Projo Sox Blog

The Red Sox stand on the cusp of their fifth playoff berth in six years after yesterday's 3-0 shutout of the Blue Jays (projo.com), which dropped their magic number for clinching a spot in the postseason to one. The only team capable of catching them for the wild card is the Yankees, who are idle tonight. So it's all in the Sox' hands. If they beat the Indians at Fenway, they're in.

It really is a formality at this point, so much so that the Red Sox are setting up their postseason pitching rotation (Boston Herald) and trying to determine their ALDS roster. (Boston Globe) In addition, getting healthy is another top priority (projo.com), much more so than worrying how they'll celebrate tonight.

Purists among us -- and I have that strain in my DNA -- cringe a little at celebrations such as the one we'll soon be seeing; what, exactly, are we celebrating? Just getting there? The bar should be a little higher, don't you think? Not to rag on the old Hartford Whalers, but how we laughed when, after a decade of failure, they had T-shirts printed reading "Hartford Whalers 1986 Stanley Cup Playoffs" after finally sneaking into the all-are-welcome NHL postseason dance.

But then I think, you know, never before in franchise history have the Sox been so successful, at least in terms of consistent postseason play; the closest stretch of glory came between 1912-18, when they won four A.L. pennants (and World Series championships) in seven seasons. And getting to the playoffs -- especially considering how tough the A.L. East wound up being this year -- is no fait accompli. Maybe it is worth celebrating.

Whether it is or it isn't, we'll be seeing champagne at Fenway soon . . . if not tonight, then sometime in the next few days.

And then they'll try to achieve something really worth celebrating.

WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU . . . makes you ready for the postseason. Foxsports.com's Dayn Perry says the Red Sox and Rays weren't killed by the A.L. East minefield, so they have an advantage heading into October.

MILESTONES: Sean McAdam has the stories from Toronto this weekend, and today he touches on Jonathan Papelbon (top) reaching the 40-save plateau and Dustin Pedroia closing in on 40 stolen bases. He also has details of Friday night's series-opening win and Saturday's loss to Roy Halladay.

GETTING READY: With the playoffs approaching, Jacoby Ellsbury is getting hot at just the right time. (Boston Herald)

'BOTTOM FISHES NO MORE': And with that strange turn of a phrase (by the Fox announcer), the Rays were officially ushered into the postseason:

It happened Saturday (St. Petersburg Times), when the Rays beat the Twins and clinched a berth in the postseason. And a day later, writes the Times' Marc Topkin, they woke up and were surprised -- a little -- to discover it wasn't a dream. Just to prove it, the blog DRays Bay has some nice celebration photos.

Not everyone was all that impressed. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Patrick Reusse's dispatch of the clinching started with a litany of the franchise's failures, after which he started ragging on the fans for their unfamiliarity with how you act when you win something. That got the blog Rays Index all worked up, as you can imagine.

No matter. The Rays are in. Two playoff teams down in the A.L., two to be determined.

STILL UNDECIDED . . . is who'll win the division and who'll win the wild card. The Rays' 4-1 loss to the Twins yesterday (Tampa Tribune) lowered their A.L. East lead over the Red Sox to 1 1/2 games. Since they have eight games in seven days on the road and the Sox will be home all week, the division may still be in play.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . . well, scratch that. You couldn't have missed it, not if you're interested enough in baseball to come here.

After the longest goodbye -- capped by day-long programming yesterday on ESPN -- the curtain finally closed on Yankee Stadium with a victory over the Orioles (New York Daily News), which enabled the Yanks to sidestep the two-sided embarrassment of a) being eliminated from the postseason and b) clinching a playoff spot for the Red Sox in their final gallop on this historic plot of land. (The structure itself bears no resemblance to the place that we of a certain age associate with the words Yankee Stadium.) It ended a day in which the fans got to say goodbye first (New York Post), followed by a well-done pregame ceremony that featured many Yankee greats from the past (New York Daily News) -- though Roger Clemens, the biggest hero in Yankee Universe not so long ago, was notable by his absence, and it was a little crass that the Yanks didn't even mention Joe Torre -- and a touching, off-the-cuff postgame speech from Derek Jeter. (New York Daily News) Finally, at 1:14 a.m., an electrician named Fran Ninivaggi turned out the lights for the final time. (Journal News)

You can spend all day reading about the Stadium's farewell if you so choose, with more links that I could ever provide here. If you're so inclined, here are my list of MSM Yankee links: the Daily News, the Post, the Times, Newsday and the Journal-American.

As for me, I'll give the final word to old friend Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports.

SAME TO YOU, BOSS: The New York Times got a stadium remembrance from Henry Kissinger, who, after sitting through Red Sox-Yankee games with him, informs us "for George [Steinbrenner], there was no way a Red Sox hit could ever be considered a good thing."

WELL, WHADDYA KNOW? I can forever say I was at Yankee Stadium's last shutout. (LoHud Yankees Blog)

WHAT'S NEXT? MLB.com has an FAQ on the winter timeline for Yankee Stadium. The Yanks will continue to operate business out of the stadium until January.

A.L. RACES: The White Sox and Twins will have a three-game showdown that will go a long way towards settling things in the Central starting tomorrow night in Minneapolis. Both teams have a day off to get ready, and both will be savoring Sunday victories: Chicago by 3-0 over Kansas City (Chicago Tribune) and Minnesota by 4-1 over Tampa Bay. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) The Twins will need a sweep to move into first place, as they trail the White Sox by 2 1/2 . . . The Angels' magic number for clinching the best record in the A.L. is down to five after they completed a weekend sweep of the Rangers. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)

THE CHALLENGE: Javier Vazquez -- who'll pitch the opener of the White Sox' series against the Twins tomorrow -- has a reputation as someone who comes up small when the stakes are big. So Ozzie Guillen, as only he can, is urging Vazquez to "[go] out there and show them we show up to play, show up to kick your guys' [butts]." (Chicago Sun-Times)

JUST MAKE SURE WE SCORE FIRST: Because if they don't, Orlando Cabrera thinks the White Sox "lose hope". (mlb.com)

N.L. RACES: Congratulations to the Cubs, who clinched the Central on Saturday (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Phillies increased their lead to 1 1/2 as they beat the Marlins (Philadelphia Daily News) while the Mets' bullpen blew yet another lead in a 7-6 loss to the Braves (New York Daily News) . . . The defeat cut New York's wild-card lead to 1 1/2 over the Brewers, who ended a miserable 2-8 road trip on a high note with an 8-1 win over the Reds (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . The Dodgers' lead in the West is down to 2 1/2 after they suffered an 11-inning, 1-0 defeat to the Giants (Los Angeles Times) while the Diamondbacks were routing the Rockies. (Arizona Republic)

COLLAPSE 2.0: Having seen what happened in 2007, Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan is on Mets' meltdown watch.

CHANGE OF FORTUNE: In what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dejan Kovacevic accurately describes as "a stunning reversal of a summer-long drama," the Pirates reportedly have reached agreement on a contract with first-round draft choice Pedro Alvarez, whose dispute with the team had gone to arbitration. The deal is said to be four years, $6.355 million.

DIFFERING OPINIONS: The Detroit News' Jerry Green calls the Tigers "a bust for the ages" (Or at least the headline writers does.) Jim Leyland, though, thinks the Tigers aren't "far away from getting right back into the thick of things," so he doesn't believe the team will be a big player in this winter's free agent/trade market. (Detroit Free Press)

HERE AND THERE: Jim Thome's 2009 contract option kicked in when he reached the needed number of plate appearances for 2008 (mlb.com) . . . A.J. Burnett says if the Blue Jays offer him a contract extension he might be tempted to stay with Toronto (National Post) . . . Rickey Henderson is a sure thing to be elected to the Hall of Fame this winter, and he says he'll wear an A's cap on his plaque. (insidethebayarea.com)

OLD FRIENDS: Derek Lowe had a no-decision in yesterday's Dodger loss to the Giants, but he's still 6-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his last nine starts and has lowered his season's ERA from 4.10 to 3.29 (mlb.com) . . . The struggling Pedro Martinez says he'd be willing to pitch out of the bullpen for the Mets in the playoffs (New York Daily News) . . . ESPN Deportes will air a three-part interview with Ugueth Urbina, who is serving a 14-year sentence in Venezuela for the attempted murder of four workers on his family's ranch. (Biz of Baseball)

AND FINALLY . . . Uncle Junior -- a.k.a. Dominic Chianese, the actor from The Sopranos and a native of the Bronx -- was turned down by the Yankees in his request to sing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium. So the Red Sox may invite him to Fenway for anthem duties during one of the games against the Yankees this weekend. (New York Post)

-- ART MARTONE