The good news is, we walked into Chicago and took two out of three. The bad news is, we have more competition then I’d like for that Wild Card spot because the Indians have now won four straight. In addition, the White Sox had been playing bad, and they ended their skid against Randy Johnson so I would have liked a sweep.
Things started off nicely on Friday. Mike Mussina brought his best stuff as he went seven and gave up only one run on five hits. He struck out seven before yielding to the Gordon/Rivera one/two punch to wrap things up. Bernie Williams and Gary Sheffield both had two hits and an RBI in the 3-1 victory.
Yesterday was even better. We rattled former Yank Orlando Hernandez to the point of nearly getting ejected. Too bad for him that he didn’t, because later in the game he made a nice play on a comebacker only to throw the beginning of what should have been a double play into the outfield. I saw the highlights, and his little temper tantrum on the mound was priceless.
That error eventually resulted in three runs. Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez drove in a run a piece later in the game as insurance, and Shawn Chacon was simply on fire. Eight shutout innings, and he gave up only four hits.
Today wasn’t as good. Randy Johnson gave up four homers in one inning. He’d put up bagels in the other eight innings, but that six run fourth cost him the game. Robinson Cano and Tino Martinez drove in the only two runs of the game.
The Red Sox split their four game series with the Angels and we’re four games back of them. We still have a chance, but if we’re not able to shave that lead down to at least two games when we play them in September, I don’t like our chances. Despite the fact that we’re down by a half game to the A’s (who dropped two to KC, ouch) and tied with the Indians, we’re right there. We’re tied with Oakland in the loss column and a loss better then Cleveland. The Twins are doing their best to enter that mix as well.
The Blue Jays now come into town, and they just got torched by the Tigers of all teams. It’s a four game series, so the Yanks are going tomorrow. Oakland squares off against Detroit, who’s helped us out recently by taking a series with the Red Sox earlier this week. The Indians are at Tampa Bay, so they have a chance to make a move. The Red Sox go against the Royals, unfortunately.
Keep on winning guys.
