Game Twenty Seven: Good Enough!

I joined tonight's game in the 9th, Boston leading 6-3. Staked to a 4-0 advantage, Josh Beckett apparently tried hard to give it back, trimming the lead to 4-3. But a late inning uprising gave Boston 2 more insurance runs off that dependably awful Yankee bullpen, and that is where matters stand now.

According to the bits and pieces I have been hearing, both Youkilis and Ellsbury are not playing tonight-Youkilis didn't start, and Ellsbury left in the 4th with some kind of soreness. According to another, somewhat dicey, source, Dice K's return is not as imminent as we once thought. So that's not great, but a Yankee win cures all ills. Almost all, anyway.

The question now is who will pitch the ninth. Papelbon and Ramirez are reportedly unavailable, so it's probably Saito, who scares me a little because he has a tendency to give up the jack this year, it seems to me. So hopefully the Sensei can lock this one down for us.

Boy, Yankee Stadium is half empty-for a Red Sox game? Wow.

It scares me just a little bit that these games are so close without ARod playing for New York. If he is being himself, that's going to make them a lot harder to beat.

The Yankee reliever, Mark Melanson, apparently unfamiliar with the concept of a "strike", has now walked the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. Poor Jack O has to be tearing his hair out by the roots.

New York has called on David "Admiral" Robertson, who gets two Sox but walks The Mayor of Pawtucket, Chris Carter, to push across another tally. 7-3 Sox.

It is Saito to start the ninth. The Yankees go 8-9-1, so a nice 1-2-3 inning would be mega sweet.

The Okey Doke went two innings, which is impressive against any lineup, but especially this lineup.

Saito gets some kid named Pena for the first out, and then faces Brett "Matsui's Legs" Gardner, who is hitting for the Lesser of Three Molinas. (Both of his brothers went deep tonight, but Jose did not.)

The Sensei locks out Gardner on a backdoor curve for the second out.

Now it's Captain Intangibles, the infamous Pastadiving Jeter. And Jeter grounds out to second to end it! Victory is Ours!

Back home to face the Offensive Nicknames tomorrow.