Series Preview: Yankees at Red Sox (4/20 - 4/22)
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by user Tylersalt
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It begins anew. The New York Yankees make the trip up the coast to Fenway Park to face off against their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox. Last season's series did not go well for the Sox as they lost the season series 11-8, including being on the rough end of a devastating 5-game sweep at Fenway at the hands of the Bronx Bombers, a series which was heralded as the second Boston Massacre and really spelled the end of Boston's season for all intents and purposes.
For the first time in a long time, the Red Sox seemed to win the off-season battle, signing Daisuke Matsuzaka, Julio Lugo, and J.D. Drew, while really the only high-profile acquisition by the Yankees was Kei Igawa. They also lost Randy Johnson and Gary Sheffield, and are having rough injury problems, with Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, and ace Chien-Ming Wang all on the DL. However, you can never take the Yankees lightly, especially with Alex Rodriguez having the start to the season that he's having, leading the majors in homers (9) and RBI (23) entering play on Thursday.
The Yankees seem to have an advantage on offense both overall and how streaky the Boston hitters have been at the plate, but right now the Sox pitching staff is light-years ahead of New York even discounting all the injuries. Let's take a look at the three games they'll be playing this weekend.
Game 1
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Andy Pettitte has had a nice start to his second stint in the Bronx, going 1-0 in three starts. Oddly enough, the Yankees pitching staff has been in such disarray that he had to appear in relief in an April 8th game against the Baltimore Orioles. Andy had a rough last season with Houston, going 14-13 with a 4.20 ERA. He has struggled against the big boppers in the Red Sox lineup in his career:
- David Ortiz: .409/.458/.682, 1 HR, 3 RBI
- Manny Ramirez: .424/.470/.695, 3 HR, 18 RBI
- J.D. Drew: .375/.444/1.250, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Curt Schilling has rebounded nicely after a rough first start in Kansas City, and has now thrown 14 straight scoreless innings in his last two starts. He has owned A-Rod over the course of his career, holding him to just 6 hits in 31 at-bats and only a .219 OBP. Robinson Cano has had some success against Schilling, going 6-17 with a home run. Schilling's WHIP on the season is a very good 1.05.
Game 2
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Young Jeff Karstens makes his first start this season for the Yankees, bringing with him a 2-1 career record with an ERA of 3.80 in 8 games, 6 starts. None of the current Red Sox hitters has ever faced Karstens. He is coming off the DL to make his first start, having landed there with elbow stiffness late in spring training.
Josh Beckett has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball so far, and sports a 3-0 record and a 1.50 ERA to prove it. He has been nearly unhittable at times, with a WHIP of under 1 on the year. He has struck out exactly a batter an inning so far. He did struggle against New York last season, sporting an ugly 9.45 ERA against them, but he seems to be a different pitcher so far this year. He has only given up one home run on the year, a category that he struggled mightily with in his first season in the American League.
Game 3
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Rookie hurler Chase Wright won his first major league start last week against Cleveland, going five innings with a load of run support from that vaunted Yankee offense. I'm a little puzzled as to why he was brought up instead of uber-prospect Philip Hughes, but what do I know? He obviously has never faced the Red Sox before, so this will be his introduction to the rivalry as well as Karstens'.
Daisuke Matsuzaka has been the victim of a serious lack of run support so far. The Red Sox hitters have scored a total of 5 runs in Matsuzaka's three starts, and if they don't start producing for him soon, he could end up being one of the most expensive 15-game losers in history. That aside, Dice-K has pitched magnificently so far, with the notable exception of the fourth inning of Tuesday's start against Toronto, when his control went completely out the window. I'm sure Red Sox fans are happy that he makes his debut against New York at Fenway instead of at hostile Yankee Stadium.
