Question #46: Is this it for Yankees-Sox?
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- August
- 26
… at Yankee Stadium, of course. With three games starting tonight, there’s every chance that this will be the last time the Yankees and Red Sox meet at the current incarnation of the stadium in the Bronx.
Unless ……….
Surely there are still some believers out there who hold out hope that the Yanks will make the playoffs by catching the Sox and, at the same time, the Sox will make the playoffs by catching the Rays. Another New York-Boston ALCS?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but this Yankees-Sox series feels a little different to me. There’s an air of desperation that just doesn’t seem right coming from the Yankees, and the truth is that it’s a feeling that hasn’t lingered over this franchise since 1993. They are in bad shape, very bad shape really, and it’s unfamiliar.
I’m not ready to say they’re dead yet, but it’s getting really, really close. Two of three is the absolute minimum in this series, and even if they get that it’s no guarantee they won’t be done by the end of the weekend if other games go the wrong way. A sweep is nearly a necessity.
Carp says:
This is it for Red Sox-Yankees at the Stadium, because for the Sox to win the division the Yankees would have to then catch the Rays to get the wild card, and that’s not happening. So, yeah, rock the place for one last Bosox-Yanks series.
As for the desperation, Sam, you’re right. The Yankees don’t absolutely need to sweep, but they surely can’t do anything worse than win two of three. They’re getting a bit lucky, I think, in that the Sox are throwing Tim Wakefield, whose magic against the Yankees isn’t what it once was; then Paul Byrd against Sidney Ponson.
The Yankees have truly struggled against elite pitchers, but they won’t face one in this series. Hear that, A-Rod? It’s OK to get a few hits this week.
I wonder if it’s going to cost the Red Sox more to visit the new Yankee Stadium the way it’s going to cost the rest of us.
Now here’s a topic I can sink my teeth into… the Yankees desperate season… Hold onto your booties, cause here comes the venting of a “desperate” Yankees fan:
This season became desperate back in… oh… April/May maybe? Arod with a quad injury… Posada with a shoulder injury… Wang’s foot injury… Matsui out with bad knees… Joba shoulder injury… hughes/kennedy totally ineffective… 0 for 4000 with Runners In Scoring Position… Jeter, Cano, Melky, and Giambi all playing like AAA minor leaguers… a patch-work rotation of Rasner/Ponson/Giese/Pavano(!)... Molina as our everyday catcher (no offense)... the Gardner/Christian experiment… and a million other things. Oddly, if the Yanks had another reliable starter this year, we’d probably be in or close to the division lead.
IMO, a sweep is the only thing that will keep the Yankees afloat. Anything else would probably mean the end of the season and a pretty insurmountable obstacle. The Yanks not only need to sweep the Red Sahx, but need the Twins/ChiSox to literally drive their team buses off a cliff.
As a fan, I had a really hard time this season coming to terms with the mediocrity that is the 2008 Yankees. It was kind of like the 5 stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I was in denial for the first half of the season, angry at the team spouting how everyone stunk (especially Melky, Cano and Jeter (Capt GIDP)), bargaining with everyteam trying to get better players for our crappy ones, depression over the reality that this was no better than a .500 team, and now acceptance that if they don’t make it – it’s they’re own fault.
As for the “Mets-ification” of the Rays, I don’t see that happening either unless the Rays team also happen to be on the same Twins/ChiSox bus. It’s the WC or bust now. The “every game is a playoff game” thing really irks me because where the hell was the team for the other 130 games? They wouldn’t need this “every game is a playoff game” bullcrap if they played like the professionals they’re supposed to be for the other 130 games. If they don’t like the view from the hole they dug themselves into, then they should have been carrying their bats around instead of shovels. (Can you tell there’s a chip the size of Bonds’ ego on my shoulder?)
The Yanks are lucky to get Wake and Byrd for the first two games. Moose will do well against Lester I think. If they can’t beat either Wake or Lester, they should just pack it up and go home. Better yet, they should forward they’re salaries to all the Yankee fans who had to put up with their underachieving horrible season all year. I hope half the team is gone next year (Giambi especially, Melky, Betemit and Pudge definitely, Abreu possibly, and Damon or Matsui traded.) But I digress.
BTW, Arod presses because no one else on the team can score. He’s a better player when he lets the game come to him, not when he’s trying to be the only person scoring for the team.
The Yanks are indeed desperate, but they’re desperate by their own making. No, they’re not out of it mathematically, but they’re going to have to start playing if they want any chance of staying in the race and not digressing into spoilers. Will this be the last Sahx/Yanks series in old Yankee Stadium?? Only if the Yanks let it be.
NOW it looks like the Yanks’ season is over (losing 7-3 in the first game of the series.
My face is red with anger BTW.