Thursday, August 6, 2009

Red Sox - Yankees: Round 3

0-8

8 games where the Red Sox have stripped the Yankees of their pride. It's not acceptable for any team to be 0-8 against a division rival. The Yanks weren't great when they played them in April. They still weren't great in May. But they were better in June and still lost. But now they are one of the hottest teams in baseball (probably besides the Angels & Dodgers) with the 2nd-best record in baseball. There is no excuse now to lose to the Red Sox in the Bronx.

Clearly I jinxed the Yankees in my last post (yes, I'm one of those superstitious sports fans) by gushing over how good they were. Ok, so they took 2 of 3 from the Rays. That's very good. But then they lost 3 in a row to the CHISOX! C'mon! I know they're a good team (and have been beating up on the Angels who the Yanks can't beat to save their lives), but man they played HORRIBLY! Sloppy defense, no offense, bad pitching. Luckily I was out of town without TV or internet (except on my phone to check the final scores) so I didn't have to suffer through that series. Funny thing is, when I was driving back to Minnesota from Pennsylvania, our GPS system took us a different way through Chicago. We went through the city (and AWFUL traffic on a Sunday) and I got to see U.S. Cellular Field where the Yanks were playing. Since then, however, they have won 3 in a row (saving themselves from embarassment by winning 1 game in the 4-game series against the chisox). They've got the momentum and they know how to pitch and hit at Yankee Stadium.

Peter Abraham, the Yankees beatwriter, has a good breakdown of the two teams and who is stronger at what positions (including the managers): Read it Here

I'm predicting (& I usually never predict) that the Yankees will split the series.

Joba vs. Smoltz - Joba. He's been great lately and Smoltz has not, sporting a 7 ERA. And they're in the Bronx.

Sabathia vs. Buchholz - Sabathia. He hasn't been brilliant lately, but he's gotten the job done.

Burnett vs. Beckett -Beckett. Burnett has been good, but he's sucked against the Red Sox. In fact, it was after he turned in a total sucky outing against the Sux that he turned it around. But Beckett's too damn good. Damn him, I really dislike him.

Pettite vs. Lester - Lester. Pettite's pitched well as of late, but once again Lester is too damn good. And he is usually great against the Yankees. This is the one matchup I'm not sure of - the Yanks could potentially win this game if they can get some hits off of Lester and if Pettite pitches like he did last game (outdueling the Doc). It would be wonderful if the Yanks could take 3 of 4.

Let's do this Yanks!

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