The Red Sox have the best record in baseball and lead the AL East by five games in the loss column with 13 games to play, following Josh Beckett's 19th victory Saturday evening, and unless you have scar tissue thickened in 1949 and 1978 and 1999 and 2003, you assume that the sky is not falling. Boston is an excellent position to win its first division race in more than a decade, and nothing contained within the Yankees' stunning comeback victory Friday -- they were five runs down with six outs to go, and won -- dented that reality.
But what Yankees achieved in the
eighth inning Friday could have enormous October implications, because regardless of whether the Red Sox win the division or not, there is no getting around the fact that New York drew mental blood.
This is what the Yankees believe, with confidence, about the Red Sox right now: We can beat them. After Friday's victory, New York had dumped Boston five games in a row, and won eight of the last 10 meetings between the two teams. If the old rivals meet in the AL Championship Series, the Yankees will take the field thinking they are in the heads of Red Sox, in much the same way the Angels are in the heads of the Yankees.
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Buster Olney
