What could take priority over blogging about the Red Sox and Yankees?

The pennant race is in full swing… the Yankees are coming to Fenway and the season is winding down.

How could ANYTHING distract me from that?

Well something is.

My brother Ted is getting married this weekend in Santa Barbara to the wonderful Marya.

And I am looking forward to celebrating that wonderful even and seeing my family.

My brother has been my great collaborator, my best creative partner and my best friend all of these years.

So needless to say he takes priority.

(Not that I won’t be checking the scores on my cell phone!)

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Doesn’t anyone want to win the AL Cy Young Award?

I mean it looks good on your mantle!

It looks good on your Hall of Fame resume!

And it is great to bring to the bargaining table!

But nobody seems like they are in any rush to win it.

And each of the main contenders have dropped games recently when they should be trying to pad their win totals.

For example…

Zack Greinke is the front runner of course leading the league in ERA and is second in the league in strikeouts while having 11 wins on a miserable Kansas City team…

But he lost his last start. Granted he didn’t get ROCKED but he did let up 3 homers and allowed the White Sox to jump ahead to an early 3-0 lead that the Royals just couldn’t overcome.

Cy Young winners shouldn’t allow teams to jump out to early leads like that.

ESPECIALLY when one of the teams is a playoff contender.

Roy Halladay stuck around the AL after the deal to Philadelphia fell through and is putting up numbers that make a second career Cy Young Award plausible.

But he not only lost last night against the Red Sox… he got ROCKED.

He was gone after 5 innings and lost a game that I had already put in the loss column.

Justin Verlander leads the league in strikeouts and is the ace of the surprising Tigers.

And HE lost last night, allowing the defending division champion White Sox to sneak even closer.

Now granted I am being tough on Verlander. He only had one bad inning and the Tigers lost 3-1.

But hey! He’s the ace of a pennant contender. The Tigers need to put a W next to ALL of his starts if they want to hold off Chicago.

That’s one bad inning too many.

Josh Beckett had the chance to lead the big leagues with 15 wins the other day and the Red Sox scored 7 runs for him early. 

Instead he got hammered, letting up 7 runs and leaving the game tied 7-7.

The offense picked him up, but with so many question marks in the Red Sox rotation, they can’t afford to have Beckett starts reduced to slugfests.

Now keep in mind this is the time of the year that a bad start here or there could cost you the Cy Young Award.

Look at Brandon Webb last year! He was a lock to win his second Cy Young Award last year… but he was rocked by the Dodgers in late August and early September and the Diamondbacks slipped out of contention… and Lincecum won the Cy Young Award.

People remember how you finish, and one of the 4 pitchers mentioned above will win the Cy Young with a dynamic late August and September… which means they have to start winning.

Either that or you might even see a Felix Hernandez or a CC Sabathia come in and grab the prize.

So come on! You’ve all put up big numbers. Now earn the hard ware!

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In many ways, these are my favorite kind of games to win

Seriously, when you looked at the match ups this week and you saw Clay Buchholz vs. Roy Halladay, if you were a Red Sox fan you’d put a big fat L next to that one!

So when the Red Sox not only win… but win convincingly… and don’t have to use Papelbon… and I can take my kids for a nice walk during the 9th inning because I am not sweating bullets…

It wasn’t even a dodged bullet game (even though Buchholz did a Mr. Magoo impersonation avoiding danger). It was an old fashioned clear cut win, with Lester and a rested Papelbon ready for the sweep.

And oh yeah, Papi and Bay are heating up.

Am I asking too much for a sweep?
And then would I be asking too much for 2 out of 3 from the Yankees to win the season series?

Maybe I am.

But the Magic Number is now 43… the Minnesota Twins have been the comeback kids against the Rangers and the Red Sox control their own destiny.

Man, the Wild Card race sounds so regal when I use terms like “control their own destiny!”
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