The Last Of The Big 3

Looks like it’s the end of the road for the final active member of the core of the best starting rotation of my lifetime, and the best post-season pitcher of the three. Even though he spent most of his career sticking it to the teams I was cheering for, he was a class act, and it was sad to see him go out that way. And it’s not like he was hanging on well past his prime; remarkably, this will be the first year Smoltz hasn’t had an ERA+ over 100 since 1988. It was a reasonable gamble by the Red Sox but it just didn’t work.

Given the Yankees’ improved rotation Howard may not want to make out annual reverse-hedge bet for charity. But if I may be permitted to state the obvious, the Yankees are going to win the division this year. With Ortiz probably done, Varitek burnt to a crisp (or Casey “If You Liked Dave Stapleton” Kotchman), Bay and Drew unlikely to be anywhere near 100%, and utterly non-competitive shortstops, I just don’t see them having the offense to win in the East, especially since their excellent top 4 isn’t as good as New York’s either (and neither is their rotation.) The real question is whether they’ll stay ahead of Tampa, who have probably been the best team in the division this year.

…and what a classic game. Normally, they would only have played about 5 innings by midnight…