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.

Pedro Martinez is back in the big leagues, starting tonight against the Cubs.  He was given a gift, matched up against rookie Jeff Samazijdoifdzia who should be catching passes in the NFL.  Pedro still looks like a shell of his former self, but has been able to hit 92 on the radar gun a few teams, and still has the ability to get a call on anything within a foot of the plate.  I don’t think he will be a difference-maker for the Phillies, but he can’t be any worse than Jamie Moyer, who is taking his demotion like an 8 year old girl, has been.  It’s low risk, high reward for the Phils, but isn’t that what Boston said about John Smoltz?

EDIT:  despite what Rick Sutcliffe (the biggest drama-queen in the history of annoucing)  would have you believe, Pedro’s stuff was good for about two innings.  He’s completely done now and it’s only the fifth, if it wasn’t 12-3, he’d be gone by now.

A Cubs fan just threw a cup of beer on Shane Victorino, what is this, fenway?

First of all, anyone else remember when he was Alexis Rios?  You know, back when he was good? 

Anyway, what kind message does this send to the Blue Jays players and fans.  First, the team drools over the thought of unloading their best pitcher, then dump a suprisingly productive Scott Rolen, now give away Rios for nothing.  Absolutly nothing.   This is a team that was the surprise of the league for the first two months of the season.  Maybe we are spoiled as Yankee fans, but the thought of giving away a good player (14 hrs, 62 Rbi) does not seem like good business.  Sure he was overpaid, but don’t you owe it to the league to at least get something in return?  Now the White Sox get a free player to stick in the middle of their lineup, without having to give up anything.  You can’t fault the White Sox, fault the rules.  

What a sad time to be a Blue Jays, Pirates, or Indians fan.

Finally, the huge trade we have been waiting for! Forget Roy Halladay, the Yankees have acquired 4-10 Chad Gaudin from the Padres. Well, I guess he can’t be any worse than Meat-tray, whom we will probably never hear from again.

Actually, this is a decent move for the Yankees. They only give up a PTBN, and get a 26-year old starter with 105 K’s in 105 innings, and a decent track record, most notably his 3 years in Oakland. The downside? A 26-year old who is now on his sixth big-league team means he’s doing something to piss off someone.

In other trade news, the Mets re-acquired Anderson Hernandez from the Nationals for a minor leaguer, and the Nationals acquired both Daryle Ward and Norris Hopper from the White Sox. In even more news, zzzzzzzzzzz.

A sad day all around for the Cincinnati Reds, as hall-of-fame writer Hal McCoy has announced he will retire from the Dayton Daily News, while Reds management has given Dusty Baker a vote of confidence for 2010 and beyond. I’ll let you decide which one of those is worse news for baseball.

Back now to the yankees/sox, I’ll check back in another 4-5 hours when it’s over.