Do or Die Time For Sox

Yankees(73-48)at Red Sox (69-53)
8:05 PM at Fenway Park
Sox Trail Yankees by 4 1/2 in AL East
Sox Trail White Sox by 3 1/2 in Wild Card
Pitching: Mussina (13-5, 3.54 ERA)vs. Schilling (14-5, 3.83 ERA)

Line-up

Yankees

Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Giambi 1B
A-Rod DH
Cano 2B
Posada C
Cabrera LF
Green 3B

Mussina P

Sox

Crisp CF
Loretta 2B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Youkilis 1B
Lowell 3B
Pena RF
Mirabelli C
Cora SS

Schilling P

Sox Notes: GM Theo Epstein held court on the field before tonight's
game and took some accountability for the teams horid play of late, and refused to blame the resent poor pitching on the loss of Jason Varitek, "He's an extremely valuable guy, and he means much more than numbers. He's like having a coach out on the field. But we're not using that as an excuse. We've got to do better than 6-13 without Jason Varitek."...Shortstop Alex Gonzalex continues to nurse a sore back Terry Francona said he could've played but his poor numbers against Mussina (1 for 12) led Tito to insert Cora at shortstop...The team sent down Jermaine Van Buren, and added lefty reliever Javier Lopez from Pawtucket.

Yankees Notes: The Yanks have DH'd A-Rod tonight but refuse to say it's because of his suspect defense that has him leading baseball with 21 errors at third base...Yankee hitting coach Don Mattingly mentioned that Hideki Matsui has had a set back with his wrist, and still isn't swinging with two hands. He wouldn't speculate on a return, but did say that this is the best he's seen his line-up hit all year, so who needs Godzilla?

Sightings: Celtic legend Bill Russell was on the field before the game maybe the winningest player in North American sports history can rub some luck on the sinking ship. Russell was only wearing one of his eleven championship rings, but, it was difficult to make out which one it was..I think it was the one from '69.