The hype is over. The water-cooler crowd can go back to talking about Belichick and defensive signals and other things they know nothing about. For the Sox, it’s back to work. Next on the hit list: the Toronto Blue Jays. A series in the land of indoor baseball and hot beer chicks, against a team that would clearly rather be apple-picking than playing baseball against the Sox, is just what the doctor ordered. The only thing better to heal the wounds of a losing series against the Yankees would be a trip to Tampa, which the Sox will take after they dispatch the Torontonians and cut a few games off the magic number.
We need the return of the pre-back-injury Tim Wakefield to kick things off. Wake pitched a pair of 7-inning gems early in the season up north, we could use a little of that tonight. Nothing will make the Yankee series as meaningless as a win tonight. Sure, the chance was there – as it has been all season – to send the pinstripes home early this fall. The Yankees are clinging to a two-and-a-half game lead in the wild card race with the Orioles visiting the Bronx. The Yanks are just 4-8 against the O’s this year and have only two hitter – Damon and A-Rod – with batting averages above .300 against the not-so-stellar Baltimore staff. Unfortunately Detroit faces off against Cleveland, so we can’t expect any help from the Tigers.
But all of that is just noise right now. Tonight, we need all bats on deck. One game at a time towards a division title. It should have been in the bank by now, but I guess that’s OK. Keeps the boys sharp.
And if anyone was wondering, the Derek Jeter voodoo doll doesn’t work.
