fat EMO kid baseball blog

What is going on this year?  Another big name player has suddenly come down with a case of the “I’m sad about stuff”’s.  Justin Duscherer of the A’s, due back soon from arm surgery, is going to miss the rest of the season because of clinical depression.  Until this year, I had never heard of this in professional sports, and even if it was around, would never be admitted.  Are baseball players getting in touch with their feelings?  Are they getting soft?  Is coming down from steroid cycles throwing their hormones into overdrive?  Who knows.  Duscherer could have found himself on a contender, but instead will spend the rest of the season laying on a couch and popping pills.  Seriously though, hope he recovers quickly, it’s all fun and games until something serious happens. 

In other news, the Yankees pounded the Red Sox tonight, 20-11, in what had to be one of the worst-played games this season.  More interesting news was made off the field, as the Red Sox have supposedly claimed Billy Wagner from the Mets.  This of course, means the Yankees wont get him, which would have been a great fit.  Hopefully the Mets do the right thing and don’t let him go to Boston, but it was good to see him back on the mound, throwing 95, on Thursday night. 

Also, if you saw the game on YES tonight, or maybe even read the news, you’d heard a story about Jim Rice bad-mouthing Derek Jeter.  Rice lumped Jeter in with A-Rod and Manny, as guys who only care about money.  There are so many things wrong with that, but I wont get into it all right now.  I am as big a Jeter supporter as you will find, but it surpised me that the Yankee announcers were so outraged by this.  Did they miss this?

Here we ago again.  Just about two weeks after the Yankees swept Boston in the Bronx, the New York will travel to Beantown this weekend for a three-game rematch with the Sox in Fenway.   Things figure to be a little different this time around, with the Red Sox looking to show that the race in the American League East is not over. 

The Yankees have had their struggles recently in Boston, losing every game this year there, including a ninth-inning game-tying homer by Jason Bay off of Mariano Rivera, and a game-winning HR by Kevin Youkilis – and that was in the Yankees best performance at Fenway this season.  The Yankees, lately, have played scared when they play at Fenway, generally appearing to play not to lose, and getting out of their game plan. 

The pitching matchups generally favor the Yanks, with Andy Pettitte up against struggling Brad Penny on Friday, and A.J. Burnett opposing rookie Junici Tazawa on Saturday.  Tazawa, of course, was on the mound when A-Rod hit his 15th inning walk-off homer.   Hopefully the Yankees can take at least one of these, though the numbers suggest they should win both.  The best matchup of the series comes on yet another Sunday night game between these two, when C.C. Sabathia goes up against Josh Beckett, in what is a matchup of potential CY Young candidates.  The Yankees have struggled against Beckett, especially in Boston, while Sabathia’s number are good, far from dominating, but he is currently pitching his best baseball of the season.  This should be a great matchup, that could very well determine who wins the series. 

This 3-game set is bigger for the Red Sox than the Yankees, who, even if they are swept, will still have a four game lead in the AL East, but either way, it will go a long way in determining how the last month of the season will go. 

My prediction, unfortunately, is that the Red Sox will take 2 out of 3, and David Ortiz will continue his hot hitting of late and have a few big at bats in the series.  As much as the world is sick of Red Sox/Yankees, the rest of the season would just be too boring if we all had to follow was a race between Boston and the Texas Rangers.