Thursday, June 21, 2007

Another Month Gone By And....



So where were we? On May 21st the Red Sox were 30-14 with a 9-game lead in the loss column over the Yankees who were still floundering at 20-23. Since then? Boston has gone 16-11; New York has gone 15-11. And that means that virtually nothing has changed.

I suppose I should be nervous about Curt Schilling missing two starts with God-only-knows-what bothering his shoulder, but then I keep seeing Julian Tavarez go out and do what he did last night - 7 shutout innings against Atlanta. No one will ever confuse Tavarez with the Second Coming Of Cy Young, but consider this - while Tavarez is now 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA, he's unbeaten in his last seven starts and has allowed three runs or fewer in nine of his 13 starts.

A month ago there was talk of Joe Torre losing his job. Thankfully, that nonsense appears to have stopped. But some of the other nonsense hasn't. Jason Giambi has been called to the principal's office to talk about steroids, Johnny Damon - less than two years into his deal with the Yankees - is an increasing defensive liability, and Miguel Cairo who is terrific off the bench simply isn't an everyday player anymore.

71 games in the book. 10 to get to the half-way mark. Stay tuned.