Red Sox @ Yankees for four big games

The third place Red Sox travel to Yankee Stadium for a huge four game series this weekend, starting tonight through Monday.

The Red Sox are an uninspiring 3-5 vs. the Yankees this season. This is the second of three consecutive series between the teams to be played in the Bronx. These teams last met when they split a brief two game series back in mid-May.

This is a critical series for the Red Sox, who are six games out of first place in the AL East and 5.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the wild card standings. On paper, the pitching matchups favor the Red Sox, who send their top four pitchers out to the mound for this series.

Here are the pitching match-ups for this weekend (updates to follow after each game):


Friday, Aug 6^th: Boston 6, @ New York 3
WP: Buchholz (12-5), LP: Vasquez (9-8), SV: Papelbon (27)
A good start to the weekend for the Sox. Let's hope it continues.

Saturday, Aug 7^th: Boston @ New York
Lackey (10-6) v. Sabathia (13-5)


Sunday, Aug 8^th: Boston @ New York
Beckett (3-1) v. Burnett (9-9)


Monday, Aug 9^th: Boston @ New York
Lester (11-6) v. Moseley (1-1)



The two teams will close out their season series at the end of September and at the beginning of October.

Yankees in town for three over the weekend

The Yankees are back at Fenway for three key games this weekend vs. the Red Sox. New York won the season opening series at Fenway, 2-1.

Currently in the AL East, the Yankees are in second place with a 19-8 record, 1½ games behind first place Tampa Bay. The Red Sox are in fourth place with a 15-14 record, 6½ games out.

As always when these two teams meet, I expect a great series with long, grinding games.


Pitching match ups and summaries for the series:

Friday, May 7^th: New York @ Boston
Hughes (3-0) v. Beckett (1-0)


Saturday, May 8^th: New York @ Boston
Sabathia (4-1) v. Buchholz (3-2)


Sunday, May 9^th: New York @ Boston
Burnett (4-0) v. Lester (2-2)

After this series, the Red Sox will play the next nine games in the season series at Yankee Stadium, starting with a two game set on May 17-18.

The Yankees final visit to Fenway will be to close out the 2010 regular season on October 1-3.

What a way to open the season!

What a way to start off the 2010 baseball season. ESPN wanted to move the first game from Monday afternoon to Sunday night so they could televise it nationally. Since money rules the switch was granted. No consideration was given to the fact that Sunday is Easter and during Passover.

Last season the two teams split the 18 game season series 9-9. The Red Sox went 8-0 against the Yankees to start the season, then went 1-9 the rest of the way. Naturally the Yankees went on to win their 27^th World Series while the Sox were swept out of the Wild Card round by the Los Angeles Angels, 3 games to none.

But it's a new season and any time the Yankees and Red Sox play you're going to have long, grinding games. As always, this post will be updated after each game.

Pitching match ups and summaries for the series:


Sunday, Apr 4^th: @ Boston 9, New York 7
Sabathia (0-0) v. Beckett (0-0)
WP=Okajima (1-0), LP=Park (0-1), SV=Papelbon (1)
Youkilis: 1^st Sox hitter with 3 Opening Day extra base hits since Fisk in '73.


Tuesday, Apr 6^th: New York 6, @ Boston 4
Burnett (0-0) v. Lester (0-0)
WP=Aceves (1-0), LP=Okajima (1-1), SV=Rivera (1)
Scutaro error, Okajima ineffectiveness open the door for New York.


Wednesday, Apr 7^th: New York 3, @ Boston 1 (10)
Pettite (0-0) v. Lackey (0-0)
WP=Park (1-1), LP=Papelbon (0-1), SV=Rivera (2)
Granderson HR in 10^th hands pitching duel to Yanks.


The Yankees will return to Fenway for three, May 7-9.

Yankees visit Fenway for three HUGE games.

True enough, whenever the Yankees and Red Sox get together the games are huge. Never more so than the three game series that begins tonight at Fenway.

Entering this series, the Red Sox own an 8-4 advantage vs. New York this season. But those last four losses, a four game series sweep by the Yankees in New York earlier this month, were devastating losses.

That sweep is a large reason why the Red Sox find themselves in second place, 6 1/2 games behind New York in the standings, entering this series. That the Red Sox need to return the favor and sweep this series is a no-brainer if they want any shot at the AL East title in 2009. Even so a Sox sweep still would have them 3 1/2 games behind. Perish the thought, but if the Yanks sweep the Red Sox this weekend, they'd be 9 1/2 games out and the division race would be over for the Sox.

I've been reading articles around here lately that say the Sox need to focus on the Wild Card and forget about catching the Yankees. I say that's a load of crap. It's a defeatist attitude and is not helpful. Until the Red Sox are mathematically eliminated from wining the division I say they should focus on both the division and Wild Card.

But how do they do that?

As the much vilified Al Davis always says, "Just win, baby." Just play good ball and win as many games as possible and see what happens in the end.

The Red Sox do seem to be on a roll, sweeping the Blue Jays in Toronto the last three days, including an impressive win over ace Roy Halliday.

In any case, these next three games will be fun. Good drama as always, I'm sure.


Here are the pitching match ups for the series, beginning tonight:


Friday, Aug 21^st: New York 20, at Boston 11
Pettitte (9-6) v. Penny (7-7)
WP=Pettitte (10-6), LP=Penny (7-8)
20 runs in a game most allowed by Red Sox since 2000.


Saturday, Aug 22^nd: at Boston 14, New York 1
Burnett (10-6) v. Tazawa (1-2)
WP=Tazawa (2-2), LP=Burnett (10-7)
One good beating deserves an even bigger one - this time by the Sox.

Sunday, Aug 23^rd: New York 8, at Boston 4
Sabathia (14-7) v. Beckett (14-4)
WP=Sabathia (15-7), LP=Beckett (14-5)
Beckett allows career high five homers as Sox fall.


As always, this post will be updated after each game with the results and link to the recap and box score.

The last regular season series of the year will be Sept 25-27 at Yankee Stadium.

A New Season - a Rivalry Renewed

Yes, it's that time of year again for the Red Sox and Yankees to renew their rivalry with the first three of eighteen meetings in the 2009 season. Entering the series, both teams are 9-6 and tied for second place behind Toronto, two games off of the pace. No matter what the situation, Yankees v Red Sox is always good fun.

As I always do, I'll update the post after each game, providing a link to the recap and box scores.

The pitching match ups:

Friday, April 24: at Boston 5, New York 4 (11 innings)
Chamberlain (0-0) v. Lester (1-2)
WP=Ramirez (2-0), LP=Marte (0-1)


Saturday, April 25: at Boston 16, New York 11
Burnett (2-0) v. Beckett (2-1)
WP=Okajima (1-0), LP=Albaladejo (1-1)

Sunday, April 26: at Boston 4, New York 1
Pettite (2-0) v. Masterson (1-0)
WP=Masterson (2-0), LP=Pettite (2-1)

A nice little sweep of the hated arch rivals to cap a perfect 9-0 homestand and 10 game winning streak. Each game provided much drama and definite excitement if you're a Red SOx fan, as I obviously am.

The Sox will visit the new Yankee Stadium for two games during the first week in May.