Sunday Night Baseball: Yankees vs. Red Sox

Two former Florida Marlin battery mates will square off against each other Sunday as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox battle for the A.L. East. After a split in the first 2 games, Boston finds themselves 6 games behind the Yankees for the division lead. Boston has been decimated by injuries, but has somehow found a way to stay within arms reach of both the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Josh Beckett fell victim to the injury bug earlier this season as he went on the 15 day DL back on May 19th. Beckett has been good since his return on July 23rd. He threw 5 2/3 innings against the Mariners and surrendered just 5 hits and 1 earned run. He allowed 3 runs to the Angels in a 7-3 win on July 28th, and is coming off of an 8 strikeout, 3-hitter to Cleveland. It is imperative that the Red Sox get good pitching down the home stretch as much of their opening day starting line-up is either playing hurt or on the DL. If Beckett continues his streak of good pitching, he will give the Boston pitching staff something to feed off of the rest of the way.

A.J. Burnett is extremely erratic! It’s hard to believe that someone with as much talent as Burnett can yield as many runs as he does. He has an above average fastball, and a devastating curve that can make even the best hitters in baseball look foolish. However, he struggles with his command and pitch selection, and often puts himself in bad situations. Burnett’s June was nothing short of a disaster. He allowed 29 runs over 5 starts, and lost every game he pitched. An indication of how up and down he can be is shown by how he threw in July. He was 3-1 with an ERA of 2.00 over 5 starts. Burnett gave up just 6 earned runs the entire month and recorded 20 strikeouts. You never know what you’ll get when he steps onto the mound. He can either give up 9 runs in the first inning or throw a no-hitter. We will find out which way he’ll go over the first 2 or 3 inning Sunday night, but for the Yankees sake he’d better have his “A” game.

This rivalry is perhaps the most heated in sports. The Yankees have the largest fan base in the country, but the Sox have now acquired the “Red Sox Nation” motto. Winning 2 World Series last decade has strengthened a rivalry that was fairly one-sided for almost a century.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox need to keep an eye on the Rays as they have now solidified themselves as a legitimate contender for the A.L. East crown. Most fans and even MLB handicappers put little emphasis on regular season games, but when New York plays Boston it’s a playoff atmosphere every time. Tune in Sunday night as the Yankees and Red Sox try to make a move towards the A.L. East title in the 3rd game of this 4 game set.

Related posts:

1. MLB Monday Night: Yankees vs. Red Sox
2. Red Sox hope to continue Dominance of Yankees
3. Red Sox try to get healthy against Yankees
4. Battle of Aces: Yankees vs. Red Sox Saturday
5. Pirates look to Complete Sweep of Red Sox Sunday

Comments