The triage unit heads up to Boston for 3 more
May 22, 2006 by alex
Our beaten and bruised Yankees (starting lineup) are up in Boston for another 3 game set. We have been without Matsui, Sheffield and Posada for the weekend and Bubba Crosby and Shawn Chacon were just placed on the 15 day DL. This is why we are signing people like Erubiel Durazo, Terrence Long and Richard Hidalgo.
We managed to eek one out at Shea thanks to Billy Wagner and I honestly hope we can do the same in Boston. All things considered I’d be happy to finish this 6 games stretch 2.5 games out of first. Gary Sheffield is going to play a AA game tonight and if he feels up for it, might join us in Boston for the last 2 games of the series.
Anyway, onto the matchups and predictions:
Wang vs. Schilling
Wright vs. Wakefield
Johnson vs. Clement
This is how we fared predicting the last series:
Gabe 3-0
Manlio 2-1
Alex “the optimist” 1-2
Here’s my call for this week:
Sox win tonight: 7-6
Yanks win tomorrow: 7-2
Sox win wednesday: 6-3
Dare to dream! Avoid the sweep! Get well, Sheff!
Tags: predictions, red sox, yankees
Posted in Uncategorized
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Well, the bruise of matsui really stings, b/c the guys we expected to get injured are riding the DL. This is one of those weird no-win situations for the sox where if you win, you don’t feel like you REALLY beat the Yankees b/c only half the starting line-up is playing, but if you lose, you really suck, b/c you lost to a bunch of bench warmers. A sweep is the only acceptable answer, but alas, these teams don’t really allow that, i wonder when the last one of the teams swept a series w/ three or more games? Anyway, here are predictions:
Sox eek won out tonight behind a mediocre 5-6 inning performance by Schilling, tempered by a dominant 6 innings from Wang, and followed by a whopping of Wang in the 7th: 5-4 (nipplebon gets his lone save situation)
Wake gets shocked by the young guys tomorrow w/ a loss in an ugly game, Wright pitches well enough: 9-4
Clement pitches unexpectedly well, due to 1st innning trouble by RJ (as Clement is baseball’s Jake Plummer, only good w/ a lead, the wheels come off when his team falls behind): Sox win 7-3
That is all, godspeed.
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:13 pm
hmm…
tonight:
Sox win 5-2
tomorrow:
Sox win 8-6
wed:
Sox win 7-3
i just can’t predict a yanks victory. it’s a weakness
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 pm
ok gabe, it’s really weird that we call teh same score for the clement game. i swear your post hadn’t registered before i put mine in
May 22nd, 2006 at 9:23 pm
that’s harmony right there.
May 25th, 2006 at 9:34 am
wow, i have to hand it to alex and other yankee fans who pulled off one of the better jinxes i’ve seen in a while. “i hope we can avoid a sweep, wah!” you big babies. look what you did to manlio! you’ve got him PICKING a Red Sox sweep, the poor guy would have been tracked down in san fransisco and had his limbs hacked off two years ago if he made the same pick (boy, i don’t miss that).
that’s it, i’m playing hardball now…
ps - i’m officially starting the “trade matt clement at all costs” chants (but only in my apt really)
May 25th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Ok… I was going to have a Game post mortem post that stood on its own but I figure I’ll keep it all here.
a) The jinx accusation is sort of silly. in your estimation, is it ever legitimate for the Yankees to fear a sweep, on the road, to a team they were 1-3 against going into the series, heading in without their 4/5/6 hitters, coming off what could easily have been a sweep to the Mets and running out a lineup with a 6-9 that included names like Stinnett, Long and Cabrera. It’s easy to say that fans are being arrogant when they are confident and whining when they are cautious and I fully recognize that it happens a lot. I do, however, think this was one time where the cause for concern was warranted. Heck, it could have easily BEEN a sweep.
b) This brings me to why we won the game last night. Kyle Farnsworth should get the W, not Randy Johnson. The reason this was so big is because he came through in a place where no one not named Mariano Rivera (though Mike Myers finally won a battle with Ortiz earlier in this game) has been able to the past few years.
Many people saw Farnsworth as a risk in the pressure cooker of NY baseball and although he still has a lot to do, coming through the way he did last night against David Ortiz is huge. That exact situation is how we’ve lost so many games to Boston - struggling to get the people out who we should (9,1,2 hitters) and then having Ortiz come up with nowhere to put him and he burns us. And to get a hitter like Ortiz out LOOKING, with the bases loaded and the game on the line, in Boston, is just enormous.
c) You can’t talk about last night without mentioning Randy Johnson, who had another rough outing (5 runs in 5 innings). What is most perplexing to me is that he still struck out 8 in 5 innings, which leads me to believe that he’s getting some of his “stuff” back, but he’s still working through things and remains inconsistent.
I don’t really fault him for the Manny home run (a monster shot) because Manny is hitting like .800 against us this series and we’ve learned that when you catch Manny in a hot streak, there’s not much you can do except hope there’s no one on base when he comes up. All in all, I don’t think the start is as bad as the beat writers will make it out to be. Not great by any means, but not awful. He does need to make it into the 6th though.
d) All in all, the Yanks showed a little something these past 3 days. The guys who had to step up, did and we grinded out 2 wins and picked up a game in the standings. Sheffield also stepped up and came back quickly, showing that he wants to help the team and that he’s playing for either his option or a new contract. I really couldn’t ask for anything more than getting a Gary Sheffield with a chip on his shoulder playing for next year’s salary. The thing we really have to avoid now that we are playing Kansas City at home is the hangover effect, which we have fallen victim to a lot in the past couple of years. If we want to win the division, we have to beat up on teams like KC and avoid being blindsided like we were last summer when they swept us.
Anyway, Thursday’s day off is well-deserved (Mo and Farnsworth especially). Let’s come back strong on Friday behind Moose and kick this series off right.
See you in 2 weeks, Sawx!
BONUS I just want to get my predicition down on paper that I made to Gabe yesterday. Here goes: some Yankee pitcher this year will drill Manny for showing up Scott Proctor on Tuesday night by admiring his home run (another monster shot). I loved Al Leiter saying: “Act like you’ve hit one before”. It will have to be a meaningless situation - blow out, runner on second/first base empty or something but I think it will finally happen this year.
Let someone serve him. I don’t want anyone to get hurt but someone should step up for a youngster who’s saved our asses a bunch this year and will ultimately be a big part of this bullpen if we are to be successful.
May 25th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
ladies and gentlemen, your 2006 second place boston red sox.