I had the pleasure to watch parts of the New York/Cleveland game Wednesday in which the ground crew and some players tried to coral a particularly agile squirrel that had made its way onto Jacob's Field. Watching five guys scrambling to catch the bushy-tailed rodent was great fun. In the end the squirrel and Cleveland won its battle. The Plain Dealer writes how the Indians "squirrel out of skid." SportsIllustrated.com headline read "Indians to Yanks: Nuts!

While the squirrel may have brought luck to the Indians, it did more for the Red Sox. The Yankees loss moved the Red Sox closer to the AL East division leaders. 5 1/2 games is all that separates the first and second place teams. The Red Sox are surging. The Yankees are falling. Life continues to be good.

I guess George Steinbrenner's meeting with his front office didn't change a thing. ESPN's Bob Klapisch reported Wednesday that the shrinkage worries the boss. The Yankees are having the wind sucked from their sails.

The Times reports that even with the pieces in place the Yankees slip up.

Who's the best pitcher on the Yankee staff? El Duque, go figure. Orlando Hernandez hasn't lost a game since returning to the rotation July 11. His team has won eight of his nine starts. Pretty impressive. The New York Times reports that Hernandez is moving up on the depth chart. If he is the star pitcher, I can't wait for the Sox to meet the Yanks again. Although they seem to win the games Hernandez pitches, he only has four quality starts.

At this rate Boston has a real shot at winning the division. It is possible, albeit not likely. I'm still holding out hope that Boston can hang tough and sweep the Yankees in September. They play the Yankees six more times.

Why am I spending all this time writing about the Yankees? Because they are weak. A-Rod is hitting around .204 with men in scoring position. Jeter has been slumping and the pitching is still a big question mark. The only guy that is doing anything is Gary Sheffield (32HR, 98R, 95RBI) and he may retire at the end of the season due to a bad shoulder. Even with his bad shoulder, he is still hitting the cover off the ball.

Who else is hitting the cover off the ball? The Red Sox. As a team, Boston had 93 hits in six games on the road. Manny and Ortiz had another back-to-back home run Wednesday night. Lovely. The two star Red Sox players are 1-2 on the home run leader board as well. You can't beat that. They are not the only contributors for sure. There's Jason Varitek, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller and Johnny Damon. Even with Damon's success at the plate, the Boston Globe reports, Damon is fighting the effects of an early-season concussion.

Like a lingering headache, the Toronto Sun writes that the Sox won't go away. Apparently after watching this team in Toronto, Ken Fidlin feels the AL East chase is about to heat up. Welcome to the party, Ken.

The Blue Jays certainly did help. The Toronto Star reports that Josh Towers witnessed the "worst execution of pitches (he's) ever seen" and they were his own. Towers failed to win his 10th game of the season. Too many high strikes.

Curt Schilling earned his 16th win, second to only Oakland's Mark Mulder (17). it was his first time beating the Blue Jays this year. Schilling is having a great year and should be considered a contender for the AL Cy Young. It is a bit of a longshot since Mulder and Minnesota's Johan Santana have pitched a tad bit better. Schilling's next start will be the truest test for Schilling, according to the Boston Globe.

But we may be getting ahead of ourselves again.

The Boston Herald is trying to make a case that tonight's starter Bronson Arroyo should be the No. 3 starter in the post season. I have to agree. I've watched him pitch several times this season; he seems to improve with each outing. I was especially impressed with his outing versus the Yankees. Let's see how he does tonight against the Tigers.

Detroit is an up and down club. Many of the players are young. Sometime in the future this team will contend. With their quick start, fans may have thought it was this year, but they are missing a few pieces.

Mark my words, the Tigers will not lose 100 games this season. The Tigers won their 60th Wednesday. All they need now is three more wins. The Detroit Free Press writes about the win. They are indeed a much improved team. They are not the worst in the league nor their division. While there has been improvement, the Tigers need to address some needs in the off-season.

Carlos Pena is one of the players on the bubble The Free Press reports that he is responding to Alan Trammel. I think they would be wise to re-sign him. He's a left-handed first baseman with awesome power potential. He's also young enough to make a difference.

Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press says the Tigers have to aquire an ace pitcher if they have hopes of contending in the future. This is true but maybe for different reasons than he suggests. A veteran pitcher with a impressive record may set a good example for the young, promising staff.

Whichever way they go next year matters not today, because I'm getting myself a pet squirrel.

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