Yankees-Red Sox - The Sequel To The Sequel To The...

The New York tabloids are all focused on the Yankees trip to Boston this weekend - well, the back pages of them are, anyway - for the Bombers latest effort to end their nightmarish play. Jason Giambi won't be making the trip and likely won't be making too many of the other road swings to come this season. He's headed to the disabled list with the dreaded plantar fascitis, which translates in English to "excuse to get his slumping bat out of the lineup." Curiously the injury seemed to have happened when he was rounding the bases after homering during Tuesday night's loss. It was probably his unfamiliarity with the home run trot that did him in.

Chien-Ming Wang and Tim Wakefield get things rolling tonight to be followed by two more of each team's fine starting hurlers. Daisuke Matsuzaka won't get a chance against the Yanks this time around and the Rocket didn't get clearance to launch during this weekend's festivities either. That's upsetting to Tim McCarver. He probably had some choice stuff lined up about how Clemens was rusty after starting the season two months late for when Roger walked a Boston hitter. Or he had some pithy comments about how the great ones never forget how to get the job done if Clemens pitched well. Either way it's nothing you won't miss and McCarver's big gripe seems to be that Saturday's game on Fox won't be quite the spectacle it would have been if Clemens was on the hill.

Ben Affleck will be at Fenway Park though so maybe Timmy can dry his tears with that news from the Boston Globe. Misty-eyed Yankee fans, on the other hand, might want to read Joel Sherman's piece in today's Post. He dials the Delorean back to 1995 and recalls that in the 51st game of that season the Yankees beat Toronto to improve their record to a still-shabby 22-29. This year's edition did exactly the same thing, of course, so it's still much too soon to say that the Bombers hold no chance of earning a spot in the postseason.