Wakefield Was Woeful, Wang Wonderful
From the beginning, I could tell from Tim Wakefield's facial expression that his knuckler didn't "have it." And I was right. And his recent record against the New York Yankees grew even more lodsidedly bad. He's 1-7 in his last nine starts against them, with an ERA of an even 6.00 The Yankees won game one of this series 6-2. All the Red Sox have to do is avoid a sweep, and they have two more chances to do just that, starting tonight at 7pm.
The Yankees came out of the gate fast even though the Sox left 5 stranded runners in the first two innings. It was 4-0 after two on the strength of home runs from AROD and Giambi. The game was effectively over then, but the Red Sox had their chances. And squandered most of them. Papi drove in both Sox runs. Boston forced Wang to throw a lot of pitches, but he was up to the challenge. And their bullpen was just good enough. From the Globe......
"Imagine: a quality start for the Yankees. Very rare. In the spring of '07, there've been more Boston Pops brawls than Yankees pitching gems.
"Boston is the cream of the crop right now," said Torre. "We need to do something, and obviously since this was against Boston, you feel much better because they're the club we need to run down."
They have a long way to run. And when you are the New York Yankees, it's hard to get used to playing a "must-win" game . . . in May."
Peter here. We might be the cream of the crop, but it's only May. I've heard many people, sportswriters included, say this season is over for the New York club and that the AL East has been decided. I say they're nuts. Look at the calender. It's not that I don't have faith in the Red Sox. I love them more than anyone. It's just that when or if, and that's a BIG IF, the Yankees get their starting pitching together and their bullpen a little more organized, with their lineup top to bottom, anything is possible. And usually is.
RSN turns its eyes to Julian Tavarez tonight. The same Tavarez who was brilliant in his last start. We have to hope he has a little more of that brilliance left in his tank, a little more magic dust in his pocket. Everyone, have a great Tuesday as we wait for first pitch, and click on the title of this post for the Edes' Boston Globe article on the game.