The city of Boston will never let us Yanks fans forget about the 2004 ALCS debacle, but this weekend'’s 5-game non-stop domination shot the insufferable BoSox fans into quiet-mode for at least a few days. All told, the Yanks outscored the Sox 49-26 during the series and took a 6.5 game lead in the AL East while knocking Boston down to 3rd place in the AL Wild Card race.

With the way the Yankees played this weekend, I almost forgot about all of the problems that have plagued the team since the beginning of the season. Lest you forget, in addition to the loss of Matsui and Sheff, the Yankees were without Cano for over a month, and Jeter, Damon, Giambi and A-Rod have all missed at least 2 games each. All memories of those injuries flew out the window, though, as Torre'’s gang hit double after double and worked Boston'’s pitchers deep into the counts to induce sheer exhaustion in the Sox bullpen.


Until today, when Lidle (yes, I said Lidle) and Boomer participated in some strange bizarro-world pitching duel, the spotlight was shining on the Yanks' offense. Damon and Abreu in particular were on fire: Damon had 10 hits (including 2 homers on Friday!) and 8 RBIs against his former team; Abreu also had 10 hits and walked 7 times. A-Rod even had a couple undeniably clutch hits, though even the Yankees Chick is not optimistic enough to believe that this weekend's performance will do anything to assuage the assault he endures daily from the hecklers at Yankees stadium.

Fun as it is to crush the Red Sox any time, this series was especially impressive. For the first time since Matsui went down with a snapped wrist, the Yankees were playing like a World Champion team. I find it to be an excellent omen that the only other times in the Yanks' history that they were able to complete a 5-game sweep at Fenway (1927 and 1943) were years that they went on to win the World Series - - Mets fans better be sharpening their claws for a Subway Series redux.