But, perhaps, this exhaustion is something more than momentary. Twenty-four days into this test of body, mind, and will, the Sox are 14-10, with an offday coming Thursday in Baltimore. But, they have to play baseball in the interim, and last night they looked like a team wearing down, at the same time the Yankees are coming.
Owned by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays most of this season (11 losses in 16 games before this week), the Yankees scored eight unanswered runs last night to beat Tampa Bay, 9-5, and sweep a three-game series, outscoring the Rays, 32-13. The Bombers pulled within 1 1/2 games in the AL East, the closest they've been since Aug. 29. Meanwhile, the A's pulled into a first-place tie with Los Angeles in the West. The Angels were beaten by the Tigers at home, 8-6, last night.
''It's ours to lose," Damon said. ''We have a good enough team to get there."
Good enough, when healthy. But the wear and tear is visible in many corners of the clubhouse and the park.
It was visible in center field, where Kapler might have been had he not ruptured his Achilles' tendon Wednesday night. Damon struggled mightily to throw, requiring Edgar Renteria to cut off his throws in shallow center field and allowing the A's to take the extra base and score the extra run.
''I'm going to keep playing through it," Damon said. ''I think the team needs me to. It kills me. But we need to win ballgames. I feel me being in there gives us our best chance."
It was visible at the plate, where Renteria, after a day off Wednesday, went 0 for 4, is 1 for his last 18, and is batting .175 (10 for 57) in September. Jason Varitek also went 0 for 4. He has just six hits in September, his struggles reaching the point that he came up with runners on first and second in the sixth inning, the Sox behind, 3-1, and attempted to push a bunt down the third base line.
