Projo Sox Blog

Finally, the place was sold out. Finally, Rays' fans greatly outnumbered Sox' fans. Finally, the atmosphere was one worthy of a gritty, exciting young team that has been, hands down, the best story in baseball all season . . . even if no one in Tampa or St. Pete seemed to realize it until last night.

And the Rays celebrated with a 10-3 slapdown of old nemesis Tim Wakefield that, writes Sean McAdam, all but ended the A.L. East race. (Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald agrees.) The Rays' lead is now two games, three in the loss column, but because Tampa Bay won the season series between the teams --- that was decided last night, too; the Rays finished with a 10-8 edge -- Boston has to be ahead of the Rays to finish first. It's certainly possible, especially since the Red Sox head home for the final week of the season while the Rays (who also have to play a Central Division contender, Minnesota, in a four-game series at The Trop, starting tonight) will be on the road. But it's not probable, and it's easy to see why partisans like the good folks at Rays Index are talking magic numbers for the division, as well as for the wild card.

The Rays, writes the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, could be popping the first champagne corks in franchise history as early as Friday night; that's when they could conceivably clinch a playoff spot. They deserve it.

And last night -- finally -- they got the support they deserved, too.

THE BRAINS OF THE OPERATION: The Times' Gary Shelton tips his hat to Joe Maddon. "Every time he walks past a phone booth, you expect it to start spewing quarters at him. Every move works. Every thought makes sense."

NOT ME, SORRY: Warwick's Dan Wheeler -- saying his wife "would kill me" if he joined the crowd -- isn't part of the Rays' Mohawk contingent. (mlb.com)

UNHIP: His hip injury looks so painful that all of New England was wincing Tuesday night, so it's no surprise Mike Lowell was out of last night's lineup. (projo.com) The Herald's Michael Silverman says Lowell may return this weekend in Toronto.

WHAT ABOUT DREW? J.D. Drew also was hoping to play in Toronto, but McAdam reports his back tightened up at the end of a batting practice session yesterday.

ADVANTAGE, BYRD: Last night was the second time in three starts Wakefield was knocked out of the game in less than three innings, which may give Paul Byrd the edge in the battle to be Boston's No. 4 postseason starter. (Boston Globe) The Globe's Amalie Benjamin reports Byrd -- who has an 8-2 record with a 3.09 ERA since the All-Star break -- was told by an opposing player around that time that he was tipping his pitches, and the adjustments he's made based on that tip have helped turn his season around. A poster called ToeKneeArmAss noticed the same thing and posted a video, since deleted, on SOSH in which he correctly predicted each of Byrd's pitches. The resulting discussion was fascinating.

ONE OF US: Remember when the game was stopped because of the fight going on in the first-base stands? The St. Petersburg Times reports the combatant was a Red Sox fan.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT: There weren't many of them for the Sox, but McAdam reports two of them were the monster home runs blasted by David Ortiz. At left, he's congratulated by Kevin Youkilis after one of them.

MAKING PLANS: Bartolo Colon had to leave the Sox yesterday to attend to a personal matter. When he returns, McAdam says he and the team will discuss how they might use him in the postseason.

YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS TOUGH? Jim Rice thinks this weekend's series in Toronto "could be equally as important as the just-completed set in Tampa. Nor does he think the road ahead gets any easier, as "the Angels are still the best team in the AL." (ask14.sullivantire.com)

CURT IN A CAR, YOU'RE NEXT ON WEEI: With ex-Red Sox players Lou Merloni and Brian Daubach serving as co-hosts, Curt Schilling called WEEI's The Big Show With The Big O yesterday and, with a little help from Merloni, tore into Manny Ramirez with a viciousness -- and detail -- heretofore unseen. (I wrote the linked story.) Our friends at Sons of Sam Horn commented briefly on the whole affair, but questioned the timing of it all. To be honest, considering the stage of the season and the fact that Ramirez has been gone for almost two months, so do I.

LOOKING AHEAD: While many writers -- like Gerry Fraley of Sportingnews.com -- are mulling whether or not Ramirez is eligible for their MVP vote, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gene Collier is wondering about his Hall of Fame credentials . . . specifically, whether or not he qualifies on the "character" clause (for the reasons listed here).

MY PICK: Ramirez thinks Albert Pujols is the National League MVP. (Los Angeles Times)

START MAKING YOUR PLANS: In what was easily the earliest release in their history, the Red Sox announced their 2009 schedule at about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. (Projo Sox Blog) Click here to download a printable version.

MASTER PLAN: Wondering why the schedule is out so early? MLB released it for everybody yesterday (mlb.com), part of a new strategy of standardization.

SMART MOVE: SI.com's Jon Heyman lauds Theo Epstein's contract extension, which should be announced any minute now.

TAKING OWNERSHIP: The New York Daily News' Mike Lupica says Yankee Stadium has become the house that Derek Jeter owns, and it goes far beyond his breaking of Lou Gehrig's all-time hits record.

TIP OF THE CAP: Schilling had nothing but kind words for Jeter in his most recent blog entry.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Kevin Baker of New York Magazine writes what I've been saying all along: That the Yankee Stadium we'll -- well, not me, but others -- be crying about this weekend was actually gutted in 1973, and what's been standing for the last 32 years is an architectural monstrosity with far more connection to a cookie cutter than a "cathedral" (which is a word you're hearing a lot these days). Baker, though, speaks with affection, saying the current Stadium was a "typical seventies improvisation, gritty, rickety, and ugly, something not built for the ages but just good enough to get us through the bad times," and that it was a perfect symbol of 1970s New York. And, he adds, it was how the city got to keep the Yankees, instead of having them spirited off to the Meadowlands like the Giants and Jets.

AND IT HAD BETTER SEATS THAN THE NEW PLACE: New York Magazine also points out that some of the sight lines at the new Yankee Stadium will be, ah, less than stellar.

THE ANTI-TRIBUTE: Some of Bugs & Cranks' Yankee haters are putting together their own, less sentimental remembrances of Yankee Stadium.

I HOPE WE'VE PASSED THE AUDITION: Phil Hughes started making his bid for a spot in the 2009 Yankee rotation with four up-and-down innings in New York's win over the White Sox. (New York Daily News)

PREPARE FOR BATTLE: Roger Clemens won't drop his defamation lawsuit against Brian McNamee, so McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, is promising "scorched earth litigation." (New York Daily News) Among his plans: Depositions of Clemens' family members, mistresses and former teammates.

A.L. RACES: The White Sox (Chicago Sun-Times) and the Twins (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) both lost, leaving Chicago up by 2 1/2 in the Central . . . The race for the best record in the A.L. may be back in play; the Angels lost to the A's (Los Angeles Times), lowering their lead over the Rays to 1 1/2.

N.L. RACES: The Phillies beat the Braves, 6-1 (Philadelphia Inquirer), and maintained their half-game lead in the East over the Mets, who held on for an ugly 9-7 win over the Nationals (New York Daily News) . . . That win enabled New York to maintain its half-game lead in the wild-card race over the Brewers, who finally beat the Cubs. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) The Astros are dropping out of that race as quickly as they surged into it; they lost their fourth straight, 14-2 to the Marlins, and are now four games out . . . The Diamondbacks finally picked up ground on the Dodgers in the West, beating the Giants (Arizona Republic) while L.A. was losing to the Pirates. (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles now leads by 3 1/2.

EVEN WHEN THEY WIN, THEY LOSE: The Brewers' triumph may define the term "phyrric victory," as they may have lost Ben Sheets for the rest of the year because of an ailing elbow that forced him out of last night's game after two innings. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

TOP TEN LIST: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman has 10 reasons for the Mets' collapse . . . though, to be fair, calling it a "collapse" at this stage is still a tad premature. Howard Megdal of the New York Observer says this failure has been, in favorite high school coach-speak, a total team effort.

STATUS QUO: The Toronto Star's Richard Griffin says the imminent announcement that Cito Gaston will return as Blue Jays manager in 2009 means J.P. Ricciardi will also be back as general manager. The embattled Ricciardi, meanwhile, defended his record. (National Post)

YOUR WINNERS ARE . . . Beyond The Box Score applies the Cy Young Predictor method developed by Bill James in his book on pitchers, written with Rob Neyer, and concludes Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum are your 2008 winners.

DECISION MADE: No matter what happens this postseason, Angels owner Arte Moreno says he's not going to increase payroll in 2009. Therefore, it's safe to say Los Angeles of Anaheim fans are seeing the last of Francisco Rodriguez. (Los Angeles Times)

POLICE BLOTTER: Ex-big leaguer Brandon Puffer, now pitching for Texas' Double-A farm club, has been arrested on a sexual assualt charge. (Dallas Morning News)

HERE AND THERE: The Angels' infield situation, already in flux because of the uncertain physical status of second baseman Howie Kendrick and sshortstop Erick Aybar, was thrown into further disarray with the news that third baseman Chone Figgins, who was hit in the elbow by a Carl Pavano fastball on Sept. 8, is leaving the team in Oakland and going back to Southern California for X-rays and an MRI (Los Angeles Times) . . . Ichiro Suzuki tied Wee Willie Keeler for the MLB record with his eighth consecutive 200-hit season (mlb.com) . . . The Blue Jays plan to bring back Rod Barajas but let Gregg Zaun go (Toronto Globe and Mail) . . . Freddy Garcia won his Tigers debut (rotoworld.com) . . . It looks like Brian Sabean will return as Giants' GM. (San Francisco Chronicle)

OLD FRIENDS: Nomar Garciaparra hurt his knee in the Dodgers' loss at Pittsburgh last night (Los Angeles Times), but doesn't think it's serious . . . Hanley Ramirez has reinjured his surgically repaired shoulder (Palm Beach Post) . . . Justin Duchscherer may return to the A's rotation before the end of the season (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Cliff Floyd went to spring training with the Rays this year thinking it would be his last season, but now he's not so sure. (Tampa Tribune)

AND FINALLY . . . How could I ever question the passion of these people? One Sarasota woman was at The Trop cheering on the Rays 4 1/2 hours after undergoing emergency surgery. (tampabays10.com)

-- ART MARTONE