Go Tigers!
Posted on 08/18/2006 8:27:35 AM PDT by Airborne1986
It's now or never for the New York Yankees.
The Yankees open a five-game series at Fenway Park on Friday with their alter egos in the American League East, the Boston Red Sox. Just 1 1/2 games will separate the two teams when that series begins.
Since the All-Star break, the Sox have slipped considerably, going 16-17 with problems surfacing with their starting pitching, relief corps and hitting (with the exception of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez). The Yankees, meanwhile, seem to have righted themselves after a long year of struggles with injuries and under-producing pitchers such as Randy Johnson. New York has gone 20-12 since the break to move past Boston into first place, a five-game reversal in 31 games.
Yet even with the additions of Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle and the improved pitching of Johnson, the Yankees won't separate themselves from the Red Sox if they don't make a move during this series, because Boston may be the most resilient team in the American League, if not in all of baseball. ...
For all the Red Sox difficulties of late, especially with their pitching, they could be tied for the division lead by Saturday morning if everything goes right and if they continue to play at home the way they have thus far.
That would give the Red Sox the advantage in the series and for the rest of the season. They would have their top three pitchers — Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and David Wells — going in the final three games against the Yankees, with a chance to turn the tables on them just when much of the world felt New York was ready to assert itself and pull away.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Because more than any other team, the Yanks are not adverse to taking on salary, esp. at the trading deadline. Take the Abreu deal, for example---they didn't balk at taking on his salary in order to make a run at it this year.
Your overall point is quite correct, however. The Sox have a $125 million dollar payroll; for that kind of investment, they shouldn't roll over and play dead.
Hide the sharp objects in Beantown!
Besides, let's be fair about this. John Friggin' McGraw himself couldn't win with the ramshackle collection of bullpen stiffs Theo Epstein has provided his manager: Seanez, Tavarez, Hansen, Delcarmen, Van Buren, Polk, Jackson - oh sorry - those last two are dead Presidents, but what's the difference? They couldn't pitch any worse than the Sox 'pen has since the All-Star break.
Aside from Schilling, the starting pitching has been atrocious. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have carried the offense, while the team batting average with runners in scoring position has dropped off the table. And the front office has offered little help, choosing to play for the future instead of the present, while pretending that the Sox can still be competitive against the Yankees (or Detroit, or the Twins, for that matter) in 2006. Yeah, right.
Sorry, Red Sox Nation, but no pitching, no clutch hitting, no acquisitions = no pennant this year.
Abreau's real cost to the Yankees is $27 million dollars over the 1.33 seasons he will play for that team. (salary and luxury taxes) The Yanks gave up low level prospects. To me that's buying players at a level that goes well beyond the salary dump that takes place in baseball every year
Ortiz was a waiver pick up and Bucket Head was acquired via a trade. Both were given extensions.
The Sox have the second highest payroll and it is still 60% of the Yankees.
Seth Mnookin does a blog on the Sox and he is pretty dead on with his analysis which goes far beyond the crap in the Boston sports pages and NESN (outside of Eck who calls it like he sees it)
The Sox are a team in transition and made the mistake of trying to compete this year when their players were too old or simply too young. Hansen was in college last year, Lester played in AA abd Delcarmen is 23. Pena is 24 and has been hampered by poor teaching and no real time in the minors. (Ask Farnsworth how hard that kid hits the ball)
Next year the Sox could have had a young infield that could have ruled baseball for years, 5 young pitchers that could have been good or great for years and some salary flexibility to make a key deal as needed. Instead they traded away a power hitting 3B, maybe the next Tejada and a very good young arm in Sanchez in order to try and compete this year.
Hey, 29 teams will not win the series this year. The Yankees have spent over $1 billion in the last 5 years and have not won it. Maybe after signing Damon and buying Abreau they will finally get it this year but no one else can play the game that way.
Looking forward to seeing two of my favorite players - Derek Jeter and A-Rod.
As an Angels fan - I still hope we win but it should be a good series.
When you look at the Yankees, they have guys like Jeter, Williams, Posada and Rivera who have been with the organization their whole careers. Without those four guys, it is a much different team. Sure the Yankees go out and buy talent, but they develop quite a lot of it on their own, as well.
That was true when the Big Stein wasn't in the picture.
Don't forget to add recent additions Wang, Cano, Cabrera. The home grown talent has been just as valuable as the high priced talent.
Why the hell did the Red Sox let Damon go. The guy is better than I thought he was.
I'm still waiting ...
IT IS COMPLETE!
Go Yankeess 
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Yes.
The better team won this series. While I am not sold on this team in the pitching department, they have the best offense in the league.
On to next year for Sox fans.
Did you catch the game today? I had to work, darnitall.
It must have been exquisite torture for the Bosox fans to lose 2-1, knowing that Big Papi and Manny could have won the game at any time, and then failing to do so over and over again. That would be much more painful than being blown out...
heh, heh, heh...
So how is it that the Yankees can afford all these things and the Bosox can't? Do the Yankees field a good team year after year because they have more money? Or do they have more money because they field a good team year after year?
The Yankees big source of income is the YES Network. It pulls in tens of millions of dollars due to the NY metro market. It is a huge advantage over other teams. They can go out and trade for overpriced players or sign expensive free agents and not have to worry about rolling a turkey like most any other franchise out there.
Outside of this 5 game debacle over the past 5 years these two teams are extremely close in wins and losses so there is nothing for Yankee fans to walk around with their chests pushed out over. From a ten year period in the mid eighties to the mid-nineties, the Sox had more postseason visits than the Yankees did. After that the Yanks had a great run no doubt but a lot of that was due to pitching, home grown talent and baseball players like Martinez, Knobloch, O'Neil, etc rather than expensive trades and free agent signings.
Previous to that the Sox have had bad ownership that made decisions not to sign both Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays because of Yawkey's racism, they pissed away the core of a good team in the mid-late seventies with stupid moves and bad business operations. (How in the hell do you lose Carlton Fisk because you didn't mail the contract in time???)
Folks were bitching about the Yankee payroll long before the YES Network came along.
Besides, what is to keep Boston from doing the same thing? Surely the faithful would shell out for the games.
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