The Yanks roll into Fenway with some unfinished business. They stand at 31 games over .500 for the year (76-45) but have yet to win a game in Fenway (0-6). The pitching match ups are favorable, with Andy Pettitte going against Brad Penny tonight, AJ Burnett facing Junichi Tazawa on Saturday and the red hot CC Sabathia facing Josh Beckett coming off his 2nd worst outing of the year. His worst outing was April 16th against our beloved Yankees, which Yankee fans will remember as the game where AJ Bunett couldn’t hold a 6-0 lead.
Yanks-Sox is always fun, but the extensive lead (6.5 games) the Yanks currently enjoy will put something of a damper on the series. The worst case scenario has the Yanks still enjoying a comfortable lead, and the more likely scenario of a split means little either way for both teams. Pressure is squarely on the Sox to get a sweep and get back in the division race, and they just don’t have the pitchers lined up to make that realistic. Give credit to Girardi here, I’m sure he factored in who will go in Fenway when figuring out where Joba, Gaudin and Mitre would pitch.
The Yanks are in a position to bury the Sox in the division, and possibly in the playoffs as well. The Red Sox are currently only 1 game ahead of the Texas Rangers for the Wild Card and 4 ahead of the Rays. A sweep by the Yanks and a good weekend by either the Rangers or the Rays would change the wild card race. Fortunately for the Sox, the Rangers are playing the Rays in Tampa this weekend so the damage should be minimal. The Rays are 40-20 at home (Tied for 2nd best with DET) and the Rangers are 27-28 on the road, but 3-0 vs the Rays this year. A Ranger sweep on top of a Yankee sweep in Fenway would be very tough for Boston as a town and a team to handle.
Just to illustrate how dramatically things can change this weekend, lets look at a few scenarios. If we can assume a Yankee sweep, here’s how the standings would look if the Rangers sweep the Rays or the Rays sweep the Rangers:
Current Wild Card standings:
BOS 69-51
TEX 68-52
TAM 65-55
If Rays sweep Rangers:
BOS 69-54
TEX 68-55 (1 game back)
TAM 68-55 (1 game back)
If Rangers win 2 of 3:
TEX 70-53
BOS 69-54 (1 game back)
TAM 66-57 (4 games back)
So in any case, if the Yanks sweep the Sox things could get very interesting for the Wild Card race.
I’m curious about Sat with Tazawa. The Yanks squared him up pretty well in the extra inning game, but since then he has started two or three games for the sox and looked pretty good. With the injuries they have to their starters he really seems to be key to their playoff chances. Yanks should win 2 of the three. Jon(Quote)
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
August 21st, 2009 at 10:54 am
He has looked alright. Plenty of baserunners, but good stuff gets him out of trouble. Moshe Mandel(Quote)
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The other Chris H Reply:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:02 pm
He also can’t throw any harder than 90 facing a team that loves to hit bombs, good hitters just have to sit on other pitches they can hit knowing that he can’t get his fastball past you in the traditional since. The other Chris H(Quote)
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A Yanks sweep of Boston combined with a Texas sweep of the Rays would be ideal, obviously. End of the day, though, two out of three would be good for NY regardless. Tom Hagen(Quote)
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I can’t predict anything in Fenway. Nothing would surprise me, even sweeps either way.
The only thing I know is the games will be long. Yankee starters will have 100 pitches by the 5th inning. Good thing their bullpen is rested.
Remember Wang pitched a complete game there a few years ago? Amazing feat! dlogan(Quote)
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I really think the Red Sox need a sweep to stay in the division race but I really hope we can pull off at lest two games… Even if we do get sweeped we are what 3 games ahead still? The other Chris H(Quote)
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