They Said It

The Red Sox are 2.5 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East and have taken 4 of 5 games from the Yankees so far this season, including last night’s 9-5 win in the Fens. (To be fair, it was going to be a 9-1 win before Keith Foulke served up some fat morbidly obese pitches.) Instead of crowing my delight to the heavens, I will simply let the losers do their ’splainin:

“Lately it’s been like the first day in spring training, where you have to whisper to the guy next to you, ‘Hey, what’s that dude’s name?’ “

–Yankees CF Johnny Damon, on the plethora of minor leaguers and no-namers filling in for injured stars.

“I wish I could say something was wrong. I’ve never been more healthy in my career. When I stink, I stink.”

–Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez, on his .276 batting average and 8 errors on the season. (By contrast, Sox 3B Mike Lowell is hitting .333 with 3 errors, and getting paid $16 million less than A-Rod this season.)

“He looked like he tried to do something with Manny, something up, which is not his neighborhood. It’s Manny’s neighborhood, but not his neighborhood, and he killed that ball.”

–Yankees manager Joe Torre on why Chien-Ming Wang threw a fastball up in the zone to Manny “2005 AL Silver Slugger” Ramirez, who happens to be hitting .412 against the Yankees this year, with two runs already in and a man in scoring position.

Tonight: Tim Wakefield serves up his frustrating flutterball; Gary Sheffield parachutes in; Jaret Wright tries to get his second win of the season. Don’t touch that dial, kids!