The long history of what is widely considered the ultimate sports rivalry continues tonight. The Boston Red Sox visit the Bronx tonight in much better shape than how they last visited. The Red Sox have turned their season around in a hurry, and there's no mystery as to why. Carl Crawford is earning every bit of that contract in the latter part of May into June. Adrian Gonzalez is, if not the front runner, than a close second. Jon Lester has 7 wins, Josh Beckett has regained his past form, and the Red Sox are a game out of first. The last time the Yankees saw the Sox, it was during a six game swoon. Since then, the Yankees have gone 13-5 to regain 1st place. Surprisingly, their pitching has been above average. AJ Burnett is having a nice comeback season. C.C. Sabathia is his regular self. But the most surprising are Freddy Garcia and the resurgence of former AL Cy Young, Bartolo Colon. The Sox start this series with their ace, Jon Lester. The Yankees end the series with their own, C.C. Sabathia. Lots to get excited about, bust most of all, there will be good baseball!
The last time that the Red Sox were in town, they resided in last place, tied with the Orioles at 17-20. The entire team, with the exception of Adrian Gonzalez was not hitting very well. We saw that in the form of Dustin Pedroia and Carl Crawford. Coming into the season, the Red Sox looked to be one of the most balanced teams in all of baseball. They sported a strong starting 5, or so we thought, one of the more solid bullpens, and arguably the best lineup in the majors. Their pitching this year has been more than underwhelming. As a team, they rank 22nd in ERA, coming in at 4.17. Their team WHIP registers at 1.32, which is 19th in the Majors.
While most of their starters have been disappointing, Josh Beckett has been far and away their best pitcher this year. With a 4-2 record, an ERA a hair above 2, at 2.01, 67 K's, and a 1.03 WHIP, Beckett has definitely put last year behind him. Lon Lester has 7 wins and 74 K's, but his ERA is awfully close to 4, and his WHIP is unusually high at 1.35. I still think that Lester is the ace of this staff, and he will turn around some of those numbers. The most disappointing part of this staff is Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey, both of whom are on the DL right now, with Dice-K out for at least a year. Lackey is undergoing a rehab assignment, and should rejoin the club soon. But that gaudy ERA, which sits around 7.50 needs to come back down out of the stratosphere.
Their bullpen has always been a key to their success, but this year Papelbon is not getting the job done as he has done so in the past. At the beginning of the year, I said something about Jonathan Papelbon is bothering me, and that Bard would take over as closer. Papelbon is making me look very smart, if I do say so myself. He's pitching 2 runs over his career ERA 60 games into the season. That is not a small sample size. His WHIP is .2 higher than his career average. While he has only blown 1 save, he is giving up too many runs, and I stand by what I stated at the beginning of the season.
The Red Sox lineup has gotten some life in the last month. Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, and Carl Crawford are all playing extremely well right now. Ellsbury is hitting .300 with 6 HR's and 29 RBI. He has 22 SB to boot. He is one of the best kick starts to an offense in the Majors. What's there to complain about Adrian Gonzalez? He has earned every cent of his contract extension this year. He leads the Majors with 50 RBI, and nothing to sneeze at with 12 HR's and a .339 average. His defensive prowess at first base is not to be overlooked, either. In 529 chances, and 484 putouts, Gonzalez has been perfect this season. Where would the Red Sox be without him? Definitely not in second place. David Ortiz has been the 2006 Big Papi in 2011. He's hitting .325 with 13 HR's with only 30 RBI. But he only has 30 RBI because most of the time, Adrian Gonzalez doesn't leave much on base for him. Carl Crawford had a painfully slow start to the 2011 season, but has picked it up as of late. In the last 15 days, Crawford is hitting .388 with 4 HR's and 16 RBI. Looks like the Carl Crawford we all know is starting to appear. Take those 4 guys and you have a good lineup. Now, imagine that Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and J.D. Drew start hitting. Scary.
The New York Yankees have looked to be the best team in baseball at times this year. They lead the Majors in home runs, slugging percentage, and are 3rd in runs scored. They are also 8th in ERA and 11th in batting average against. However, there are things beyond the numbers that show cause for at least some concern. While their starting pitching has been more than what most people expected this year, most fans will tell you that they are nervous about this rotation. How long can Bartolo Colon's lightning in a bottle last? Will Freddy Garcia hold up for an entire season? Can Ivan Nova work through his growing pains? Those are some pretty serious questions. We know the long term solutions to these questions. They are Brackman, Betances, and Banuelos, but if I know one thing about the Yankees, it's that they think about the Now. At some point this season, Garcia will look like less than a dependable 5th starter, Colon will look more like his '06-'07 self than his '05 self, and Nova might still be struggling. Phil Hughes is working his way back, and the reports are positive. He has found some of that velocity he lost last summer, but he is still a ways off. If you pull a piece of loose thread, you could probably see the Yankees season come tumbling down. The Yankees rotation has been one of fragile success, and the slightest mishap could derail it.
Earlier, I asked where the Red Sox would be without Adrian Gonzalez, but has there been a more important player to its team than Curtis Granderson? He's second on the team with 17 HR's, second with 9 stolen bases, tied for first with 41 RBI, first in runs (46), and first in OPS (.941). Production wise, he's one of the best in the AL right now, and the Yankees wouldn't be in first without him. Mark Tiexiera has been on a tear recently. In the last 15 days, Teixeira has hit 6 home runs with 12 RBI, hitting at a .292 clip. He's second in the Majors with 18 HR's, and tied for 6th in the AL with 41 RBI. Alex Rodriguez has been steady this year, but as of late, he's getting hot. Hitting .389 with 6 RBI in his last 7 games, A-Rod is looking to make his push before summer starts. Robbie Cano, on the other hand, has been drifting. He's hit just .211 in the last week. Jeter has been at average, at the very best, this year. He has only one RBI in his last 15 games. While, he's not an RBI guy, he is supposed to be an average and on base producer. While his average is, well, average, his OBP has been very good. He's hitting .256 but with a .389 OBP, so he's on base to score a good amount of runs.
The Yankees bullpen hasn't been all it's cracked up to be this year. Rafael Soriano is on the DL, but he doesn't get a break from me. Could he have been any more of a dismal setup man while he was healthy this year? He was pitching to a 5.40 ERA, and nearly a 2 WHIP. Some claim that he doesn't feel the energy as he did when he was closing. What a load of crap. The game is on the line. You have to get the ball to Rivera. Why is that not enough incentive to go out and be dominating, as you were as a closer? I don't buy that argument. Let's just face it. So far, the man has been a bust. Joba Chamberlain has been impressive as the setup man this year, though. And when Soriano comes back, Girardi should leave him there. He's pitching above all of his career numbers. His K:BB ratio is better than 3:1. His WHIP is 1.05. We already found the bridge to Mariano. And it starts with David Robertson, who has been lights out this year. His WHIP is a little high at 1.46, but he more than makes up for it with his impressive 38 K's in 23.1 IP. Opponents are hitting .186 against Robertson this year, so if the Yankees were to replace Chamberlain with anyone, it would be with Robertson, not Soriano. The Yankees lefty specialist cannot retire left-handed hitters. That's a problem. Especially in this series. When you have two men on and 2 out in the seventh with David Ortiz coming to the plate, who by the way is hitting .355 against lefties this year, and the game is tied, the Yankees are saddled with a guy whose BAA lefties is .324. Not good at all. At least the Yankees still have the best reliever in the history of baseball. Even though he has blown 3 save this year, he's pitching better than his career average of ERA, which is at a low 1.90, and his WHIP is just about right at 1.06. No one better at slamming the door than Rivera. Unless he's facing the Red Sox. Going back to 2002, Rivera has blown 10 save against Boston, more than any other team he has faced. That's an average of one per year. The same average that Papelbon has had in his career against the Yankees.
Enjoy the series!
