The Red Sox not only play for their own professional pride, but they carry the expectations and hopes of every baseball fan in New England on their backs. It is quite a burden.

As a team they are dead serious in the clubhouse, no loud music, very few hijinks before the game. The media swarms around the players desperate for a quote or an insight into the day’s game. They hope for a few words from Pedro Martinez, which are not forthcoming, you see Pedro now boycotts the media in his home city.

Last night the Sox beat the A’s and you could just tell the pressure was off the Beantowners. Heck, they have a solid team, it’s just that every fan with a Boston accent is awaiting that fateful losing streak that will send the Sox home without a world championship once more extending the drought which began in 1918 (ever hear of the Curse of the Bambino).

Mark Mulder wasn’t at his best last night. He looked like he was searching for the correct pitch, looking for his pitcher’s touch.

Mulder had Manny Ramirez groping like a man in the dark when he threw two straight splitters with the bases loaded to bring the count to 3 and 2. Would Mulder dare to throw the free swinging Ramiez another pitch that would dart out of the strike zone?

Not last night, he went to a running outside fastball that missed badly, the runner from third waltzed in, and the Red sox world sensed the night would end differently.

It is important to point out one thing about the big three on the A’s. This spring was slightly different from the past. The team was supposed to open the season in Japan March 24 or so. Those games against Seattle were cancelled due to the war. The A’s pitchers have been on their regimen since February 8th, about ten days earlier than normal. Even though we haven’t seen any signs of fatigue from the big guys, it bears watching over the next few weeks to see if the early spring work might take its toll down the stretch.

What about the A’s offense?

Click below for more!The A’s batting order does need some tweaking.

Scott Hatteberg had a successful night at the plate according to A’s standards last night. The first baseman walked and was hit by a pitch and then had an oh for three. On base percentage .400 for the game. If you saw the game, you saw a hitter looking at pitch after pitch when a big hit was needed.

Terrence Long has a better chance to get a big hit than Hatteberg and should get a chance to leadoff, especially with all the righties the A’s will see for the rest of the season. Let Hatteberg hit second where his wait and see approach might lead to a few good swings with Tejada coming up next.

Erubiel Durazo has hit the wall. The A’s don’t have much choice at DH. Who would you put in to give Durazo a breather? Durazo swung through some hittable pitches from Derek Lowe last night squelching some good rallies. Durazo might be better off with a few days rest, giving him an opportunity to regroup. Let’s face it usually at this point of his prior seasons he has already seen the disabled list once or twice, maybe he is tired of chasing slow stuff and needs some R&R.

In any case, I’d hit Jose Guillen in the fifth spot until Durazo shows some life at the dish.

The Red Sox are not a one man team (Pedro) as some Bay Area writers would lead you to believe. They have an all star shortstop. They are a team that grinds out the game every day. I say that in a very positive vein. Their at bats are tough, the pitcher has to work hard to get through this lineup. Ted Lilly will have big trouble today dealing with this nine headed batting order Boston will throw out there.

The Yankees showed once again that unless they get a complete pitching performance they are capable of getting routed.

KC hits the ball very hard. Kevin Appier came home for the first time since leaving for the A’s and pitched superbly. Jeremy Affeldt again gave the Royals excellent late game relief. With Jose Lima coming back, Jimmy Gobble still on a ride, Runelvys Hernadez at least pitching, Darrell May still tricking the batters, and Appier on the hill, the Royals still have a decent shelf life in the AL Central.

Without a deep bullpen to utilize, the White Sox left Mark Buehrle in the game only to see him give up the decisive run in the eighth inning. The bigger story is that the Sox didn’t pound Jarrod Washburn.

Minnesota and Cleveland played 13 scoreless innings before the Tribe won the game with 5 in the fourteenth. Johann Santana and Jason Davis are two young pitchers who will be regular, effective starters next season for their teams.

Andy Pettitte faces Damian Moss in Baltimore today. Pettitte has been outstanding in his last two, but has one no decision and a loss to show for his work. Moss has pitched two very encouraging games for the Orioles who just got smoked by Tampa Bay.

Seattle got Kaz Sasaki in the game last night as well as Armando Benitez against Toronto. The Blue Jays Tanyon Sturtze had the inning of his life last night getting out of a bases loaded no outs jam to keep the score close before Seattle blasted it open against the rest of the sorry Jays bullpen.

Gil Meche tries to follow up on his gem, a 1-0 win over Andy Pettitte last Saturday against the free swinging Jays and Kelvim Escobar. Good news for the A’s, they don’t see Escobar this weekend while Boston is in Seattle for three.

Oakland will pick up two games on either Seattle or Boston this weekend as those two teams meet in Seattle for three.

Toronto is ripe for the picking in the Bay Area this weekend.

The Giants are banged up, this is major league baseball, when other teams smell blood they go for it.

At some point all these injuries the Giants have endured will take its toll on the team. The time might be now.

August is hurricane season in the Caribbean, it is also the time that the most dramatic baseball comebacks or collapses in baseball history began to take shape.

Check out the date when the Giants started their run in 1951, the Cardinals in 1942, The Orioles in 1974, the Mariners in 1995, the A’s in 2001, or the Yankees in 1978, they all spawned in mid August.

There is a reason why. The season is a marathon, tired teams have trouble right now, good teams can sense they have something special. The old story of the tortoise and the hare probably was conceived by its author during an August-September baseball race.

Don’t count anyone out of the race if they are over .500 in August.

Garrett Stephenson has been terrific for the Cards in his last two starts. They need him big time today after losing to Pittsburgh last night.

Tony LaRussa walked the winning run to third intentionally last night to get the matchup he wanted. Randall Simon against Pedro Borbon Jr. Needless to say, Simon got the hit and the Cards lost spoiling the strategy which was unorthodox to begin with.

The Mets ran like crazy on Jerome Williams last night. If Jesse Foppert isn’t careful today, Art Howe’s team which is playing nice and loose right now (they gave Arizona fits last weekend) will do the same thing to Foppert, another rookie feeling his way through August.

Nate Bump, one of the few former Giants pitchers who Brain Sabean traded away and amounted to something, has been fabulous in the Marlins bullpen.

For a team playing .647 ball the Braves are still searching for the right bullpen mix.

Is Mike Hampton for real? I’ll let you know after we see him in SF next week when the Braves are in for four night games.

The hurricane winds are beginning to blow in the Carribean, watch for baseball weather reports this month, too.