AL East standing

NYY won, BOS lost, and TOR won today...

ALE standing -- NYY: 3 gms over BOS

"Big Unit" looked decent tonight. He may never be able to throw hard (~98mph) again, but just enough to get by. He didn't have any SO's in last 2 starts!!! CHW hitters looked that they just weren't hitting his sliders... You'd think CHW must be pumped today to face the NYY after last night's extra inning walk-off. CHW just hasn't played that well. BTW, DET is probably winning the AL Central for sure at this point with the CHW is playing & MIN losing Liriano.

BOS lost at the bottom of 9th with a 1-run lead... Papelbon blew 2nd gms in a row.

Has Papelbon been "OVER-USED"???

YES!!! Tito can only trust Jonanthan's young right arm all season in the pen. 50th gm already for Pap & over 57 inn pitched already. Still 51 gms to go...

Isn't Julian Tavarez supposed to help out the set-up role with Timlin??!!! He's been a bum all year. Maybe he really screwed up his hand in spring training with that sucker punch to Garthright. Timlin is just old now. Delcarman & Hansen aren't polished enough just yet. Is Javy the answer to Varitek's injury? Most likely not. Lopez is known for his hitting, but he is also known for setting up for pitches too early before delivery. Let's just hope that Javy contribues some offense production.

TOR is pretty much done for the playoff race now. It doesn't look like they will be able to win the wild card with strong plays of MIN & CHW in the 2nd half. So much for the increase payroll. At least they got a guy with the first name "A.J." and another, "B.J.". They should make a trade for C.J. Nitkowski from the PIT now... Okay, i'll stop right here. (Did you know they could have D.J. Carrasco, too? Don't think there's a "E.J." out there.)

BOTTOM LINE

NYY is playing stong as always. Now with a complete lineup with the addition of Abreu & Sheffield + Matsui coming back. They will win the AL East, again, of course. BOS just doesn't have enough pitching to win the East. (David Wells & Clement are just junk at this point. Even Steve Trachsel looks like a much better option compared to these two. Maybe BOS should have signed Will Ferrell when he visited Fenway.)

BOS has lost 4 in a row (TB & KC 2 each)... C'mn. Time to COWBOY UP, as Kevin Millar would say. BELIEVE! BOS can win the WC with ~97 gms. MIN relies too much on Morneau & Mauer's bats, and they will likey cool off at some point. CHW has a complete roster, but can Ozzie make the right management moves and not piss somebody off to win WC?

NYY has the solid starting pitching (Mussina having a great year & Wang becoming the Taiwanese Maddux, even Jaret Wright has been good in last 2 starts) to win ~99 gms.

TOR is off to finding another Nuke LaLoosh in the free agent market.