Comments on: Red Sox: A Yankee Perspective

By: Mike Edelman

Mike Edelman — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:05:44 +0000

Plenty of bad teams play well for periods of two weeks or a month. Every year there are teams that get off to a fast start the entire first half of the season only to fall back down to earth. The Yankees clearly aren’t a .500 team like they had been for most of the season but I don’t know that they’re good enough to make the playoffs.
To demonstrate my point a little further about the Yankees, in their best month, inside of which they went 20-7, they still allowed over 4.5 runs a game. Offenses don’t stay hot for 2 month spans. They go up and down and when the Yankees aren’t getting leads and winning like they are now, they don’t always play at their full potential. What’s going to happen when the Yankees start to struggle a bit when it really matters? They’re not the relaxed type of team that can take that in stride and show up every day treating it like a new game.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:33:36 +0000

Mike – I wasn’t saying the Yankees will score 9 runs per game or win at a pace of 20-7 for the rest of the year. But, you have to admit that bad teams don’t play like that for a full month, no matter the competition. I was just putting forth evidence that the Yankees weren’t a bad team, after all.

By: Mike Edelman

Mike Edelman — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:13:37 +0000

Jim, like I said, pitching wins. But let’s pretend for a moment that pitching and hitting are equally important. Do you really think the Yankees offense is more or less better across the board in comparisson to that of the Red Sox, the way the Red Sox pitching staff is in comparisson to the Yankees?
And to address this quote by Andrew…
“Bad teams don

By: SrodELA

SrodELA — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:02:24 +0000

Worried? After 2004, i dont think any sox fan worries about the team they embarresed so bad in their own home field. I can really say that if their is any team to think about, is the anaheim angels. THey seem to have a better over all team than the “has Been” Yankees.

By: Jim Johnson

Jim Johnson — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:20:36 +0000

Mike,
I already addressed my “Beckett is still Beckett” comment. I meant that he was really good last time we (Yankee fans) saw him and he’s still really good now.
As for the pitching, I will admit that the Red Sox hold an edge over the Yankees in the rotation and have a huge advantage over them in the bullpen. The reason I consider the rotation beatable is because I believe the Yankee offense is that much better than the Red Sox line up. I think the Yankee bats have a much better chance of coming through against the Sox pitching than vice-versa.
Myers’ ERA was low because he only pitched to a batter at a time. He was responsible for everyone else’s ERA being high due to all the inherited runners that he allowed to score.
I’ll admit, the Yankee bullpen is a major chink in the armor and unless the Yankees somehow get sterling performances by their rookies and other new faces they’re bringing up to replace old useless parts, then the latter innings of big games are going to be adventurous. To put it mildly.

By: Mike Edelman

Mike Edelman — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:26:31 +0000

And by the way, Jc’s thanks a lot for the love! I haven’t been on here in a week or two but I checked in today and was humored to see your comment. Hopefully I’ll be able to comment a little more here myself once I finish work this week.

By: Mike Edelman

Mike Edelman — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:25:12 +0000

Come on Jim, you gotta do better than that. Beckett is still Beckett? If you mean the Beckett that pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees in the 2003 World Series then you’re dead on. If however, you’re trying ti insinuate that Beckett’s anything like he was last year, you’re in complete denial. Beckett’s pitched far better than any pitcher on the Yankees and if the season ended today, Beckett would probably finish #2 in the Cy Young voting. And he pitches in Fenway Park!
And is it supposed to scare anyone that Clemens is your 3rd starter? He’s 3-5 with a 4.23 ERA. And your best pitcher at the time, Andy Pettitte? His ERA has gone from 2.96 to 4.00.
Don’t kid yourself. The Yankees still aren’t as good a team as the Red Sox. The Red Sox pitching staff is better than that of the Yankees across the board.
Rotations
Beckett (3.31 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) vs. Wang (3.49 ERA, 1.24 WHIP)
Schilling (4.20 ERA, 1.36 WHIP) vs. Pettitte (4.00 ERA, 1.45 WHIP)
Matsuzaka (3.70 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) vs. Clemens (4.23 ERA, 1.32 WHIP)
Lester (5.09 ERA, 1.42 WHIP) vs. Hughes (5.87 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)
Bullpen
Papelbon (2.04 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) vs. Rivera (2.83 ERA, 1.01 WHIP)
Okajima (1.00 ERA, 0.81 WHIP) vs. ???
Gagne (2.55 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) vs. ???
Delcarmen (2.45 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) vs. ???
Do the Yankees even know what their bullpen set up is past Rivera? They just released Myers, who although he’s struggled lately, lead the team in ERA and has arguably been their most consistent reliever all season long and they dealt Proctor who has been their bullpen workhorse the last two seasons. They both had ERA’s of 2.88 and 3.81 respectively.
And just those numbers make the pitching staffs seem even closer than they really are. The strikeout rates of Yankees pitchers (even when you exclude Wang) are not even in the same league as that of the Red Sox. Not to mention, the Yankees pitch at home in one of the best pitcher’s parks in the majors while the Red Sox pitch in well, Fenway Park. Good, power pitching is usually what wins in the playoffs (if the Yankees do make it there).
It would be hard to argue that the Yankees are even as good a team as the Tigers, who they’re chasing for a Wild Card spot. The Yankees are have gone 14-4 over their last 18 games while the Tigers have gone 2-11 over their last 13 and the Yankees STILL wouldn’t be in the playoffs if the season ended today. Neither one of those teams are going to continue to play at that same pace. Wait until the Yankees come back to earth. This is a marathon, not a sprint and the Yankees have been sprinting, only to lose steam and fall back again, all season long. I’d put their chances of making the playoffs at 50/50. Even if the Yankees do make the playoffs however, they’d almost certainly be facing the Red Sox (who have had the major’s best record almost all season long) or the Angels (who the Yankees have historically struggled against) in the first round. And I think both are clearly better teams than the Yankees at this point.
There’s a couple months left however. I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens and I’m glad the Yankees have gained enough ground on the Wild Card to make the remaining games against them interesting. It certainly puts the Red Sox in a position in which they’re capable to knock the Yankees out of the race, in the same way that the Yankees did to the Red Sox last year.

By: Eric L.

Eric L. — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 04:32:45 +0000

The Yanks aren’t exactly done with 2 months of baseball still ahead. Granted as a member of Red Sox nation I must root against the Yankees, Jim Johnson’s article was entertaining. He seems very fair actually, I didn’t see him attacking the Red Sox. It seems like he enjoys the rivalry, so that’s cool. Here’s hoping the Sox storm to the World Series and end up facing Milwaukee!!!!
and Beckett is still Beckett… Awesome!! Good call J.J.

By: Jim Johnson

Jim Johnson — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:30:29 +0000

Sorry Mike, but I don’t think Yankees are catching the Sox, unless something drastic happens.
I think New York is very capable of winning the Wild Card and there’s a pretty good chance New York and Boston will be meeting in the ALCS. But winning the East? Ehhh…. that’s a tough one. Not when they have 15 games to absolutely pound on the Devil Rays.

By: Evan Brunell

Evan Brunell — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 02:26:58 +0000

The Red Sox have 57 errors, the Yankees 61.