5th Inning

mmm... I think... no I fail the Camden test. I really don't think the D-Rays will make it out of the basement again this year - I think the Jays are a poor team, but the return of a full year of Halladay is probably enough to lift them up above the Rays. Those Rays have potential - Crawford, Baldelli, Upton, Kazmir and Young - all will contribute in a meaningful way, but not together in 2005.

BOS: R: o H: 1 E: 0
NYY: R: 0 H: 1 E: 0

Score: BOS 1, NYY 4

Well another decent inning by RJ, despite another double, this time by Bellhorn. The Sox early success of running his pitch count seems to have disappeared. The highlight of the inning was Giambi's nice stretch at 1st to get the final out on a hurried throw by 'gold glove' SS Jeter.

Will Wells make it out of the 5th? Well a nice K on Matsui to start the inning so perhaps he has settled down. Of course Posada then smokes a double - raising an interesting question - do catchers who have caught a pitcher have an advantage when they hit against them? Well a 2nd HBP for Giambi, he isn't exactly jumping out of the way of these pitches! And the answer to my question was no - Francona goes with the early hook - the LOOGY is in! And the LOOGY turns a very, very nice DP - thank you Tony Womack!

The YES guys just revealed a nice story - this is Bob Shepperd's 55th season announcing at Yankee Stadium. In his first year, the first opponents were... the Red Sox - first name he announced DiMaggio... Dom Dimaggio - but it was also the only year that Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio started together.

Do the Rays have the best collection of young talent in the AL East?