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After a 20-11 game and a 14-1 followed, it's a wild time in Red Sox Nation.

Before the Sox try to win the series against the Yankees tonight (your move, Mr. Josh Beckett), here's some nice Sunday reading for you to check up on.

"Is he ready to pitch or is he not? You know what I mean?" asked Papelbon. "I think our bullpen is good where we’re at right now. Don’t get me wrong. But I guess you could always make it better. It’s kind of like the Gagne thing, I guess."

Ah, the Gagne thing. In 2007, the Sox had the best bullpen ERA in the majors thanks to the dominant work of Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen (among others). But the Sox worried about the toll of the season on Okajima especially (the Japanese lefty, in his rookie year, had to be shut down for a stretch due to fatigue), and so the Sox traded for Eric Gagne at the July 31 deadline.

Theo Epstein is all about depth and that's what Wagner brings. But even Manny Delcarmen is questioning if bringing Wagner on is the right thing. If it does happen and Wagner pitches poorly, how can you blame him? His future teammates are already shooting him down:

"We loved Gagne coming over here, just the stuff that he had, but it was an awkward situation this late in the season," said Delcarmen. "I think our bullpen is fine right now.

"It is what it is. If (Wagner) comes and helps us win, that’s what we want. But sometimes, shaking things up this late might work out different. We’ll see what happens."

Allan Wood is proving Jim Rice wrong. One quotation at a time:

Rice isn't worth this work, but here goes:

1. "baggy uniforms" - Throughout most of baseball history, players wore baggy uniforms. Pictures exist of this. However, baseball also often follows American styles and in the Rice era, players wore tight pants. Rice's generation is the anomaly, not the rule.

2. "dreadlocks" - Statistical studies have shown that your choice of hair style do not make you hit or pitch better (or worse) than another person with "normal" hair. And check out some of the Afros from Rice's day, like Oscar Gamble's. Plus, the Afro was a political statement first associated with the Black Power Movement.

And the list continues. It's unfortunate Rice is getting this much flake, but it's hard to say he doesn't deserve it. Let's hope he can leave this trainwreck with just a bruise and nothing more...

Did you know how good the AL East second basemen really are? I've never really thought about it closely before, but Tyler Hissey breaks it down: Dustin Pedroia or Robinson Cano is the question in this post:

New York Yankees beat reporter Joel Sherman recently posed an interesting question to seven front office executives. Sherman, who writes for the New York Post, asked each front office exec which second baseman they would rather have as their starter over the next five years: Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia.

Pedroia, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, was the easy winner, collecting all seven votes in the informal poll. The reason, according to the article, was that the diminutive Boston second baseman has better makeup, is a "leader" and "winner."

[...]

Going forward, there are so many factors that will end up determining which mid-20s star will have the better career. Pedroia, to me, is the safer pick, though, and make-up is only a minor reason why. He is more consistent, has much better plate discipline and is the better defender. Cano has a ton of talent himself (with more power), and, if he can improve his walk rate and become more selective, could emerge into a real stud. Even if that does not happen, he should be a tremendous asset for the Yankees. He is an excellent player, indeed, and New York fans should accept him for what he is.

Pedroia, though, would get my pick.

Pedroia is a no-brainer over Cano, but like Hissey said, it's hard to take anything away from Cano. He's a talented ballplayer with a pretty good skillset. Brian Roberts, though, may take the cake out of all these guys. I'll still take Pedroia, but Roberts just wrecks the ball. 1. Pedroia, 2. Roberts, 3. Cano, in my opinion (let's not even talk about super utility man Ben Zobrist).

The "power of three" is great. But isn't two better than three? No? Well, maybe? For the Sox's sake I hope so:

If you believe in the power of threes, the Cardinals, Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies have a chance to emerge as very good postseason teams, because having three top starters is important in the playoffs.

According to former pitching coach Rick Peterson, the two staffs that pop out are the Yankees’ and Phillies’. Philadelphia, he said, is "without question one of the best rotations in the game.’’ And the Yankees "look like they’ll be tough in the playoffs.’’

If we're talking twos, I'll take Josh Beckett and Jon Lester over anyone, in my opinion. If we're sticking with threes, though, I can't say the same for the Sox's No. 3 starter. Clay Buchholz could be good, but he's not proven yet. Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka are question marks as well.

And as Drugs Delaney pointed out, Red Sox's two > Yankees' two. No question about it.

Here's hoping that 2009 is the new 2004. I'd love for it to happen, but lightning rarely strikes twice.

In 2004, after 121 games (same as Saturday) they were 6.5 games back. On August 23 (that's today), they started a 10-game winning streak and finished three games back. They never caught the Yankees, but they still made the playoffs, setting up the magical four-game comeback that turned every Red Sox fan in America into an insufferable jerkoff.

So what happens next? One thing I can guarantee you is that if the Red Sox and Yankees do end up meeting in the ALCS, there won't be quite as many folks rooting for the collapse of the Evil Empire this time. Oh sure, the Yanks are still a boil on the face of baseball, but the Sawx have become the equally ugly wart on its nose. It's the kind of un-winnable choice that occasionally makes sports fandom seem futile.

Yes, please.

October: You, me, those guys -- let's do it. Red Sox and Yankees could find themselves in more matchups come October:

We're getting the Red Sox at their best and the Yankees at their worst. Or we're getting the Yankees at their best and the Red Sox at their worst.

There hasn't yet been one point this year where Yankees-Red Sox felt like an even matchup. But maybe there's still time for that.

Maybe that's what October is for.

Maybe that's where this is heading.

I would like to point out that the 15 inning, 0-0 game was most certainly a "matchup." That was the best game of the year, in my opinion. So I think Mr. Knobler is off a little bit in that sense, but the fact these two could face again in the ALCS is definitely a possibility. It's something that I think everyone in RSN would love to witness.

Beckett v. Sabathia -- to the death. Beckett and Sabathia will meet for the first time since game 5 of the 2007 ALCS:

Josh Beckett and CC Sabathia have faced each other before on a grand stage. Never, however, under the bright lights of the storied rivalry that is Red Sox-Yankees.

That'll change on Sunday night at Fenway Park, where the 14-game winners will square off in their first meeting since Game 5 of the 2007 American League Championship Series.

[...]

"They're both great pitchers who have great stuff," said Boston slugger Victor Martinez, who has had the privilege of catching both hurlers. "They're very focused on what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing, and they're very tough."

Winning this series would be sweet and now it's all on Beckett's shoulders. If the Sox were to win one of these games in the series, this would be it.

Go Sox!