With things going swimmingly well in Oakland, all eyes turn back to the East where the Yankees go to Boston to renew one of the most dramatic late season rivalries in the game.

The Yankees have broken the hearts of Red Sox fans repeatedly over the years. Whether it is 1978, 1949, or 1950, the story is always the same. The Sox are on the verge of playing in October, and then the Yanks knock them out in an excruciating series.

This six game set has implications once again. Boston trails NY by 4 1/2 games. The Red Sox lead Seattle by 1/2 in the wild card.

Boston looks to Derek Lowe and his blisters to shut Cuban rookie Jose Contreras and the New Yorkers down in game one.

The Yanks ain’t what they used to be. In fact, the White Sox took two of three from NY, knocking the Bombers pitching around in the process. The Yanks can hit, but so can Boston. Who can pitch better? Both teams rely on at least three pitchers from their bullpen every night.

The difference might be Byung Hyun Kim versus Mariano Rivera and you know who will win that one.

So, if I’m Boston, just split the six games and hope Seattle continues on their yearly slide into the Pacific.

Click below for more.The A’s twenty game winning streak in 2002 assured them of a playoff berth as they buried Boston during August and early September. This latest six game run could do the same thing if the A’s can continue to pound the Devil Rays, who will surprise you at least once this weekend.

After this run with Tampa and Baltimore the A’s should have a nice cushion going into divsion play Sept. 8th.

The only monkey wrench which may be thrown into this plan would be the interest that Anaheim and Texas might show when they meet Oakland and Seattle in September.

If those two teams come to play, then this AL West could stay close enough for the six games between the A’s and Seattle to mean something, especially the last three set for the final weekend of the season.

The A’s see a rare lefty starter tonight, but to assuage anyone’s fears of failure on this teams part, they are trotting out Cy Young hopeful Tim Hudson to quell the Rays.

Hudson was not particularly sharp following his hand injury, but he did pitch effectively in Toronto Sunday and at least no one is talking about his puffy hand anymore.

Oakland’s defense saved the day yesterday especially Mark Ellis who prevented Ricardo Rincon from giving up two key runs in the seventh inning.

John Halama did give up some long outs, but gave the A’s 6 2/3 innings which was a welcome relief.

Seattle has to wonder what will happen next. In the wake of their losing, Ichiro is no longer leading the league in hitting, giving up the lead to Bill Mueller by .002 percentage points.

Soft tossing Eric Dubose goes for the Orioles against Ryan Franklin in a game Seattle has to have.

KC throws Jimmy Gobble who has not looked good his last two starts as they meet the Angels and Jarrod “let em hit it out” Washburn in KC.

The White Sox had a woeful visit to Detroit their last time in, almost costing Jerry Manuel his job. This time they held Mark Buehrle back to face the Tigers who can hit the 100 loss mark tonight.

The Twins travel to Arlington and they can only hope that the weather is cooling off and the Cowboys have all the fans attention as they need to win this series this weeknd to keep pace with the AL Central leaders.

John Thomson, the best Texas has to offer, goes against perhaps the weakest Twins starter, Joe Mays.

The Cubs Mike Remlinger shook off the curveball sign and decided to throw a fastball instead. You know what happened, light hitting lefty swinger Kerry Robinson hit it out and the Cards rallied to beat the Cubs again.

If only the Cubs had a reliable pen. Carlos Zambrano pitched well, but it wasn’t enough.

Today the red hot Brewers come to Wrigley and I say the ten game winning streak ends right here against Matt Clement.

Dontrelle Willis can’t throw the ball past anyone these days. The kid should be shut down. He threw 106 pitches in five innings because he can’t finish anyone with two strikes. The big hit by Jack Wilson came during a ten pitch at bat. Give the meal ticket a break, he’s tired.

Steve Trachsel has been lights out and he faces the Phillies who are slowly going south. If the Mets beat Kevin Millwood and take this series Larry Bowa will leave NY in a straight jacket.

The Giants merely have to avoid a sweep in Arizona to completely finish the run to the title in the West.

Arizona needs three of four to keep pace for the wild card, if they lose three of four, you have to wonder if they have what it takes to even win the runner up spot in the West.

Tim Redding’s poor performance for Houston highlights the need for one more decent starter to help the Astros. If the A’s don’t want Pat Hentgen, then maybe Houston should look at him for its rotation.

Crazy, but Montreal is the hottest team in the wild card race right now. With Javier Vazquez, Livan Hernandez, Vladimir Guerrero (he can carry the club by himself), and the rest of the Expos on top of their game, it’s not impossible for them to stay in this thing all the way down to the end.

I know the Dodgers are still alive and kicking, but their lack of a consistent offense from April 1st right through today is dragging them down.

Todd Helton is only .010 behind Albert Pujols for the NL batting lead.

So, is the Curse of the Bambino alive and well or will the Red Sox make it through this weekend with New York?

I say watch out Babe, this Red sox team comes to play, if they only could pitch at the end as well they hit late in the game, then Babe, you would have something to worry about.

Until that happens Babe, you can keep smiling, but be careful.