MLB Monday Night: Yankees vs. Red Sox

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox renew their long and storied rivalry Monday as they face off in the Bronx for a 2 game set. New York is currently 1 game behind the red hot Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the top spot in the American League East. The Red Sox have struggled out of the gate to a 19-19 record, and currently find themselves 7.5 games back in what may be the strongest division in baseball.

Boston has done more than enough offensively to keep pace with the big boys, but their pitching has faltered thus far. Newly acquired John Lackey has the most wins on the team as of now with 4. Unfortunately his ERA is approaching 5 which happens to be 3rd best of all the starting pitchers. Josh Beckett has been horrible this season with a 1-1 record and an ERA over 7. Tim Wakefield can’t be trusted as his knuckleball often gets abused, and Jon Lester still hasn’t figured out how to pitch. Clay Buchholtz has been the best starter thus far with a 4-3 record and a respectable 3.46 earned run average. He will need help from the rest of the pitching staff if the Sox are to make a legitimate run at making the wildcard or winning the Eastern conference.

You know there is a serious problem when Duston Pedroia leads the team in home runs and RBI’S. Pedroia is a former MVP, but has no business being the power bat in a line-up. Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew and Victor Martinez will need to step up their efforts in the next few months if the Red Sox are to get back into the playoff picture.

A 2 game sweep by the Yankees may be the nail in the coffin for this Boston team even though we are just 35+ games into the season. Being almost 10 games back of the leaders may be far too much for the Sox to overcome as they are in the same division as perhaps the best 2 teams in baseball.

The Yankees have again reloaded with talent. They picked up Curtis Granderson overe the off-season, and he has been solid thus far. Brett Gardner has turned out o be the player the Yanks thought he’d be with a .317 BA and 17 steals already. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have had slow start despite the Yankees 24-13 record. If they can get hot over the next few months, it may spell disaster for the rest of the East. Mark Texiera has increased his batting average 80 points over the last few weeks, but is still batting just above .225 this season. If he can get it going over the next few months it will be a huge boost to the New York offense, especially as well as the pitching has been so far.

The Yankees have 4 starting pitchers with ERA’s below 4. All 4 of those pitchers ( Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett and C.C. Sabathia) all have at least 4 wins. Hughes may be the biggest surprise so far as he has a 1.38 ERA with a 5-0 record. He is clearly the early favorite for the American League CY Young award, but will need to keep it going if he can stay in the lead. Pettitte has mentioned several times that he may be close to retirement, but he looks as though he is pitching as well as he ever has.

This may not be as important to the Ynaks as the Sox, but never the less it will be compelling baseball. Tune in Monday night as the most intense rivalry in all of sports stays true to form when the Yankees and Red Sox square off in the Bronx.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Night Baseball: Yankees vs. Red Sox
2. Red Sox try to get healthy against Yankees
3. Red Sox hope to continue Dominance of Yankees
4. Battle of Aces: Yankees vs. Red Sox Saturday
5. Lester looks to turn Red Sox around Tuesday

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