All Things Bubba

August 21, 2006: N.Y. Yankees 2, Boston 1

Unreal. I expected a 3-2 split at best. But the Yankees actually swept the five-game series. Utterly mind-blowing. I never imagined anything like this.

The much-maligned Nick Green got to be the hero today. He screwed up an easy popup in the 6th, colliding with Robby Cano, and fans were screaming for his blood. Nick can't hit to save his life; he's on the roster for his defense. An error like that seemed, well, indefensible.

But lo, and behold, the next time he came to bat, leading off in the 8th, he hit a double off the Green Monster. He'd looked pretty awful in his two previous at bats, and in any other park it would probably have been a fly out. Never mind. He got a hit off Boomer Wells, and was standing on 2B.

Melky bunted him over the 3B. Foulke was brought in to relieve Wells. A wild pitch let Green score. Foulke then struck out Jeter and Abreu. Nick's run was the last one scored, and turned out to be the game-winner. Nick the Stick!

Yankees fans are naturally ecstatic. I am, too, but I can't help but remember that until the Boston series, we'd been basically a .500 team since Bubba got sent down. We lost series to the White Sox - and the Orioles.

But the Red Sox were even worse. They'd lost 9 of 15 in August, including being swept by the lowly Royals. Could it be that the Red Sox are just really awful, rather than the Yankees being good?

Guess we'll find out, as the Yanks play Seattle, the Angels, Detroit, and Minnesota in the coming days.