Monday, August 10, 2009

Yanks Dispose of Sox, Extend AL East Lead

Jon Lester did everything he could on Sunday night to prevent a four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees, but Daniel Bard surrendered back-to-back two-out homers as the Bronx Bombers took all four games at Yankee Stadium this weekend to give the club a 6 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. Boston is now tied with Texas for the lead in the AL wild-card race, while Tampa Bay sits just a game and a half behind. The Red Sox led the AL East by five games on June 24.

Boston carries a season-high six-game losing streak as it heads home to welcome the Detroit Tigers into town.

Clearly, the Red Sox are struggling mightily offensively, and ESPN's Buster Olney made a great comparison over the weekend, noting that the Sox look very similar to some Yankees teams from a couple of years ago: overloaded with older, defensively challenged corner infield/DH types. I didn't want to believe it this past winter when the Yanks snagged Mark Teixeira, but he just may have been the tipping point in the battle for AL East supremacy. The Red Sox have had to deal with nagging injuries to Mike Lowell, a terrible season from David Ortiz (despite his coming around a little bit the last few months) and an average season from J.D. Drew. These factors forced the club to deal for Adam LaRoche--who was later dealt for Casey Kotchman--and Victor Martinez, who is a solid all-around player but is not the frontline pitcher that the club probably could have acquired at the deadline to pair with Josh Beckett if not for its offensive woes.

Now the club will have to stare history straight in the eye, as Boston has never overcome a defecit of 5 1/2 games or more to the Yankees in either the American League or AL East.

The Cleveland Browns held a scrimmage on Sunday, and ESPN's Chris Mortensen told Mike & Mike in the Morning that neither Brady Quinn nor Derek Andersen was great...or terrible. Quinn registered a 51-yard TD pass while Andersen produced a long drive that was stalled when D'Qwell Jackson picked off a pass near the goal line. The one thing that remains clear is that head coach Eric Mangini will not be swayed by public opinion in deciding who will line up under center in Week One.

Tiger Woods came from three shots behind Padraig Harrington on Sunday to win the Bridgestone Invitational for the seventh time and will now try to win the season's last major at Hazeltine. Finishing with a 5-under 65, Woods won back-to-back tour events and became the first golfer in history to win on one course seven times.

Down one shot to Harrington and in the trees on the par-5 16th, Woods used an 8-iron to deliver a shot that landed a foot from the hole, and his subsequent birdie started an incredible turn for the worse for Harrington. A winner of two majors last year, Harrington carded a shocking triple bogey on the same hole that led to Woods winning for the 70th time in his career.

It's ashame, however, that the event was seemingly marred by the pairing being put on a clock on the 16th tee after apparently falling behind schedule. Woods even admitted that he was probably aided by the fact that Harrington rushed his shots on the disastrous 16th, where Harrington entered with a one-shot lead. Both men hit errant tee shots, but Tiger was able to escape disaster with his beautiful iron play--and he escaped the 16th with a three-shot lead. Was the victory tainted, or was it just Tiger being Tiger?

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