Official Sox-Yanks Thread

[Cambridge]

Giddy for the start today. Can hardly work as I wait for the radio feed to start.

Wake getting the start is always an adventure. Although he's was a Yankee killer at the end of the season and eats innings like nobodies business, you just never know if he's going to get shelled or if he's going to get 8Ks and give up just 4 hits over 8 innings. Total enigma.

I think emotion will be on our side early, but if we don't capitalize I can see a heartbreaking loss coming our way. Our middle relief in Mantei, Halama and Embree has been less than spectacular...and other than Ortiz no one seems to be coming up with clutch hits yet.

Here's to another classic in Fenway and to the complete and full recovery of Pavano* and Francona.

*That was a scary moment yesterday. Totally haunting. Brought back memories of Bryce Florie.

[Hank Scorpio]

Wakefield seems to the be the one guy the Yanks will never figure out. And when you bring in flamethrowers from the pen to follow him, it makes our timing hideous. We counter with Moose, who, as i pointed out in an earlier thread, has done very well against the Sox in his career, pre and post new york. Great matchup.

Both bullpens absolutely stink right now. Middle relief has been abysmal for us aside from Gordon, maybe Sturtze, and the Sox haven't thrown anyone out there who is tossing well. and who the hell is Blaine Neal. For all the hype about Rivera being bad, Foulke has been just as shaky. i think their numbers are both 1-1, 1 save, foulke's ERA a touch higher. yeesh.

i'll take Moose today, the Sox batters i think will be a bit too amped, he'll be able to get some putouts early in the count. Ortiz will still kill us, b/c he's a demon. i'm hoping we get the ball into rivera's hands so he can exorcise some demons.

btw, good call on pavano, i was at the game, pretty scary moment, i can't believe he didn't go down! if only giambi can catch a routine foul pop up...grrrrrr

- borat

ps - david wells...he better turn it around quick. and he has never been good in fenway. ominous start. clement looks like he could have a solid year, he gets into jams with wildness, but he has the stuff to get out of them. wade miller = giant x factor

CambridgeHoya said:

Giddy for the start today. Can hardly work as I wait for the radio feed to start.

Wake getting the start is always an adventure. Although he's was a Yankee killer at the end of the season and eats innings like nobodies business, you just never know if he's going to get shelled or if he's going to get 8Ks and give up just 4 hits over 8 innings. Total enigma.

I think emotion will be on our side early, but if we don't capitalize I can see a heartbreaking loss coming our way. Our middle relief in Mantei, Halama and Embree has been less than spectacular...and other than Ortiz no one seems to be coming up with clutch hits yet.

Here's to another classic in Fenway and to the complete and full recovery of Pavano* and Francona.

*That was a scary moment yesterday. Totally haunting. Brought back memories of Bryce Florie.

[Cambridge]

Borat said:

ps - david wells...he better turn it around quick. and he has never been good in fenway. ominous start. clement looks like he could have a solid year, he gets into jams with wildness, but he has the stuff to get out of them. wade miller = giant x factor

Re: Clemente...man, who knew we would drop Lowe only to end up with DLo2. If he isn't a nervefraying pitcher I don't know who is. Luckily he has way more gas than Lowe ever had and there's more movement on his pitches, but damn, am I cursed to having to always "will the pitches down" for our second starter. Just like DLo, when his breaking ball is on, it's nasty, but when it hangs....goodbye sox, hello home run derby.

Re: Wade Miller. Amen, on him being the enigma of the season. Will he be the calvary or never recover? Only time will tell, but if him and Schil come back with avengence we will be tough, tough down the stretch. However, if only one pans out, we'll be battling for the WC.

[Cambridge]

Wind was blowing in...and Wake knew it. He is damn near untouchable when he knows a homerun ball is unlikely. He also was getting the benefit of the doubt on some of those corners, but for the most part he was just dynomite.

Classy move by the Yanks to watch the ceremony. I have doubts that the Sox would have done the same, but then again, Torre is a classact.

Thought the funniest part of the pregame was Mariano and Torre getting cheered. I mean, Fenway booed everyone including the batboy, but they cheered Mo and Torre. Think it was a mix of showing up Yanks fans for booing the HOFer last week and a who's your daddy, but the smile on Mo's face was priceless.

Also, loved the fact that Dave Roberts got the biggest cheer, then Pesky, then Schill, then Ortiz. Awesome. May have gotten a little dusty when that happened.

Great game, great afternoon. Emotion and momentum were definitely on our side.

[Cambridge]

Everyone's favorite hobbit's (Dan "face for newspaper" Shaughnessy take on yesterday:

www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/04/12/fans_revel_as_sox_return_as_champs/

Jackie MacMullan's take:
www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/04/12/it_was_emotion_in_motion/

Globe recap:
www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/04/12/flying_high/

Good article about Doug Mirabelli in the Herald:
redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=78011

[TBird41]

"I could have left after the pregame," said baseball commissioner Bud Selig. "It was everything I wanted it to be. It was one of the rare moments in my job when you are proud to be commissioner."

All I have to say Bud, is maybe if you weren't so $#^$#% horrible at your job you would be able to be proud to be commissioner more often.

[CAHoya07]

Anybody else think this rivalry is getting way overexposed? I mean, today we're treated to yet ANOTHER Sox-Yanks game on ESPN, but no one outside of the DC area will be able to see the Nationals' home opener, and the first baseball game in DC in more than 30 years. I know Sawx-Yanks is great entertainment, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. It's getting ridiculous.

[Hank Scorpio]

getting overexposed? i think we've been there for awhile...and i'm a yanks fan. these two teams will always be national news stories, why not give a team like the brewers or padres an opening day audience... it's criminal that pitchers like jake peavy and ben sheets are anonymous to most of the country. give them some shine. chances are the Sox and Yanks will be in the thick of a pennant race come August/September...why not focus on it then, when it is a logical story? that MLB schedule makers decided to cram it down the nation's throat with 6 games in the first 2 weeks and facing eachother in their home openers is beyond me. enough already.

- wake me up when setpember ends

CAHoya07 said:

Anybody else think this rivalry is getting way overexposed? I mean, today we're treated to yet ANOTHER Sox-Yanks game on ESPN, but no one outside of the DC area will be able to see the Nationals' home opener, and the first baseball game in DC in more than 30 years. I know Sawx-Yanks is great entertainment, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. It's getting ridiculous.

[Cambridge]

Borat said:

getting overexposed? i think we've been there for awhile...and i'm a yanks fan. these two teams will always be national news stories, why not give a team like the brewers or padres an opening day audience... it's criminal that pitchers like jake peavy and ben sheets are anonymous to most of the country. give them some shine. chances are the Sox and Yanks will be in the thick of a pennant race come August/September...why not focus on it then, when it is a logical story? that MLB schedule makers decided to cram it down the nation's throat with 6 games in the first 2 weeks and facing eachother in their home openers is beyond me. enough already.

- wake me up when setpember ends

Amen Borat...it's not like the game isn't on NESN and YES already.

As for the game itself. Decent start by Schill considering no spring training/offseason. Suprising accuracy early on...but seemed to fade real, real quick. Great job by the Yank lineup to get to him. They are such masters of stretching out the pitch count. Wright started off real shaky, but managed to cobble together a pretty decent start despite the wobbles.

He was definitely helped by the wind last night as Manny and Ortiz each hit bombs that would have been roundtrips with the summer breeze blowing out.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable game...until the wheels fell off the Sox pitching staff. Oh well, looking forward to tonight.

[Hank Scorpio]

Schill was in decent form, i thought Angel Hernandez was very inconsistent with his K zone and that caused the picth count to get up high. Schill had velocity, not his best stuff - splitter was not very good. But for his first start, he was impressive.

Jaret Wright impressed me in not falling apart a la Contreras or Weaver, but he had some help. the play jeter made on renteria changed the game. he gutted it out, but i am still waiting for the guy that the yankees thought they were getting for 21 mill over 3. i still can't believe we didn't sign john lieber.

Rivera closed the door but he was still wild. he was a liner getting by womack from bringing the tying run to the plate.

tonight should be a good matchup, Arroyo has given us problems since after all star break last year. Yanks seemingly have an edge with Unit going, but he has not been great in Fenway careerwise. Too bad it's the last time we play til memorial day...instead of frontloading the schedule like this we should play 3 times in april, 3 times in may, 3 times in june, 3 times in july, 3 times in august, 4 times in september.

CambridgeHoya said:

Amen Borat...it's not like the game isn't on NESN and YES already.

As for the game itself. Decent start by Schill considering no spring training/offseason. Suprising accuracy early on...but seemed to fade real, real quick. Great job by the Yank lineup to get to him. They are such masters of stretching out the pitch count. Wright started off real shaky, but managed to cobble together a pretty decent start despite the wobbles.

He was definitely helped by the wind last night as Manny and Ortiz each hit bombs that would have been roundtrips with the summer breeze blowing out.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable game...until the wheels fell off the Sox pitching staff. Oh well, looking forward to tonight.

[Cambridge]

Very generous call to start the game there...glad to see we have a phantom tag to be ashamed of now.

[Hank Scorpio]

those umps were ridiculous both ways. can i get a strike zone called consistently, please?

Sox observations:

Tek is locked in right now a la Posada at the start of last season. Renteria starting to get going at the plate, that lineup is going to score 1000 runs this season if Manny has a typical year [not hitting the ball very hard thus far]. The Payton/Nixon platoon could combine for 40 HRs this year, that was a good pickup for them. I still can't believe the Yanks couldn't solve Keith Foulke in the ALCS. the guy throws junk.

Yanks observations:

RJ was better than his line says...he made 3 bad
pitches and paid the ultimate price on all of them. Matsui is a robot, he is going to get some kind of contract after this season. ARod stinks right now. He put on 15 pounds of muscle and lost all his bat speed. Tom Gordon cannot pitch with men on base, he loses all focus. It's either 3 up, 3 down or a big inning.

CambridgeHoya said:

Very generous call to start the game there...glad to see we have a phantom tag to be ashamed of now.

[Cambridge]

Borat said:

those umps were ridiculous both ways. can i get a strike zone called consistently, please?

Sox observations:

Tek is locked in right now a la Posada at the start of last season. Renteria starting to get going at the plate, that lineup is going to score 1000 runs this season if Manny has a typical year [not hitting the ball very hard thus far]. The Payton/Nixon platoon could combine for 40 HRs this year, that was a good pickup for them. I still can't believe the Yanks couldn't solve Keith Foulke in the ALCS. the guy throws junk.

Yanks observations:

RJ was better than his line says...he made 3 bad
pitches and paid the ultimate price on all of them. Matsui is a robot, he is going to get some kind of contract after this season. ARod stinks right now. He put on 15 pounds of muscle and lost all his bat speed. Tom Gordon cannot pitch with men on base, he loses all focus. It's either 3 up, 3 down or a big inning.

I agree. I would add the following observations:

Arroyo looked absolutely nasty at times last night and got some real ugly whiffs out of A-Rod and Sheff in particular. Even made Matsui shake his head in wonder after a particularly nasty miss. However, he never got comfortable with the homeplate ump --as if anyone could with such a seemingly arbitrary strike zone-- and never really recovered after the Sheff walk. Wheels came off real fast.

Embree is back. Looked a little shaky during the spring and over the last couple weeks, but he brought some heat and control last night and really shored up the middle relief.

Foulke just seems to not be able to pitch until he's got at least two guys on base. Even then, it's a rollar coaster. He never had a lot of heat on his pitches, but they just seem slower and less accurate. He's defintely not hitting his marks or getting the corners yet. Very troublesome.

Rent is due -- wow did that guy have a breakout game. Still seems a little unsure in the field. The hard new infield and turf has been giving everyone trouble --see ARod-- but it seems to be effecting Rent the most. He did make a couple astounding plays though and those defensive troubles will be less glaring if he can get doubles and dingers off Randy Johnson.

[Hank Scorpio]

One month later and...

1) Tek is still locked in...much like Jorge was at this point last season. Jorge fell off after the break, but if there was a first half MVP vote he would have gotten his fair share of votes. Ditto for Tek, who is providing lift to an offense where no one aside from Damon is playing up to their potential.

2) The Yanks rotation looks ok...RJ and Moose are a great 1-2, Pavano is hit or miss at 3, who knows what we are getting at 4-5? Why didn't we sign Lieber again? Meanwhile, 1 through 7, when healthy, the Sox have real good depth in their starters/long relief. Arroyo is one of the most underrated players in the game, he's having a real breakout year and is still under the radar.

3) Yanks lineup is scary if they can get Matsui going at the same time as Jeter, A-Rod and Sheffield, provided Tino and Posada can bat 260 or so. Only easy outs are Womack and Cano, and I don't know that they are that easy.

4) Keith Foulke would have me staying up nights if I were a Sox fan...his ERA is almost 8.

CambridgeHoya said:

I agree. I would add the following observations:

Arroyo looked absolutely nasty at times last night and got some real ugly whiffs out of A-Rod and Sheff in particular. Even made Matsui shake his head in wonder after a particularly nasty miss. However, he never got comfortable with the homeplate ump --as if anyone could with such a seemingly arbitrary strike zone-- and never really recovered after the Sheff walk. Wheels came off real fast.

Embree is back. Looked a little shaky during the spring and over the last couple weeks, but he brought some heat and control last night and really shored up the middle relief.

Foulke just seems to not be able to pitch until he's got at least two guys on base. Even then, it's a rollar coaster. He never had a lot of heat on his pitches, but they just seem slower and less accurate. He's defintely not hitting his marks or getting the corners yet. Very troublesome.

Rent is due -- wow did that guy have a breakout game. Still seems a little unsure in the field. The hard new infield and turf has been giving everyone trouble --see ARod-- but it seems to be effecting Rent the most. He did make a couple astounding plays though and those defensive troubles will be less glaring if he can get doubles and dingers off Randy Johnson.

[Cambridge]

Borat said:

One month later and...

1) Tek is still locked in...much like Jorge was at this point last season. Jorge fell off after the break, but if there was a first half MVP vote he would have gotten his fair share of votes. Ditto for Tek, who is providing lift to an offense where no one aside from Damon is playing up to their potential.

2) The Yanks rotation looks ok...RJ and Moose are a great 1-2, Pavano is hit or miss at 3, who knows what we are getting at 4-5? Why didn't we sign Lieber again? Meanwhile, 1 through 7, when healthy, the Sox have real good depth in their starters/long relief. Arroyo is one of the most underrated players in the game, he's having a real breakout year and is still under the radar.

3) Yanks lineup is scary if they can get Matsui going at the same time as Jeter, A-Rod and Sheffield, provided Tino and Posada can bat 260 or so. Only easy outs are Womack and Cano, and I don't know that they are that easy.

4) Keith Foulke would have me staying up nights if I were a Sox fan...his ERA is almost 8.

Tell me about the Foulke Experience...it is a roller coaster. What the hell is up with his control? It just doesn't exist anymore. No lead is safe.

It's exactly what happened to Lowe the year after he had the 40 save season...damn it.

What do we do to closers in the off season?

[Cambridge]

Borat,

Any thoughts at the midpoint? With our bullpen self-destructing and our closer going AWOL...I'd say we're on really thin ice. Sure, our offense is potent, but we just don't seem to have that oomph to get us through close games.

[Deleted]

Shouldn't the baseball playoffs[/i] be starting already? Good lord this season is LONG. We're only halfway?!

[Cambridge]

buffalohoya said:

Shouldn't the baseball playoffs

[/i] be starting already? Good lord this season is LONG. We're only halfway?![/quote]

Buff, go back to the kiddy pool -- hoyatalk2.proboards48.com/index.cgi?board=pro&action=display&thread=1120757250 --the grownups are talking.

[SFHoya99]

How close is Buffalo to getting banned? ;D Between his rampant anti-AmericaBaseball posts; his man-crush on the_way; and the fact that we already have a goofy, pro-hockey, anti-baseball poster in Boz, is he coming dangerously close to that rare Hoyatalk expulsion?

[Bahstin]

Last hockey season:

Opening Night - 10/8/03
Last Stanley Cup Game - 6/7/04
Days - 243

Last baseball season:

Opening Night - 4/3/04
Last World Series Game - 10/27/04 (Bows)
Days - 207

Which has the long season now?