribe the other day. (38pitches.com)

SIMPLE PLEASURES: The Yankees were spared the indignity of having to watch the Angels' victory celebration, as Los Angeles of Anaheim's 4-2 win over the Yanks only clinched a tie for the A.L. West title. (New York Daily News) By the time the Angels' championship became official, upon completion of the Rangers' loss in Seattle a few hours later, the Yankees were on their way back to New York, getting ready for Yankee Stadium's final homestand. (New York Post)

TBS STILL BELIEVES Most everyone has written off the Yankees' postseason chances . . . but not, apparently, the folks at TBS. The Yanks are all over this video hyping the upcoming playoffs.

TAKING THEIR MEDICINE: To no one's surprise, Ivan Rodriguez and Torii Hunter each received a two-game suspension for Monday night's fight. (New York Daily News) To everyone's surprise, neither appealed the penalty.

IT'S ALBERT, BUT . . . Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown says Albert Pujols is the best in a crowded field of legitmate National League MVP candidates. But The Y! Sports Blog thinks Carlos Delgado is the MCP -- Most Clutch Player -- and Big League Stew issues a formal apology to Delgado for declaring him to be washed up. No matter what, the Daily News' Bill Madden says Delgado is the Most Valuable Met.

A.L. RACES: The Angels, as noted earlier, clinched the A.L. West -- the earliest clinching date in division history -- with their win over the Yankees. (Los Angeles Times) But despite the 17 1/2-game margin between themselves and the second-place Rangers, the Halos say it wasn't as easy as it looked (Los Angeles Times) . . . The White Sox maintained their one-game lead in the Central by snapping the Blue Jays' 10-game winning streak (Chicago Tribune) while the Twins were beating up on Kansas City (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . Minnesota, however, did pick up another game on the Red Sox in the wild-card race and now trails by five.

N.L. RACES: The Mets are, in the parlance of the NFL, beginning to get some separation in the East. Their sloppy 13-10 win over the Nationals (New York Daily News) enabled them to increase their lead to 3 1/2 games because the Phillies lost to the Marlins, 7-3. (Philadelphia Daily News) Of course, the Mets had plenty of separation last year, too, and we all know what happened . . . It's still the Cubs by 4 1/2 in the Central, but this time it's because the division leaders both won. Chicago held off the Cardinals, 4-3 (Chicago Tribune), while Milwaukee defeated the Reds by the same score (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The win did enable the Brewers to increase their wild-card lead over the Phils to four games, and over the Cardinals to five. The scorching Astros, meanwhile, vaulted past the Cards and into a tie with the Phillies for second place in the wild-card race with their 13th win in 14 games, 7-4 over the Pirates (Houston Chronicle) . . . Manny Ramirez hit two home runs, and now has 14 homers and 40 RBI in 38 games with Los Angeles, as the Dodgers beat the Padres, 7-2. (Los Angeles Times) The Diamondbacks dropped their third straight in San Francisco (Arizona Republic), so L.A.'s lead in the West is now 3 1/2. Pinto believes Fox is rooting for a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series "just for the Manny story line."

THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP THE ASTROS . . . might be Hurricane Ike. (mlb.com)

WHO KNEW? Arizona's struggles down the stretch have surprised Pinto. Dayn Perry of Foxsports.com also thinks the Diamondbacks should be winning the West and believes there may be long-term implications for the franchise if they don't.

OH, THE PAIN: SI.com's John Donovan looks at injuries the contenders have had to deal with down the stretch.

IT'S DOABLE: Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, writing a piece posted on Foxsports.com, says the Mets can still win without Billy Wagner.

SOMETHING NEW: The New York Daily News reports the Mets will have a different home-run apple at Citi Field.

HERE AND THERE: Nationals GM Jim Bowden is happy with his main core of talent -- Dukes included -- and manager Manny Acta (Washington Post) . . . John Smoltz said his examination by Dr. James Andrews "went great" and he'll know by the end of October whether or not he can resume his career (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Rangers apparently haven't decided whether or not to pick up Hank Blalock's 2009 option (Dallas Morning News) . . . Brian Fuentes thinks the Rockies' silence on the matter leads him to believe they're going to let him become a free agent (Denver Post) . . . Chris Carpenter has had difficulty recovering from his one relief appearance last week (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Tom Gorzelanny's season appears to be over (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Brad Penny wants to start again for the Dodgers this season, but failing to retire a batter in relief last night probably didn't help his chances. (Los Angeles Times) Calcaterra thinks returning Penny to the rotation would be a spectacularly bad idea . . . The Mets' Aaron Heilman has tendinitis in his knee (New York Post) . . . Bobby Cox says the Braves' bad season hasn't changed his mind about returning in 2009. (AP via espn.com)

AP Photo

OLD FRIENDS: Nice shot (above) of Bronson Arroyo pitching to Gabe Kapler in yesterday's Reds-Brewers game . . . Noting that he's fallen off this year both offensively and defensively, Marlins executive (and ex-Sox outfielder) Andre Dawson wonders if Hanley Ramirez' six-year, $70 million contract has made him complacent (Miami Herald) . . . SI.com's Jon Heyman says free agent-to-be Derek Lowe wants to come back to the East Coast and may even be willing to return to the closer's role he held in Boston from mid-1999 through 2001 . . . Brandon Lyon took the loss for the Diamondbacks yesterday and has a 10.91 ERA since the All-Star break (rotoworld.com) . . .David Riske is trying to pitch despite a bone spur in his right elbow. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

AND FINALLY . . . As I mentioned earlier, last night was the final game for our own Steven Krasner. He's retiring from the media industry after 33 years, though he'll be busier now than he's ever been. He's an award-winning children's author -- you may have seen several of his baseball-themed books in, among other places, the Hall of Fame bookstore in Cooperstown -- and developed a literacy program that he'll be working at full time. Judging from its overwhelming success as a part-time venture, I have no question that he could be working virtually every day of the year if he so chose.

Steve's been covering the Red Sox full time since 1986, and we'll certainly miss him on the beat. Personally, however, this is more than just a colleague saying goodbye. He and I have known each other almost 40 years, since high school, and we've been working together since 1975. It will be very strange for him not to be here anymore, and I -- and our readers -- will miss him terribly.

Professionally, that is; personally, he and I will still be in touch. But there are few writers out there with his knowledge of the game; in addition, his skills and professionalism made him one of the most valued members of our department. It's a difficult -- if not impossible -- combination to replace.

Good luck, Kraz. We wish you the best.

-- ART MARTONE