Crunch Time For Yankees
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Crunch Time For Yankees
Despite the current seven game winning streak of the New York Yankees they have only gained one game on the Boston Red Sox in the last ten games since they are 8-2 in last ten games while Red Sox have been 7-3 during that span. With the Red Sox idle today the Yankees can close the gap to four and a half games today with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
When the Yankees travel to Boston for their three game series this weekend starting Friday they really need a sweep to stay in the race. Assuming the Yankees win today the Yankees could close the gap to a game and a half with a sweep over the Red Sox. A sweep by the Red Sox would give them a seven and a half game lead. If Red Sox win only one game they would be three and a half games ahead of the Yankees but if they take two out of three they would be five and a half games ahead at the end of the weekend.
When the Red Sox series ends the Yankees will only have thirteen games remaining in the season so anything less than a sweep for the Yankees could seal their fate as far as winning the AL East goes.
Around the Bases
St. Louis Cardinals will have to get hot fast if they want to get back in the NL Central race. Losing six games in a row during the heat of the pennant race is not the way make a late season charge and worst of all they are five games under .500 and even the NL Central is not likely to have a champion with a winning percentage under .500. I think it is safe to say that not many pre-season predictions had the Houston Astros and Florida Marlins picked for last place in their divisions but with the season almost over that is where both teams are located. The most astounding to me is that the Chicago White Sox would sign Ozzie Guillen to an extension through 2012 with the White Sox entrenched in last place in the AL Central. Just two years ago they defeated the Astros in the World Series and now they are 22 games under .500 and 23 games behind the first place Indians.
Balco Bonds has hit only two home runs since the 18th of August and after hitting .305 in August is hitting .217 for month of September. He slugged .695 in August but only .391 in September. Jim Thome needs one more home run to join the 500 home run club. Manny Ramirez needs five more home runs or he will fail to have hit 25 home runs in a season for the first time since the strike shortened 1994 season. He needs ten more home runs to reach the 500 home run club and has 490 at the age of 35 while Alex Rodriguez has 516 at the age of 32.
Gil Meche (8-12) needs four more wins to have made a $1 million a win this season. Kelvim Escobar (17-7) has three more wins than his previous best when he pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1999 and posted 14 wins. Anthony Reyes (2-14) lost again for the Cardinals yesterday pinpointing the Cardinals main problem having him and Kip Wells (6-16) combining for a 8-30 record and having eight wins to show for 45 starts between them. Even Mark Mulder returning to rotation has not helped with him having an 0-2 record and giving up 13 runs and 15 hits in eight innings and a 12.38 ERA.
Wily Mo Pena has proven a change of scenery can make a world of difference for a major league baseball player. In 73 games and 156 at bats with Red Sox he had five homers and 17 RBI's and slugged .385 but in only 23 games and 83 at bats with the Washington Nationals has hit 8 home runs and driven in 16 runs and slugged .590 and his batting average has improved from .218 to .277. Matt Holliday has homered in his last four games and has hit 5 home runs and driven in nine runs in those four games.
