CLINCH!--Peter

Well, Mr. Hankie--How are your Yankees? Not in the playoffs, that's for sure! And stop complaining about one of the classiest guys to wear the pinstripes in the last half century--Torre. Also stop complaining about injuries--like every other team didn't have to deal with them. The difference is we dealt--you whined. Torre's lucky he's in LA. He's got Red Sox lite to get to the playoffs with. You got NOTHING! The Sox clinched their fifth post-season engagement in the last six years tonight, beating the Tribe 5-4. Now, they still have an opportunity to get the division championship with five games left, trailing Tampa by 2 1/2 and awaiting the outcome of the Rays' second game today with the O's. Rays win and their magic number drops to three; lose and it's still four. Basically, the Sox almost have to run the table. It's not impossible, but, as they're now in the playoffs, they may do some juggling of players, particularly as they'll want to set up the rotation for the first round.

Tonight had some nail biting, but also showed the various components of the Sox as a team, and how they've persevered and made the playoffs again in spite of some major injuries over the course of the season.

Down 4-2 halfway through the game, they quickly responded with a trey in their half of the 5th to take the lead and then handed it over to the pen. Wake had done a decent job to that point. The only rough inning he had was the Tribe's 5th, when they took the lead, 4-2.

The Only Manny, Delcarmen, gave us a good 2/3 of an inning to start off the 7th, even while loading the sacks. Then, Oki came in and closed out that inning without any damage. Masterson held the Indians scoreless for 2/3 of the 8th, allowing a pair of runners, and when Lopez couldn't get the only batter he faced to make an out, instead loading the bases, Laserman came on to squash that rally getting the batter to foul to Yoouk. After that, Pap continued on in the 9th, getting a pair of K's and a harmless grounder to end the game--on a total for the 1 1/3 innings of ten pitches!

A final note--the Rays came back and won the second game as well. So, our heroes are now down three with five to play, and the Rays' number is three to clinch the division. Let's run the table and also be thankful that we're in the post-season.