Can the New York Yankees Throw a Major Wrench Into the Boston Red Sox’ Playoff Plans?
The New York Yankees have obviously clinched the American League (b)East and can focus on locking up home-field advantage up to the World Series. The Boston Red Sox, however, look like they are getting heavy legs as they try to hold off a surging Tampa Bay Rays club. Even though the Boston Red Sox have had the New York Yankees’ number this season, I’m sure their fans would prefer a different matchup this weekend when the two rivals meet at Yankee Stadium. I would love to see the New York Yankees play an integral role in what would go down as a pretty significant collapse, but you knew that already.
Pitching Matchups
Freddy Garcia (11-8, 3.77) vs. Jon Lester (15-8, 3.15)
- Freddy Garcia has struggled against the Sox this year, but it will be interesting to see how patient their lineup is against his softly tossed offerings tonight.
- Jon Lester vs. New York Yankees – 97 IP, 3.53 ERA, .253 BAA…Lester is always a tough draw.
A.J. Burnett (10-11, 5.28) vs. Tim Wakefield (7-7, 5.08)
- After two-plus years of frustration, it would be nice for A.J. Burnett to show up with a big performance here. He’ll want to treat this like his playoff start because he may not get one in October.
- Tim Wakefield vs. New York Yankees – 251.1 IP, 4.98 ERA, .241 BAA…You never know what you’re going to get when you face this guy.
Ivan Nova (16-4, 3.62) vs. Erik Bedard (5-9, 3.50)
- Ivan Nova is this close to locking up the No. 2 spot in the playoff rotation – if he hasn’t locked it up already. A strong start on Sunday would virtually set it in stone though.
- Erik Bedard vs. New York Yankees – 66.2 IP, 4.32 ERA, .250 BAA…we’ll see if Bedard can even stay in one piece between today and a potential start on Sunday.
With the Yankees having already punched their playoff ticket, the next thing for me to root for is the Red Sox to miss the postseason. This could be a fun series.
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