A preview of the Red Sox first visit to their rival's new ballpark in the Bronx, what we should expect, and players fantasy owners should start-or stay away from.
Meeting for their second time this season, and for the first time in the new Yankee Stadium (or the new tee-ball homerun stadium as I like to reference it) the Red Sox and Yankees look to give us an entertaining-albeit short-series as they do every time they meet. This rivalry is head and shoulders far above any other sports rivalry, and the two teams never fail to bring their “A” games when facing each other.
Game 1 features up and coming Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester against the young Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain. Fans packed into a new Yankees ballpark that has turned into a virtual homerun derby every game to see the series should not expect to see anything different this game, as Lester has already given up 5 homeruns this season, and that’s without having played in a wind tunnel that heads towards the outfield. While the Red Sox have won the last three times Lester started (although he’s only been credited with one of those wins) their bats will likely need to come alive and give him the run support he’ll need. The Yankees batters should feel a significant amount of pressure as well however, lining up behind Joba Chamberlain who surrendered homers to both Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay when he last faced the Sox, in the same pitching match up in Fenway on April 24th, while his Red Sox counterpart surrendered 0HR that game. While there are certainly a few batters in the Yankees lineup that have given Lester problems in the past (Swisher 2-9, 1 HR/Jeter .375 vs. Lester/Damon .400 vs. Lester 1HR) and Swisher has been on fire this season with a .315 avg and 7 HR’s, Sox batters have seen their share of success against Joba as well. In Jason Bay’s one game against Joba he went 3-5 with a homerun and 2 RBI’s, and both reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell have lifetime averages of .400 or better against him. At the end of everything it’s almost impossible to predict exactly what will happen in this game, however since only one game played at the new stadium so far has seen a game with less than 10 combined runs I would expect that the team whose bats have the most pop in them wins the game. So while the fans of only one team can be left happy, this high-scoring affair should certainly fantasy owners of players on both teams entertained and happy.
In Game 2 we have the rematch of April 25th’s match up in Boston, a game that saw an incredible 27 combined runs in 8.5 innings (the Red Sox were leading at the end of the top of the 8th and did not take their last at bat). After watching 6 homeruns fly out of Fenway in that match up I can hardly wait to watch the offenses work this time. With an ERA over 7, Josh Beckett has certainly had his share of struggles so far this season, although his opponent, new Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett isn’t doing a whole lot better with an ERA over 5. Both gave up 8 runs in their last match up, and if they continue on as they’ve started the season, this match up could give us that much offense and more. Again, at the new ballpark it’s tough to predict exactly what step this heated rivalry will take next, however here are a few players from either team you should look for to have a big game, on that same note if you’re a fantasy owner of either pitcher, I’d suggest benching them as I don’t see them producing anything positive for you in this match up, even if one of them gets the win it’ll likely cost you dearly to pick up that one win in the ERA category. Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox should be as close to a lock as there is on the Sox for a big game, as he’s batting .300 with 2 HR, 4 RBI, and 6 Walks in 20 lifetime at-bats against Burnett. From the Yankees Robinson Cano would be a good option at second for fantasy owners, as in 33 lifetime at bats against Beckett he’s hit .364 with his own pair of homers, 9 RBI’s and only 3 strikeouts. Also, although given his current hot streak it’s needless to say Nick Swisher should have a great game. Although he’s only faced Beckett 12 times he’s had 5 hits including one over the fence against the Red Sox ace.
All in all it should be an offense laden, and entertaining series between the rivals, and one this reporter is looking forward to. In addition it’ll be interesting to see if the Yankees sell out either of these games, as their higher prices in the new park have driven attendance down so far this season. I’d say that best guess is the teams split the series, however I’ll give the advantage to the Sox because I find it hard to say anything nice about the Yankees, lol.
Written by Luke, Sunday May 03 2009
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
0 comments