ARE YOU READY FOR SECOND PLACE?

Here we are in the death throes of July, 2003 and I'm seeing a sight I haven't seen in a long time. Especially this far into the season. I'm seeing the Boston Red Sox still hot on our trail, positioning themselves to take over the AL Eastern Division. As did many of you, I watched tonight's 3-game finale on ESPN between the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yankees struck early building to a 3-run lead. Jeff Weaver, counter to his usual style, threw terrifically for 6+ innings. He entered the 7th inning and with one out proceeded to walk Trot Nixon and then hit Bill Mueller in the foot with a breaking ball. At this point Weaver had thrown 113 pitches. This is when things went terribly wrong for the Yankees.

With two Red Sox on Joe Torre collected his starter and summoned lefty Chris Hammond from the bullpen. The move forced the next batter Jason Varitek, who is a switch-hitter, to move from the left side of the plate to the right side. Guess which side is his stronger side? Hammond threw an off-speed pitch over the plate and Varitek hit it out over the green monster in left field to tie the score 3-3. One batter later Hammond surrendered a solo home run to Johnny Damon that curved around the Pesky Pole in right field. And just like that, with 4 hits, Boston lead 4-3. They scored two more times on Jesse Orosco to cap a 6-run 7th inning. The Sox ended up winning the game 6-4 and took this pivotal series 2-1. The Yankees outhit the Sox 11 to 7, but in the end had nothing to show for it.

As much as I have been a critic of Jeff Weaver, you can't hang this loss on him. He entered the 7th inning pitching a 2-hit shutout. For a guy his age (27) 113 pitches certainly wasn't going to make his arm fall off. Personally, I think Torre should have left him in for Jason Varitek. It was Weaver's lead to lose and even if Varitek hit a homer off him Weaver would have left the game tied and not in danger of losing. Torre, because of Weaver's instability as a starter, didn't have the confidence in him to get out of the jam. He turned the game's fortunes over to a very leaky bullpen. This time the bullpen didn't leak it burst like a dam.

There are plenty of villians to point fingers at in this game. First and foremost Joe Torre for making the move to Hammond, which forced Varitek to switch to his stronger side. Hammond for coming into a game that his starter pitched very well in and promptly surrendering 2 home runs in 10 pitches thrown. If you don't like those candidates how about Alfonso Soriano, who went fishing again by chasing balls down and away, out of the strike zone, and striking out 2 of the 5 times he was at bat? The other 3 outs were ground outs. He finished the night 0-5 with 4 men on base. Then there's Nick Johnson who stranded 5 baserunners or Raul Mondesi who stranded 3 more while going 0-3. How about the entire Yankees lineup who left 25 men standing on base?

Does this sound like a championship caliber team to you? The Boston Red Sox literally took this game from the Yankees and the Yankees almost willingly let them do it. The Sox definitely wanted this game and clearly the Yankees did not. The season record now stands at 7-6 in the Yankees favor, but the momentum for now has swung in the Red Sox favor. They are the team that nutted up, while the Yankees laid down and played dead.

Now comes the hard part. The Yankees are headed for a tough 6-game west coast road swing starting with the world champion Anaheim Angels. And we all know whether the Angels are in first place or last place they always play the Yankees tough. They are the only team in the past 5 years with a winning record against the pinstripers. The road doesn't get any easier as they have to take on the Oakland Athletics next. Another team that would like nothing better than to knock the Bombers off their perch. Meanwhile, Boston goes on the road against Texas and Baltimore. Who do you think has the rougher row to hoe?

Am I giving up hope? Not in the least. I still think the Yankees can finish strong and take their 6th straight division title. But they better not mess around or like the moth flying around the flame they're going to get burned. By this time next week there could be change on the leader board in the AL East. And in this situation I pose the question, "are you ready for second place?"

I'M NOT!