161-1!

Ok, old joke I know.  But what can you say?  Its only one game in a long (read: looooooooooong) season.  Everyone knows Randy Johnson is a better pitcher than David Wells.  If the Red Sox had a chance to trade Wells for Johnson straight up, they obviously would, contracts and all.  But you try to make due with what you have, and the Sox just weren't able to do that last night, falling to the Hired Guns 9-2 in a game that wasn't quite that close.  Still, and this is my party line for the day: I'd rather have game seven in October than "game eight" last night. 

But it wasn't reassuring that the Sox looked hung over (and they might have been, we're looking at you, Kevin Millar) all game.  After the first inning, everything they touched turned to poop.  Wells didn't have much, and what he did have the Yankees hammered, totaling ten hits against Boo!-mer.  Hey, at least the Sox got to work their bullpen, using seven guys (Seven guys!?!?). 

You have to love ERAs after the first game.   27.00.  Quite an ERA to be sure, but that's the ERA that two members of the Sox pen have at this point. 

Still, you'd be fooling yourself to think that if the Yankees are healthy they aren't as good as Boston.  They are as good, or better. The question is, can they stay healthy?  I'll match Schilling and Johnson up, man to man, but if Schilling isn't healthy then you have to go to plan B.  We all saw how well that worked and that was plan B for the team with actual depth. 

Behind the shiny new 9-2 veneer, the best laid Yankee plans are already going awry.  Kevin Brown's Paleolithic era back is starting to show signs of crumbling.  Its hard to know if its from just normal wear and tear or if we're still dealing with shockwaves from Kevin Brown's The Wall, part one.  Regardless, the Yankees scratched him from his scheduled start this Friday vs. Baltimore, and just to make extra sure he won't be pitching anytime soon, put him on the DL.  So, trivia time!  Question #1: Who was the first of the '05 Yankees to be put on the DL?  Question #2: Who won't be the last?  The ages of the Yankees starters have been discussed ad infinitum, ad nauseum, but you should know that if you add the ages of Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, and Mike Mussina, you get a person older than Baseball itself.  Kev-dy Pav-ight-ina was born in a log cabin in 1829.  The son of ten hard work'n and somewhat bewildered parents, he/they built up his/their arm muscles through a combination of log splitt'n, ball scratch'n and... well, that's probably more than enough of that. 

So, my point: last night, while a big  game and nice to win, wasn't the real test.  Every inning that one of the geriatric Yankees doesn't pop something in his arm, every inning that something doesn't explode in their leg, is an inning closer to the World Series.  But, as my dad once said when talking about my chances of meeting Miss Right, "It only takes one [pitch to blow yr arm off]."  Well, dad, one down and four more to go. 

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And now, an update from the Here's Some Perspective File: Which team has the longest streak of opening day wins?

Answer: Tampa Bay, with five.