The Bronx Broom enabled the Yanks to pull within five games of the Sox in the American League East and no doubt inspired a ration of panic in the global Sox community. If you are a Yankee fan, the better news is that the sweep established the Yanks as wild-card favorites and still Daddies of the Red Sox. The series also set up some drama for the final regular-season set between the ancient rivals at Fenway Sept. 14-16.
"It will be interesting to see how that series plays out," warned Youkilis.
"You know what happens when you wake a sleeping giant," added Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who never got the ball in the series.
Hard to say which giant was rattled from slumberland this week. But a lot of cages have been rattled.
Red Sox fans need to remember that this is not 1978, when the Sox became the first team in baseball history to be mathematically eliminated while they were still in first place. There is no urgency about making the playoffs in Boston. Bucky Dent and Don Zimmer are not walking through that door.
We know that getting swept by the Yankees wounds the psyche of the Nation and conjures memories of past indignities and humiliations. There was nothing fun about watching Chien-Ming Wang, Chamberlain, and Edwar Ramirez smother the Manny-less Sox on two hits in the matinee matchup. But the straight-set losses in the Bronx failed to put much of a dent in Boston's playoff plans. The Red Sox still have the best record in the game and are five games ahead with 28 to play. Eighteen of those games are at home and 13 are against the Orioles and Devil Rays.
Francona, who told us he was visited by a security official and inspected for uniform conformity (the Sox skipper often fails to wear his regular uniform top underneath his ubiquitous sweat shirt) during the game Wednesday, was not happy when asked if he thinks there is still a pennant race.
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