FIRE THIS MORON
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 ...
The Yankees PITCHING has been fairly unimpressive this series. Johnson and Wong were very beatable and Ponson was released after his latest start. Thursday Wright was shelled and Lidle stunk in his last effort.
They are going to have to do a lot better if they are going to win in the playoffs.
Proctor is going to wind up out of baseball in two years the way that Torre is using him. Too bad because he has good stuff and a good attitude.
I just got back to Florida from boston a couple hours ago. I went friday and yesterday and I am way to pissed to even watch them tonight
Schill was clocking heat as high as 97 tonight and while the pitch count was high, he was looking good. They hit Mussina good in the 1st.
Rain delay so I have no idea how this will turn out.
Very, very bad for the Red Sox...
7 posted on 08/18/2006 11:35:43 AM EDT by gridlock
Heh, heh, heh...
Who swept them last time, if memory serves...
I loved the manager interviews with Francona and Torre in the Fifth last night. Torre's mic was bad and you could only hear every third word, and he still made a lot more sense than Francona...
Boy, you got that right. Nothing else to say: The Cranks beat the hell out of the Sox this weekend . . . like a rented mule. Gotta hand it to NY---they proved to be the better team by far this weekend.
Hey HG, it was one hell of a weekend with a little luck to help us out.
I was really fired up for this series, sorry about being so obnoxious on Friday.
I hope we don't have to face you guys in post-season. I can handle losing to anyone else :)
Luck? Naw---just skill. You guys bested us in every facet of the game . . . except perhaps for defense, which was an even match. NY deserved to win each and every game.
In my opinion, the biggest let-down this weekend was our pitching. Lester and Beckett were awful, but as bad as they were, the bullpen was even worse. Boy Wonder Epstein cannot put together a pitching staff to save his life.
Or to save his job, perhaps...
All that scrambling around to win back his love last year now seems a bit silly. If the Fat Man can't pull one out of the air this afternoon, it's the Boston Massacre II, only worse.
Theo and the rest of the front office deserve all of the blame for this mess. Tito plays the guys he's been given and right now they are all failing to do the job. Francona isn't the best manager in the world but Torre wouldn't do any better with this bunch.
It used to be that David Wells was money in the bank against (or for!) the Yankees. He has always had a fascination for the Pinstripes. But I think age and the years of lack of conditioning has caught up with him. Emotion can only carry you so far. The underlying ability has to be there.
It's a shame. I love Boomer. I remember back when he was playing with the Orioles. The Os couldn't buy a win against the Yanks, except for when Wells was on the mound. With Wells, they couldn't lose to the Yanks. And Wells couldn't beat anybody, except the Yanks. At the end of that year, after being beaten by Wells 5 or 6 times, Steinbrenner got smart and hired him!
Rain delay wasn't the issue. A bad bullpen that the front office assembled did the trick.
Rain delay didn't seem to do well for Mussina either....
Offensively this is a very deep and well balanced team. Abreu is what will buy them the series this year. The pitching is mediocre on the whole and the defense is average. That offense is what will beat just about everyone else.
Never said the raid delay was the issue. I just commented how you didn't know how you had no idea how this (The Game) would turn out.
As far as Mussina goes, he'll probably miss a start but be alright.
As soon as the tarp came out, I knew this wasn't good for the Red Sox.
Offense alone will not win a World Series, never has, never will.
why do the Yankees 'buy' players, when the Red Sox 'acquire talent'? Manny came to the Sox with a monsterous contract, and Ortiz and Beckett just signed huge extensions. Where those examples of them 'buying' a team, or what? The Sox salary total is quite high, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.