For evidence of my claim that these two teams haven’t played well against each other yet, look at the season series between the two. It has gone 5-1 in one direction and then 7-2 in the other direction. I hope the series in Boston Sept 14-16 features two teams playing well b/c it has yet to happen.

The blog won’t let me post my whole response… here is the start of it:

Now you’re selecting a sample of games that are months in the past but only the sample that supports your argument. Unfortunately, the games in April matter as much as the games in May and August etc when determining who gets to play in October and who does not.

“IF the Yankees sweep out Boston, that takes care of 3 of those games, and we can get the other 4!”

I admire your loyalty to your team, but the division race is all but over. I made the effort to reply to your post b/c it is just flat wrong to say the Red Sox haven’t played well since the All Star break (the series in NY aside, by the way). I know you can’t do it, but if you take out three Eric Gagne meltdowns in the 8th or 9th innings in one week then these two teams have identical records in the second half. This is NOT an excuse. It is offered to directly contradict your statement that the Sox as a team are fading.

Now you’re selecting a sample of games that are months in the past but only the sample that supports your argument. Unfortunately, the games in April matter as much as the games in May and August etc when determining who gets to play in October and who does not.

“IF the Yankees sweep out Boston, that takes care of 3 of those games, and we can get the other 4!”

I admire your loyalty to your team, but the division race is all but over. I made the effort to reply to your post b/c it is just flat wrong to say the Red Sox haven’t played well since the All Star break (the series in NY aside, by the way). I know you can’t do it, but if you take out three Eric Gagne meltdowns in the 8th or 9th innings in one week then these two teams have identical records in the second half. This is NOT an excuse. It is offered to directly contradict your statement that the Sox as a team are fading.

About that sweep last week… the Yankees and Red Sox have yet to play well against each other at the same time. NY played terribly in the first 6-8 games of the series (and still stole a game or two) and the Red Sox hit .146 avg in the sweep in NYC last week. I know people on this board will want to attribute that to the starts by Clemens and CMW, but that is only part of the story. The Sox main weakness is that their lineup can go through droughts at times. The Yankees’ weak point (IMO) is their pitching (starting and bullpen) has been as inconsistent as the Sox lineup. I digress…

For evidence of my claim that these two teams haven’t played well against each other yet, look at the season series between the two. It has gone 5-1 in one direction and then 7-2 in the other direction. I hope the series in Boston Sept 14-16 features two teams playing well b/c it has yet to happen.

Don Vito, let’s look at the last 2 months as you say. Implied in your comment is that the Yankees have played much better than the Red Sox since the All Star break (roughly two months ago, July 9-11). You also explicitly say “Boston is limping to the finish line”. Here are the numbers since the break:

Yankees 34 – 19
Red Sox 31 – 21

If the season had started at the all star break, then the Yanks would have a 2.5 game lead on the Red Sox. As we all know, the season starts in April so they don’t lead the AL east. They are actually 7 games back.

My point is, the Yankees have cooled off from the .750 winning % that got them back in the race. They are going to win the wild card in my opinion, and are definitely a scary playoff team. But look at the AL… what playoff team isn’t scary?

The Yanks, Red Sox, Indians and Angels all have good starters at the top of their rotations, all have solid bullpens or better and all have good lineups or better.

The discussions on this blog are good for the most part and I enjoy reading them. I dislike seeing the posts that say the Sox suck or the Yankees suck b/c it just isn’t true. Both teams are fine teams and both will make the playoffs. The biggest series between these two teams will likely happen in October.

This is my first post, so go easy on me.

cheers

Doreen, I think I remember that mixed in with all of the season preview articles he linked. 2011 i think and Santanna was listed in the rotation.