HEY NINETEEN! NOT A 19TH NERVOUS BREAKDOWN!!

Josh Beckett took a huge step towards earning the 2007 AL Cy Young award by outpitching and outclassing Chien Min Wang for his nineteenth win of the season. He defeating the New York Yankees in a much needed game for the Sox...the final score was 10-1. The lead is back to 5 1/2 games, five in the loss column, with 13 games left to play. He pitched 7 innings, giving up only one run on 3 hits and striking out 7. Wang, on the other hand, went only 5 2/3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits. No contest! Beckett said this about the two teams......

"We were playing against a tough team," Beckett said. "And I think they'll say the same thing. They knew they were playing against a tough team, also. That's why our games last 12-13 hours."

Well, Josh, they may seem that long, that's for sure! And the tension between the two teams was palpable. Kevin Youkilis, who the Yankees and their fans intensely dislike, was hit on the hand and wrist area. He immediately left the game to have it X-Rayed, and the results were negative. He has a contusion, which is a bad bruise, and will be out for a couple days. Beckett hit Giambi in the upper arm as retaliation, and both teams were warned. Tensions were sustained in the 6th inning when gutsy Eric Hinske, who was 2 for 4, barrelled into Jorge Posada in a vain attempt to score. Posada hung on to the ball but was shaken up enough to have to leave the game and go to the hospital. Thankfully, he's OK.

It's Roger Clemen's return to Fenway Park tonight, and he will face Curt Schilling, who has been pitching great lately. I hope Clemens doesn't try any "funny stuff' out there on the mound, or something bad could and probably will happen. This is the first real test for his ailing elbow, and I expect him to be as or more hittable than the two previous pinstripe starters. Quite a change from the last time the trio pitched against the Sox in Yankee Stadium in August.

So the sting from Friday night is gone, the Yankees are a game farther back than they were, and all is right in Red Sox Nation and Red Sox International. Tonight, at 8pm on ESPN and ESPNHD, the nation will turns its eyes toward that patch of green in the city of Boston. That place is called Fenway Park. They play baseball there. GREAT baseball.

Click on the title of this post for more on Josh Beckett and the weekend series so far, penned by the Globe's Jackie MacMullen. Have a great Sunday, and be well. Go Schill! Put the nail in the Yankees' coffin. Tonight's the night, as Neil Young once sang.