Marathon Baseball

I ended up watching every pitch of that 5 hour 49 minute game last night. The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Yankees got one back in the top of the second off Bernie Williams' solo home run. Things remained tight until Jeter came through with a big 3-run double in the 6th, giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead. It was getting bleak in Boston until the bottom of the 8th when they got 2 to tie it at 4-4.

And it remained 4-4 forEVER! I'm beginning to wonder if Johnny Damon is on the Yankee's payroll. He has been AWFUL this series (2-24, .083BA). I can't remember which inning it was (the eighth?) when the Sox had 2 runners on and Damon tried to bunt them over. He bunted straight in the air and Posada caught it for the out. Later, Damon was caught stealing. Maybe he should shave his head to try to change his luck.

Finally, in the 14th, David Ortiz again won it with a bloop single that scored Damon from second.

That game was over just in time to switch over for the last 2 innings of the Houston/St. Louis game. (as if almost 6 hours of baseball wasn't enough). Fortunately, they avoided extra innings when Jeff Kent hit a monstrous homerun in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Astros.

The Astros won all 3 games in Houston, and that series moves back to St. Louis. Houston needs to win 1 of the final two to advance, while the Cardinals are looking for two straight wins.

The Red Sox and Yankees head back to New York for game 6 tonight, with the Yanks leading 3-2. The Red Sox are still hoping to make history being the first team to ever win a 7 game series after being down 0-3. Since there was a rain-out in Boston on Friday, the will be no rest day and they will play for the fourth straight day tonight. That's usually not too bad, but all three games in Boston have taxed both pitching staffs. Saturday's game was a blowout that had both teams using their bullpens in the third inning. Then Sunday's game went 12 innings and last night's game went 14. All the pitchers have pitched back-to-back-to-back and all must be very tired. It will be interesting to see how the game tonight plays out. Curt Schilling will try to go for the Red Sox after his injured ankle caused him to leave the game early in game 1. If he experiences problems with that ankle again tonight, and Terry Francona has to go to his bullpen early, it could mean trouble for the Sox.

The forecast is calling for rain in New York today, so I'm sure both teams are hoping for a rain-out to allow for an extra day of rest.