On Deck (Game 22): Sawks @ NYY

The Yanks need to hit Ortiz, and Manny, and Lowell, and Drew, and … Oh, who am I kidding. The Yanks aren’t going to hit anyone.

Jeff Karstens is the lamb-to-the-slaughter du jour. Tim Wakefield gets the nod for the Sox in this late-afternoon battle of first vs. worst. Basically, it’s going to be two garbage pitchers going at each other. Wakefield, however, will probably go deep in the game. The over/under for number of innings for Karstens is a solid 4. Maybe Torre will be able to get 4 out of Karstens and then 4 out of Igawa, who’s been dropped from the rotation in favor of a guy with a 14.25 ERA.

To make matters worse, I’m going to be in Massachusetts today, and I’m going to have to watch the local Boston coverage of the game, and mingle with Sox fans. I’d rather have my fingernails removed with a pair of pliers, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

In a nutshell: I guess it’s OK to start worrying now. I’m still not panicking about Mo. He’s fine, the velocity is there, he just doesn’t have any command because he hasn’t been used enough. Torre should use him again today, no matter what the score is. The only way he’s going to get back to normal is on the mound.

Keys to the game: Pitching, offense and defense. In that order.

Silver lining: Dwyane Wade will be able to get that surgery he’s been putting off very, very soon.

Sox blog-of-the-day: SOX & Dawgs