-I’m just not feeling it for this Yanks-Sox series. So much of the personality of the rivalry has changed. The Sox have especially changed. So many of the highly talented yet highly eccentric characters the Sox had (Pedro, Manny, the Idiots) are now all long gone. Even the fearsome Big Papi appears to be fading . The Sox as a franchise went from being Baseball’s Charlie Brown to 2-time World Champions. The only personality that defines this Boston team is ‘Type A’. The Yanks have done their own share of changing, going from a perpetual playoff team to 3rd place last year. This rivalry needs some new story lines, hopefully a pennant race between the two will provide some.
-Best thing about this Yanks-Sox series is the pitching matchups.
Friday-Joba Chamberlain vs John Lester
Saturday-AJ Burnett vs Josh Beckett
Sunday-Andy Pettitte vs Justin Masterson
To quote Meatloaf, ‘Two out of three aint bad’.
-Wang throwing lots of strikes in his extended ST outing doesn’t encourage me one bit. His problem wasn’t throwing strikes, it was throwing them right over the middle of the plate. Also, the velocity was still down a bit, and what always made Wang so tough was how hard he threw the 2-seamer. If he’s throwing it 89-91 MPH instead of 94-96, then he’s going to have to rely more on his secondary pitches and locate better, and that will require him to reinvent himself as a pitcher.
-Check this out from NJ.com’s Yankee Blog
Worried about the Yankees’ hitting? You think Ransom or Molina or someone else is dragging down the team? The Yankees have scored 5 runs or more in 10 of 15 games, 4 runs in 4 of the remaining 5.
-Sounds like Phil Hughes will get Wang’s next scheduled start vs the Tigers, though nothing’s official yet. Can’t wait, I’m still rooting hard for both him and IPK to succeed.
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0 Responses to Random Thoughts and Observations-Game 15
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TIQ IQ
I think the 19 games, year after year, have made the rivalry feel a bit repetitive and old. It needs something to make it feel fresh instead of the same old “two good teams, one wins 10, the other 9″ dynamic.
Rsox/Yanks games have gotten tame over the years but, the thing is…most of the Rsox/Yank hate thing is (and has been) driven by the press, not the players. Yes, there are exceptions but, back a few years ago it was K.C. before that it was Balt., etc…on and on. Some players have bought into the hate thing but, not many…I like to defeat teams, hate takes to much energy.
Definitely true. Which is why A-Rod being injured saps more from the rivalry- he is the one player that actually inspires hate and emotion from the Red Sox.
I would argue that Joba inspires similar passionate hatred in Sox fans (particularly if he throws at Youkilis again). And I imagine the Boston fans won’t have a very kind reception for Mark Teixeira either.
Yeah, Joba probably falls into that category, athough I think that it is more from fans than the players, whereas Pedroia has basically said that the players do not like Alex. In regard to Tex, that is the kind of thing that will dissipate with some time.