Boston Vs. New York: Two Teams Heading In Complete Opposite Directions
August 9, 2009 · Tony Santorsa · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Where should I even begin?
First let me put it this way: Boston is playing like a bunch of bums and the Yankees are gearing up for their 27th World Series.
As myself being a Red Sox fan, I definitely could have seen this coming.
Year after year callers will call up on Boston’s sports radio talk show WEEI saying, “The Yankees will take first by August,” and of course, the Yankees find a way to do it.
No one can compare seasons here.
You can’t talk about Boston’s 2006 free fall or New York’s choke in the 2004 ALCS. This is a completely different season, and as of right now, it features two rivals going from a heated race into Boston watching the Tampa Bay Rays take second to compete with the Bronx Bombers.
Ever since the All-Star break Boston has been so inconsistent that it’s like being on a roller coaster ride, but lately it’s been all downhill. And meanwhile, the Yankees have been steam rolling opponents and building their lead in the American League East.
On NESN (New England Sports Network), they have been airing commercials advertising ” Rivalry Week” for the Sox the past week and the Sox just went 0-6 against the Rays and Yanks.
One word can explain that performance: Terrible.
I don’t even know how to wrap my mind around this team. They are either hitting and not pitching, pitching and not hitting, or just plain and simple, not doing either.
When the team’s aces Jon Lester and Josh Beckett are pitching, they will not hit the ball once and lose the game when either Lester or Beckett go seven innings strong. They are losing the games they are supposed to win.
It’s so frustrating.
Now that John Smoltz earned run average was bolstered up to 8.33, the team decided to DFA’d the future Hall of Famer, but who do they have to replace him in the rotation? Billy Traber?
Dice-K who is currently rehabbing and complaining?
Or is it Junichi Tazawa who was welcomed into the bigs with a huge Alex Rodriguez walk-off homer the other night.
Not only does Boston have major holes in the rotation, they can’t hit the ball consistently.
If Boston is looking to turn it around before they lose first in the Wild-Card, they will need to achieve these “keys to success”:
First for the offense, the team needs to rely on it’s core guys: Jason Bay, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedrioa, and Kevin Youkilis. They also need to see Jacoby Ellsbury get on base and stealing some bases to put pressure on the opposing pitcher.
Secondly for the offense, Victor Martinez was brought here to add a spark to the lineup, and lately he has been hitting the ball pretty well. In my opinion, not only does he have to hit the ball, but I feel that he should be a leader on this team and take control of the reigns and lead them offensive production.
Now addressing the pitching staff.
The team needs to win the easy games with Lester and Beckett pitching. If they go seven innings strong, the offense needs to put up at least four runs to expect a victory.
And for the rest of the rotation, Penny needs to go at least six quality innings and he will need some run support and the bats need supply that or they will be on the losing end.
Clay Buccholz put out a good performance against New York this weekend and hopefully he can build from there.
All-Star Tim Wakefield is on his way back from a back injury in a few weeks, so hopefully he can add some stability to the rotation.
Now with the bullpen. Daniel Bard has been the only problem lately in my opinion. The guy has such good stuff, but as of late he’s been getting into trouble with the long ball. Hopefully the youngster can avoid his hick-ups and stabilize the eighth inning with Hideki Okajima.
Boston just missed a huge opportunity to build a lead on Tampa and gain some ground on New York this past week. If Boston hadn’t won those eight games against New York earlier this season, they would be 13.5 games out of first place.
That’s a scary thought.
As of right now, Boston can’t bank in on trying to win the Wild-Card and totally forgetting about the streaking Yanks if they want to make the playoffs. They need to just take every game one game at a time and hopefully put together a nice streak in the rest of August.
If they do put out a nice showing in the rest of August, they should be in a nice spot heading into the last month of the 162-game season.
But hey, they are still in contention for the playoffs, but Boston is spinning out of control and New York is marching away with the AL East crown.
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