Friday Sox Talk: AL East Battle For Supremacy

I suppose there is something apt about the Red Sox and Yankees being tied for first place on a weekend when the Yankees arrive in Fenway for a three-game series. Heading into these games that will decide first place, at least for the time being, in the American League East the Yankees have been absolutely mashing the ball. It seems like every time I look at the scores New York has put up a dozen runs on some hapless pitching staff. Meanwhile, the Red Sox have been stumbling a little bit and are coming off of a split against the Indians in which scoring was a chore.

But I'm not convinced that form going into these series really makes much of a difference to either team. The Sox in particular tend to play to the level of their competition and almost always rise to the occasion of a series against the Yankees or most any other good team. Plus they get Lester and Beckett in this series, which represents about as good as it gets for a pitching staff that has been blasted by injury. The trade deadline brought Eric Bedard who went last night and did not set the earth on fire on the Fenway mound. But Bedard's arrival is perhaps overshadowed by Buchholz going on the 60-day disabled list and quite possibly being done for the season.

I suppose that in the eyes of some the playoff format diminishes the meaning of these games to some extent. After all, barring meltdown both the Sox and the Yanks are going to the playoffs. But I doubt you'll be able to convince the fans of either team or the players on either roster that these games do not matter. The rest of the country can claim to be sick of Red Sox-Yankees. And then more of them will tune in to these games than to any other up to now this season. Because with first place on the line, and the Red Sox against New York, these games matter.

Friday Red Sox Report: New Verse, Same as the First

Since my last Sox Report the Red Sox went 3-3. Blah. Blah blahbity blah blah.

Mediocrity is in some ways even more frustrating than abject badness. They win a couple, they lose a couple, each winning streak yin met with a losing streak yang, every sign of hope dampened by worrisome trends. .500 becomes the top of the hill, each new opposing team Sisyphus' rock.

Tonight the second season series with the Yankees kicks off in the New Toilet Bowl in the Bronx. I have a nice bet with Holmes this year -- every year we have different stakes, sometimes tied to sauces from our respective barbecue hotbeds, sometimes requiring the loser to buy the winner a hat or tee or shorts from a local sports team, or the other's favorite sports teams. This year's bet has an air of the philanthropic about it, as for each win equals five dollars for the charity of the winner's choice. The Sox are up 2-1 early on, so $10 is allocated to the Jimmy Fund, and I believe I am at $5 and counting for Children's Hospital. There are no losers in this one, though I hope my side wins a lot more.

This would be a great time to get rolling on the winning streak that we Sox fans have been counting on. The Yankees lead the way in the East but are themselves vulnerable. Someone will distinguish themselves in the division this year. Now would be a good time for the Sox to do so. I'd as soon not be reflecting on another .500 week seven days from now.

The Yankees Suck.

Now Batting for the Red Sox, Number 2, Derek Jeter?

There is no way Derek Jeter could sign with the Red Sox. Is there?

This is nothing more than idle speculation as far as I can tell. Jeter's prime is long past, and so the Red Sox should not want him for anything more than a cost-contained option to tweak the Yankees and then only if Jeter is willing to move to third (even if they ultimately use him as a shortstop -- I still hope they re-sign Beltre).

But can you imagine the reaction? Just for that reason (and because the Sox have plenty of money) I'd love to see them offer Jeter, say, four years and $64 million or even three years and $57 million. Stoke the bidding process, stoke the rivalry, and maybe acquire a stopgap shortstop.

I respect Jeter even if he is one of the most overrated players in the history of sports. But just from a brinksmanship angle this makes some sense. The Yankees almost certainly won't let him go to the Red Sox, certainly not over a few million dollars or an extra contract year. But can you imagine if they did? Criminy.

I's not going to happen. But this is a nice palate cleanser between hideous Monday Night games matching Arizona and San Francisco and the nightmare that is the BCS. Plus, it provides a nice lead-in to Pats-Jets on Monday night.

Yankees: Criminals

Add to the multitude of Yankee sins the fact that they are dirty, dastardly, devious, depraved thieves. The Sox are on a bit of a swoon of late, but the Yankees should be just the elixir they need.

Oh, and it goes without saying, but the Yankees Suck!

Thurman Munson, In Memoriam

I was eight years old when real life intruded on my theretofore hermetically sealed sports fan life for the first time. I had already had my heart broken by the 1978 Red Sox, of course, but August 2, 1979 was different.

I remember the moment clearly, though I think I have conflated the context. I was riding in my Dad's silver Chevy Blazer, a big-assed SUV in an era where Big-assed was good and no one knew what an SUV was. We were listening to the radio, and they interrupted the broadcast with breaking news. Now keep in mind that this was an age before ESPN, before sports talk radio, before the internet. If you were a sports fan you had the games themselves when they were broadcast, you had the daily newspaper, and you had a few precious minutes on the news in the evening and snippets on the radio. Sports and news were simply not ubiquitous. Breaking news was a big deal, unlike today when the Sportscenter after Pardon the Interruption opens with breaking news virtually every day. ("This just in: Brett Favre could not choose between waffles or pancakes at breakfast this morning.")

Thurmon Munson, the Yankees fireplug of a catcher and the New York version of local hero Carlton Fisk, had gone down in a plane crash in Canton, Ohio in which he was the pilot. He was dead. And I was legitimately crushed. By that time I truly, absolutely, unquestionably loathed the Yankees. I hated Thurman Munson because he embodied the evil doppelganger of Pudge, and because he was the heart and soul of that mighty but detestable Yankees team. But even then I knew that the hate existed within a context and that some things -- life and death -- were more important.

In my memory I have always remembered hearing that broadcast, and its grim updates confirming the fatal climax, in New York with my Dad and his then-girlfriend. That memory is plausible -- she was from New York, Dad enjoyed a good two-or-three year span in which he spent much of his time in New York, even living on Long Island for a spell. My uncle had just moved to Long Island (where he raised my cousins as Red Sox fans, God bless him) and so we went down somewhat regularly in elementary school and junior high. But my guess is that when I heard that terrible news we were simply driving around Newport -- running to a farm supply store or an auto parts place for one of my Dad's projects on the farm. The memory provides a nice symmetry -- young Red Sox fan from a farm in rural New Hampshire driving with his Dad on the outskirts of the big city that represented so much promise and hope and excitement and most of all the damned Yankees, hearing news that for at least a little while changed his worldview. It may not have quite happened where I thought it happened, but the slight transformation, and the intrusion of the real world on what was still at that point the sparkly fantasy world of sports, was very real then, and still strikes me as one of the most real experiences I have had as a sports fan even thirty years hence.

The Arms Race

I say it all the time, but it is always worth reiterating: There is no such thing as too much starting pitching. This is worth remembering as John Smoltz prepares to make his Red Sox debut in a seemingly too-crowded Sox rotation. At his fine Boston Globe blog, "Mazz," Tony Massarotti agrees:

Too much pitching? No, no, no. You can never have too much. You can have an abundance, perhaps. Maybe even a stockpile. But you can never, ever have too much.

He also sketches out some of the seemingly endless options that the Sox have as the season's engine revs and begins to accelerate.

The pennant race is under way, and in the American League East it looks more and more as if the natural order has been restored and the Red Sox and Yankees will be fighting it out to the finish, though the Wild Card is almost certain to go to whichever team gets second. With the NBA Finals done (no comment) and the NHL finals in the rear-view mirror, baseball gets to take center stage. I love a lot of sports. But baseball will probably always be first among equals for me, so I always look forward to summers when baseball gets pride of place in the American sporting firmament.

That said I am very excited about South Africa hosting the Confederations Cup as something of a tune-up for the World Cup next year. Go Bafana Bafana! And this weekend marks the beginning of the British Lions rugby tour of South Africa -- I'm arriving in Joburg this weekend, just in time to dive into some great sports.

Mind the Raining Blood and Locusts

Here is a sure sign of the apocalypse, bringing together two of my least favorite entities on the planet.

The Arms Race in the East

At The Boston Globe Tony Massarotti is enthusiastic about the Red Sox pitching corps, particularly the bullpen. The American League East is going to be incredible this year, maybe the greatest division in baseball history, and so how the pitching staffs fare will go a long way in determining which teams will be playing in October and which very good team will be stuck watching. None is so blind as he who will not see, but I still think the Rays will be the odd team out, though of course I hope the Yankees can spent October counting their money while watching the Sox and Rays fight it out for the right to go to the World Series.

Shaughnessy on the Last Flush at the Bronx Toilet Bowl

Here is Dan Shaughnessy's take of the Red Sox' last go-round at Yankee Stadium.

The End of an Era

At The Boston Globe Amelie Benjamin reminds us that barring something bizarre happening, the Red Sox begin their last series ever in Yankee Stadium. Unlike Fenway or Wrigley, which are charming and historic and wonderful, Yankee Stadium has history and it has the gorgeous facade, and the monuments, but on the whole, it is a cesspool. The remodeling of the 1970s turned The House that Ruth Built into a soulless approximation of what it once was.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

This story about Saddam hussein's bizarre fears regarding catching STD's while in US custody had a much better headline when it arrived in my inbox from South Africa's Independent Online, which consolidates stories from a dozen or so South African newspapers: "Was Saddam Stupid."

Speaking of stupidity, leave it to a Yankees fan to give the Sox-Yanks rivalry an ugly twist.

(And since the C's-Cavs series starts tonight, I may as well get the proceedings off on the right foot: Tom, Don, the Cavs and their fans are poopieheads. C's in six, despite the reality that LeBron is likely to score 200 points in the series.)

Striking a Blow

Tee hee.

A Joke: Yankees Suck! Edition

A student emailed me this joke recently, and given the Sox-Yanks matchup this weekend, I figured I'd share it:

"I am a Yankees fan," a first grade teacher explains to her class. "Who likes the Yankees?"
Everyone raises a hand except one little girl.
"Janie," the teacher says suprised. "Why didn't you raise your hand?"
"I'm NOT a Yankees fan."
"Well, if you're not a Yankees fan, then what team do you like?"
"The Red Sox," Janie answered.
"Why in the world are you a Red Sox fan?"
"Because my mom and dad are Red Sox fans."
"That's no reason to be a Red Sox fan," the teacher replies, annoyed. "You don't always have to be just like your parents. What if your mom and dad were morons? What would you be then?"
"A Yankees fan"

Heh!

(Hat tip to Kenzi.)

Suck They Do, My Son

Glorious: Yankeessuckgear.

And this almost brought a tear to my eye:

That's just good parentin' shining through.

Hat Tip to Officer Tarango. Continue to protect and serve, sir.

Baseball Disparity in the New York Times?

Want a sense of the baseball hierarchy in New York?

The New York Times has a baseball blog, "Bats," that they update fairly regularly. As of this morning the Mets have one of the five best records in baseball. They are in second place behind a resurgent Braves team. The Mets are exciting. They are certainly the best baseball team in New York right now. The Yankees, meanwhile, have been playing better of late than they had through April, going 6-4 in their last ten games. But they are still a game below .500. And they are, depending on if you are a glass empty or glass full type (and on which side of the fence you sit with regards to the Yankees) tied for the 15th best or 15th worst record in the league. Up to this point in the still-young season they pretty much epitomize mediocrity. That mediocrity may well not last, and given that lineup and their bad luck so far with health I suspect that it will not.

Despite the disparity in on-field performance for the two New York baseball teams, the writers for "Bats" have fifteen posts currently on the front page. Ten are on the Yankees. Four cover the Mets. And one is a general baseball post. What do you think that says about the baseball culture at the Times

Juvenile Titters From Headline of the Week

The official Yankee fan of dcat (Though my friend KO'C also qualifies), Holmes, wrote the following email to me this afternoon: "Call me immature, but this is making me laugh my arse off:" "Yankees' Wang hit hard by Rangers"

Amen, brother.

Dirty Water: Sox Talk With The Thunderstick

Obviously I was out of the country for the last week or so and thus to my horror missed the weekend's festivities against the Yankees, which turned out rather well. The Thunderstick texted me and I caught what I could how I could, but we are going to let the Thunderstick carry this belated edition of our weekly feature on the Sox, "Dirty Water," after just a few suggestive comments from me.

dcat: What's not to like? We swept them, we came from behind in every game, and we eked out a couple of one-run games -- character testing stuff. But we are not Yankee fans, so we also know that it is far, far, far too early to gloat. Winning is nice, sweeping is better, and obviously this was the best possible outcome (although in the two games since there has been quite a hangover with two losses to the Jays). Still, I'd like us to keep putting distance between us and them, because we both know that they will make a run. I hate them with every essence of my being, but that does not make me unaware of what they are capable of accomplishing. And of course we face them again this weekend, and my guess is that they will be ready to get rid of some of that bad taste. Plus, after Dice-K plunking Jeter and A-Rod I suspect that some of the guys on the Sox will be tasting dust and feeling bruises, which should be good for the intensity of the proceedings. I think maybe a special Friday edition of Dirty Water will be in order.

Thunderstick: Well, I don't think we can catagorize the last week for the Sox as anything other than a resounding success. There are some things to nitpick at, but we'll save those for a bit later. In the end, in the last week we've seen the Sox complete a sweep of Anaheim on Patriots Day, go 2 for 3 in Toronto with a win in a game that Halladay started and then sweep the Yanks to post a 12-5 record, the best in baseball [as of Monday].

Don't want to get into too much of what happened in each series, but there are some pretty nice things--first and foremost is the pitching situation. Now one concern from this past weekend was that the Sox were set up perfectly with Schill, Beckett and Dice going against Pettite and two dudes who the Sox should hammer. It was a bit unsettling to see the Yanks have so much success off our three starting pitchers. The Sox did trail in all three games. But we saw some serious guts from our starters. Beckett really settled down after the first two innings and DiceK just kept battling. As such, they still got deep into the games and at least for right now, the back end of the things looks good with Okajima, Donnelley and Pap. That's what looks great right now for the Sox--even when the top 4 starters struggle to find their good stuff, they are able to get through 6-7 innings to keep the pen fresh. ESPN showed last night that going into the game last night the Sox pen had pitched the fewest innings of any team in baseball and was 1st in ERA and 2nd in opponents' batting average. Those two things aren't coincidental--you win games and get deep into games, you can go with your good pen guys to close games up. So I love what I'm seeing there. Especially as it relates to Pap, Okajima and Donnelly. We saw from about 97-2003 that those Yanks and Sox teams would put on some great battles, but the one big difference in those teams that led to the Yanks winning 4 titles and the Sox losing in the playoffs was that the back end of the Yanks rotation was also solid, first with Wetteland and Rivera and then with Nelson, Stanton and Rivera. Pap looks to be doing his best mid-career Rivera impression right now and if Okajima, Donnelley and eventually Timlin (once he gets back up to health) can do that, the 7-9th innings are going to look pretty formidable for opposing teams. I always remember thinking how the Sox had to score runs early against those Yanks teams because once you hit the 7th the game was pretty much done if you didn't have the lead. It'd be nice to be the team in that position.

The other nice thing from the past few days was that we are now seeing production from the entire lineup. The bottom third that we were so concerned about has seen a bit of a resurgence with Tek swinging the bat again and Coco playing pretty well. Cora came through with some huge hits, so it'll be interesting to see how they split time between him and Dusty who is clearly struggling. For the most part (the first two games with Toronto not withstanding), since the start of that Angels series, the Sox have been much more patient at the plate and are getting pitchers out early. It saved them against Halladay in the last game against Toronto and it worked well this weekend, particularly on Sat and Sun when they got two inexperienced guys out early and got to work on an overworked NY pen.

For as nice as the pitching was set up this past weekend, it's not this weekend---I guess we'll see Dice on Friday, Wake on Saturday and Tavarez on Sunday and from what I understand, Wang will be pitching on Sunday, so that's not a matchup that favors us at all. I'd love to go 2 of 3 in NY and go from there. From what I saw this weekend, despite their current 8-9 record, the Yanks will be there all season. We won three games, but they were close, and that was with all their starting pitching on the shelf and with Posada and Matsui playing little or no role. Clearly this will be the storyline to follow this season and may well determine the AL East title: Can the Yanks' starters stay healthy? Pettite and Mussina are pretty old, but they don't have a lot of room for error if those guys go down. Right now the bullpen is taxed. I think it's foolish to write off Rivera yet, but at the same time, every blown save makes you wonder if he's over the hill. But right now the Yanks are beat up and we are largely healthy only missing Lester right now, so it's important to get a 5-7 game lead over NY while we can because you know once they are at full strength, they will go on one of those 16-3 runs and we need to be able to withstand that. A good start to that would be 3 of 4 against Tor/Bal and 2 of 3 over NY.

dcat: Obviously the Thunderstick wrote all of that before the last two ugly nights, but he is pretty well spot-on otherwise. But someone has to say the most important thing to keep in mind: The Yankees Suck.