Back in First

After last night’s comeback, the Sox having taken two of three, they were back in first place in the AL East, a game up on the Yankees, and nine games up in the wild card standings. Better than that, the series reminded the Sox of two important things: one, that they can hit Sabathia, the Yankees ace, who has been virtually unbeatable against the rest of the American League, but who has been a different pitcher entirely when he faces the Sox. I don’t think it’s because of the Boston lineup; they’ve had their problems against a number of AL pitchers. Look at the job Freddy Garcia did on them last night. No, I think it’s something in Sabathia’s head; for some reason he just doesn’t have the same confidence pitching against the Red Sox. And whatever that problem is, I hope he doesn’t get it fixed any time soon.

The second thing was perhaps even more important, and that’s that Mariano is mortal. I know that he blew a couple saves back in 2004, but that was a long time ago, and an almost entirely different lineup. These guys, the young guys, they have to know that even when Rivera is on the mound, they still have a chance. It’s hard to think of Dustin Pedroia having a crisis of confidence, even if he was facing Sandy Koufax. But Rivera has been so good for so long, you never know. So I was glad to see them not only win last night, but come back against Rivera to tie it up in the bottom of the ninth.

Still, nothing was settled last night, other than one game out of 162. Yes, they seem to have a lot of heart this year; there have been a number of walk-off wins over the past few weeks. And the lineup continues to look strong, top to bottom -- Scutaro getting the lead-off double in the ninth against Rivera; and Reddick getting the game winner in the tenth. The bullpen seems to have steadied itself. And if Buckholz can come back, then they’ll have their rotation again; Wake has really filled in great for a number five starter. But there are another fifty games to play before the post-season. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Go Sox.