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	Wednesday, September 20
	Win now or ... win now By Sean McAdam Special to ESPN.com
	It's hard to overstate the significance of this week for the Boston Red Sox. On the surface, it's quite clear Boston needs a minimum of four wins in the five games against the Indians. That won't be easy, since the Indians are playing well, having gone 5-3 against the White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees over the last 11 days. Center Stage Make this a tale of two free agents (to be). There's Cleveland's Manny Ramirez, and there's Detroit's Juan Gonzalez. The former seems poised to hit the free-agent jackpot; the latter seems headed for uncertainty. Gonzalez, who upon arriving in Detroit reportedly found a $140 million deal awaiting him if he wanted. Just sign here, the Tigers said. No thanks, said Gonzalez. That might be the single costliest decision ever made by Gonzalez. And remember, we're talking about a guy who's been married multiple times. Since Gonzalez walked away from the pile of cash, his reputation has been further tarnished. He's missed 36 games because of injury, cementing the thinking that he doesn't play hurt. And he hasn't carried the Detroit offense. He has had the worst season of his career, at precisely the wrong time. Remarkably, the Tigers still have an interest in Gonzalez. Even more remarkably, they might be willing to move in the fences at Comerica Park to satisfy him. "If they do," one baseball executive said this week, "they're just stupid. That's a bad precedent to set." Still, the Tigers want Gonzalez. "We need Juan Gonzalez, or someone like him, in the middle of the lineup next season," Tigers GM Randy Smith said. "It's great to have blue-collar guys like Bobby Higginson, Dean Palmer and Brad Ausmus, but it's hard to move up (in the standings) without that guy capable of producing big numbers. "If it isn't going to be Gonzalez, who's it going to be? There aren't many players who will be available who can put up the kind of numbers Juan's had." Left unsaid by Smith was whether the $140 million offer is still on the table. Don't bet on it. Then there's Ramirez, whose stock is soaring, elevating him to perhaps the most sought-after free agent position player not named A-Rod. Ramirez missed six weeks with a hamstring problem, but he's since made up for lost time. "When he was gone," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel says, "we missed him big time." Over the last nine games, against a steady diet of White Sox, Yankees and Red Sox, Ramirez has knocked in a staggering 20 runs. For the season, he's hitting an astounding .407 with runners in scoring position and slugging .835. "He makes our whole lineup better," Manuel concludes. Whose lineup will he make better next year, since it's unlikely he'll remain in Cleveland, having passed up a deal from the Indians just before the trading deadline? No doubt, the Yankees will be tempted to make a run at Ramirez, who, after all, grew up in New York and still has family there. For sure, money will be no object for the Yankees, who could put Ramirez in left if they retain Paul O'Neill, or in right if they don't. Add in the fact that it's always difficult to sweep doubleheaders, regardless of the opposition, and Boston's task becomes that much more difficult. Even if the Sox take four of five, they'll need to keep winning. They spend the final week of the season on the road against Chicago, which owns the best record in the league, and the Devil Rays, who have given the Sox plenty of trouble the last two seasons and will be supremely motivated to knock Boston out of the playoff picture after the brawl at Tropicana Field late last month. Catcher Scott Hatteberg put it succinctly enough: "The whole season is coming down to one series (against Cleveland)." Maybe more. If the Red Sox fall short of their bid to make the playoffs, there could be plenty of fallout. Manager Jimy Williams is probably safe, but that can't be said with complete certainty. Remember GM Dan Duquette fired Kevin Kennedy one year after winning the AL East when the Sox failed to get back to the playoffs the following year. Duquette is not known for his patience, and his relationship with Williams, never close to begin with, has turned more sour this year as the two have clashed on personnel issues. Duquette has loaded down the payroll to such a degree that it might be difficult for the Sox to bid on the attractive free-agent class this fall. Boston has committed $79 million to 15 players for next season, and that doesn't begin to take into account potentially expensive arbitration cases like Jason Varitek, Hatteberg, Rolando Arrojo and Rich Garces. Figure another $8-10 million for thouse four, and the Sox are approaching $90 million for 19 players. The team has sizeable holes. They need another established starter, and if John Valentin isn't coming back from knee surgery right away, the Sox must find someone to replace him at third base. Where will all the money come from? If the Sox had a more fruitful farm system, they could plug some holes with inexperienced -- and inexpensive -- homegrown help. But there's little help on the immediate horizon. First baseman Juan Diaz might have been ready to compete for a job in the spring, but he tore up his ankle in mid-July and lost a valuable six weeks of Triple-A seasoning. Dernell Stenson has been solid but not dominant at Pawtucket, and the pitcher who was probably closest to contributing next season (Chris Reitsma) was dealt to Cincinnati for Dante Bichette. The team's push for a new ballpark has stalled in the Byzantine world of Boston politics. The Sox have funding from the state, but there's opposition from the Boston City Council when it comes to land acquisition and site preparation. Worse, word is the team's private financing partners are warning the Sox they might be getting into too much debt service to make the new place profitable. Every day that goes by without a shovel going into the ground is critical to the Red Sox. The team will set a new attendance record this season, but they're playing to about 98 percent capacity, and their ticket prices are already the highest in the game. Will long-suffering Red Sox fans withstand another 20 percent increase? Will $60 box seats find any buyers? Add it all up and the Red Sox have a lot at stake. It would be one thing for Oakland to fall short of the playoffs, since they're a young team still on the upswing according to most observers -- and doing it with a small payroll. For Cleveland, the Indians have been to the postseason every year since 1995, and fans would be forgiving for a one-year absence. Not so with the Red Sox. High expectations and 82 years without a championship makes for a restless fan base, and the team's short-term prosects -- both financial and personnel-wise -- aren't bright. A big five games against Cleveland? Without a doubt. The correct call As unorthodox as it seems, baseball made the right decision in scheduling a day-night, two-opponent (Chicago in the afternoon and Minnesota at night) doubleheader for the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 25. It might be difficult logistically, but it sure beat the alternative. If the game hadn't been made up earlier, a troubling scenario could have occurred. Picture this: The Indians finish the regular season a half-game ahead of the Red Sox. Having played 161 games -- one fewer than the Red Sox -- the Indians need to make-up their game with the White Sox that was rained out last weekend at Jacobs Field. The White Sox, having already clinched the division title, have nothing to play for. The Indians, meanwhile, know that a win clinches the wild-card for them. Weeks ago, White Sox CEO Jerry Reinsdorf noted that the one team no one wanted to play was the Red Sox, chiefly because of the Pedro Martinez factor. Had the game been played Oct. 2, the appearance of impropiarty would have been great. With their playoff status assured, it could have been in Chicago's best interest to lose to the Indians, thus avoiding a best-of-five showdown with Martinez. If Cleveland makes the playoffs, the White Sox would play the AL West winner in the first round -- Seattle or Oakland -- since you can't play a divisional opponent in the Division Series. What could have baseball had done to ensure the integrity of the race? It's likely commissioner Bud Selig would have spoken to the White Sox about putting a "competitive" -- i.e., represenative -- lineup on the field. Selig wouldn't have mandated that Jerry Manuel start his best pitcher, who would be held out for Game 1 of the Division Series to start the next day, but Selig would want some sort of guarantee that Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez and Ray Durham wouldn't be resting on the bench. Baseball needs to address this potential problem for the future before these troubling situations arise again. Love the new digs Keep an eye on the records of the National League division winners. Heading into Tuesday, the three first-place teams -- Atlanta, St. Louis and San Francisco -- were separated by just one game. The team with the best record will, of course, have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If the Giants finish with the best mark, that could be significant, since they have far and away the best home mark in baseball, going into Tuesday with a 51-22 mark (.700). If the Giants run the table with their final eight home games -- an unlikely scenario, to be sure -- they could finish with 59 wins at Pacific Bell Park. Had the Giants not taken a little while to get used to their new digs -- they opened 0-6 on the first homestand -- they could have challenged the all-time mark of 65 home wins, set by the 1961 Yankees. The Giants' franchise record is 61, set at Candlestick Park in 1962. For those looking for omens, the club won the National League pennant that year. News and notes Toronto's Carlos Delgado has an outside shot at becoming the first Triple Crown winner since 1967. Even if he falls short in one category, he has a good chance to lead in two of the three categories and finish second in the third, which has been done by just 11 players. That list of near-misses include such greats Ty Cobb (twice), Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth (three times) Jimmie Foxx (twice), Stan Musial and Ted Williams. Stats and stuff It shouldn't be too hard to figure out why Todd Helton -- hitting .374 overall -- is hitting just .114 (4-for-35) against the Cubs. Chicago is managed by Don Baylor, who apparently took notes while he managed Helton in Colorado in 1998. ... Tampa Bay outfielder Gerald Williams could become the seventh leadoff hitter to reach 20 homers and 80 RBI. Anaheim's Darin Erstad has done it already this year: others: Tommy Harper (1970); Bobby Bonds (1973); Brady Anderson (1992 and 1999); Craig Biggio (1997 and 1998); and Nomar Garciaparra (1997). ... After reaching 50 homers, Sammy Sosa could become the only the fourth player in history to hit 50 homers and total 200 or more hits in a season. Ruth, Foxx and Hack Wilson are the others. ... More proof that this is The Era of Offense: Entering the weekend, teams have scored 10 or more runs 525 times this season, eclipsing the mark of 505 set last year. Of course, two weeks still remain, so the number will undoubtedly go up even higher. Also, the 5,000th homer of the 2000 season was hit Sept. 8. On the rise: Seattle Mariners So the team chasing you for the division lead gets hot down the stretch and wins eight of 11. What to do? If you're the Seattle Mariners, you win nine of 11 and hold onto that division lead over the Oakland A's. The whole thing could be decided starting Thursday, when the Mariners host the A's for four games at Safeco Field, the last four meetings of the year between the two clubs. The Mariners have seemingly righted things after a poor August that saw them go 11-17 with a team ERA of 5.85 and threaten to tumble out of a seven-game lead. But Jamie Moyer and Aaron Sele rebounded nicely, Jay Buhner returned and Alex Rodriguez, who had cooled some, got hot again. On the fall: Pittsburgh Pirates Any slim hope that Gene Lamont had of holding onto his job has slipped away in the closing weeks of the season as the Bucs' season has gone from bad to worse. Pittsburgh's victory Monday night stopped a nine-game losing streak, but the Pirates have are 27 games under .500. Two starters were lost for extended periods -- Jason Schmidt and Francisco Cordova -- but no one expected the Pirates to be this bad. Babe Ruth Award: Jason Giambi While pushing team toward the playoffs, Giambi has cemented his reputation as a big-game player and increased his shot at winning the American League MVP award. Over the last week, the slugging first baseman hit a robust .579 with four homers and 14 RBI. Along the way, Giambi set an Oakland record for most RBI in a season, not bad for a franchise that has been home to such noted mashers as Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. "It's exciting," Giambi said of the record. "But I have other things this year. I want to make it to the postseason." Another week (or two) like the last one will make it a lot more likely the A's will get there. Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal writes a major-league notebook every Tuesday for ESPN.com.		ALSO SEE Chat wrap: Sean McAdam