Red Sox fans are using the start of the holiday weekend to catch a breather before the Sox and Yankees meet again for Round Two of their May home-and-home series.
The rivals went at it for three games last week, and the level of play and intensity were as high as you could ask of an early-season matchup.
The Sox lost two out of three to the Pinstripers at Fenway Park but served notice that they’ll be bashing away with George Steinbrenner’s millionaires all summer long.
“Did you expect anything less?” said Jeremy Giambi after his brother Jason’s team won the deciding game of the series Wednesday night.
No, we didn’t. As Red Sox fans, we worried. We worried that our nine wouldn’t have the stuff to go toe-to-toe with the most expensive group of baseball talent the game has ever seen.
For 27 splendid innings, they did slug it out with the Bronx Bombers in a series that certainly did not lack for subplots or subtitles:
Brothers in arms
Jeremy and Jason Giambi became just the third pair of brothers to play against each other in this century-old rivaly.
“They’ve got great genes from their mother,” said proud papa John, in town for the first two games. “I’m cheering for the Red Sox. Next week (in New York) I’ll cheer for the Yankees.”
If John Giambi weren’t a successful banker, he’d have a great career in politics.
Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy
Ramiro Mendoza, the embedded Yankee, was brutal against his former team.
The Sox offense once again got the veteran off the hook, but it’s time to worry about whether Mendoza’s sinkerball is going to come back to form.
The scene of the crime
Bucky Dent was back at Fenway this week, sitting in the Monster Seats above the left field wall.
You know, the wall he cleared with a home run on Oct. 2, 1978 — the home run that killed the Sox that season.
I asked Dent if that home run made him more famous in Boston than in New York.
“Yes,” he said, “for very different reasons.”
Speed kills
Tough night for Damian Jackson on Wednesday.
With the Sox down by a run, Jackson entered the game as a pinch runner in the eighth. The Yankees brought in Mariano Rivera to face Shea Hillenbrand, but Rivera never had to throw a pitch. Instead, he picked off Jackson to end the inning.
“I was too amped up,” said Jackson, who underwent a root canal earlier Wednesday.
Who knew that would be the second most painful event of his day?
Faces in the crowd
It was a great series for star gazing.
Author John Grisham, composer John Williams, superjocks Eric Williams and Lawyer Milloy, Jared the Subway pitchman, actors Mike O’Malley and Seth Myers and Governor Mitt Romney all attended a game .
Funny, crowds like that don’t show up for the Devil Rays.
Get back
Pedro Martinez now has a muscle strain in his back. It’s not supposed to be serious, but you never know with Pedro. We can’t quote him, but he says he’s not worried.
Until he’s pitching again, the rest of New England is worried.
The Twilight Zone
Roger Clemens, once said to be “in the twilight of his career” by former Sox General Manager Dan Duquette, will go for his 300th win tomorrow afternoon against Boston.
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to respect Clemens. He hung in long enough to get No. 299 on Wednesday,despite taking a Bill Mueller line drive off the hand.
He’s tough, he’s talented, and his number should be retired by the Red Sox when he retires.
Lewiston native Tom Caron covers the Red Sox for NESN.
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