fat EMO kid baseball blog

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.

The title says it all, Sergio Meat-tray is very frustrating to watch. This guy has great stuff, just doesn’t seem to have any idea where it’s going. Maybe he should talk to the opposing hitters, they seem to be figuring it out just fine. Oh, and these fans dressed up like umpires, again? It was funny for about 5 minutes. I’m just glad I didn’t pay $2500 for the seats behind them.

The Yankees need another starter – I am now officially the last person on earth to write about this. Names to keep in mind? Not much. Jon Garland, Doug Davis, Livan Hernandez? Who knows, suddenly the Yankees are payroll-conscious, so maybe we wont get to enjoy this year’s version of Cecil Fielder or Jose Canseco.

Another big Boston/New York series this weekend. If you need a cheap win for your fantasy team, I recommend you pick up John Smoltz, who I’m sure will have no trouble striking out about 12 Yanks, in a 13-4. Or so it seems to go this season.

I didn’t post at the trade deadline because, well, if you are reading my blog for your trade deadline news, then it might be time to turn off the PC. Anyway, still trying to make sense out of this Scott Rolen to the Reds trade. I have never liked Edwin Encarnacion, but getting him and two other young guys? You have to like this from the Blue Jays side, considering Rolen didn’t want to be there anyway. Encarnacion is a bum, but still, he might be somebody someday.

Finally, since I promised I would…

You may or may not have seen the news recently about the disasterous train wreck in Indiana. In case you missed it,
here is an image that describes the horror much better than words ever could.

Congratulations Artie Lange, I think the torch has been passed.

Read more here..

I think the only surprise is that people seemed to be surprised by this. I’ll send Vito out to collect those 2004 World Series rings ASAP.