Yankees - Red Sox Preview

For the first time in the 2008 regular season, the Yankees and the Red Sox are set to play. The game will take place at 7:05 ET at Fenway park where it is currently overcast. Both teams are 5-5 and have had their ups and downs early on.

Here's the Yankees lineup for tonight:

Melky Cabrera, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, LF
Jorge Posada, DH
Jason Giambi, 1B
Jose Molina, C
Alberto Gonzalez, SS

Joe Girardi is mixing things up once again. Melky Cabrera is moving up to the leadoff position. Abreu is back in right and Matsui is back in left. Jeter will likely be out for the whole series and Alberto Gonzalez will continue to fill in. I like Posada in the DH slot. Giambi is back in at first and Ensberg is back on the bench.

The Red Sox lineup looks like this:

Coco Crisp, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Sean Casey, 1B
Julio Lugo, SS

Third baseman Mike Lowell is on the 15 day DL. Sean Casey moves in at first and Youkilis shifts to third.

Chien Ming Wang gets the start vs. Clay Buchholz. Buchholz threw a no-hitter last year but had some problems in his first start this year. Wang has showed he is the Yankees ace in his first two starts. The Yankees have the advantage in starting pitching tonight and if Wang can get 7 innings the Bronx Bombers will be in good shape.

Chamberlain and Rivera worked last night's game and so that leaves Bruney, Traber, Ohlendorf, Hawkins and Farnsworth. Hawkins and Farnsworth are huge liabilities. It will be interesting to see what happens and who Girardi goes to if the game is close.

The Red Sox used Delcarmen, Okajima, Tavarez and Papelbon last night, leaving Aardsma and Corey with fresh arms.

The pitching advantage right now goes to NY with Wang at the top of his game and the Yankees having more options in the bullpen  (unless Hawkins or Farnsworth comes in). Boston has been hitting well but the Yankees started coming to life offensively last night. I give the Yanks the nod for game 1.

Tomorrow's game should have Mussina pitching against Beckett. Mussina looked better in his last outing than Beckett, but Josh is Boston's ace. If he's got his stuff back Beckett should get the win, but Moose can still throw some dominating games. The final game of the series features Phil "the Franchise" Hughes against Daisuke "Dice-K" Matsuzaka. Dice-K has been pitching better than Hughes but both of these guys are unpredictable. This one will come down to bullpen pitching and I give the Yanks the edge here.

It should be a great series!

Sox Fan Jinxes Yankee Stadium Construction

The New York Post ran an article earlier today telling a dubious tale. Apparently a diehard Red Sox fan was working on the Yankee stadium construction crew and took it upon himself to add some bad mojo to the new structure. A Red Sox t-shirt was poured in the concrete slab that will be under the future visitor's clubhouse. The Post withheld any names of people involved in the incident claiming their informants did not have permission to speak with the media.

I don't know if there is any truth to the story. The only other mentions I have seen on the web have been referrals to the NY Post story, without additional confirmation. My gut tells me that this is a complete hoax, a tall tale dreamed up to create more animosity between these two teams and to add more mystery to the rivalry.

There are quite a few reasons not to believe the story. First of all is the idea that the workers who came forward were "not authorized to speak with the media". Really? I'm not in the construction business but did they really sign non-disclosure agreements? More likely they don't exist. Secondly is the supposed placement of the shirt, namely underneath the visiting teams clubhouse. Wouldn't it be better to curse the Yankees by putting something under the home team's facilities? Lastly is the timing of the story, the day of the first Yankees-Red Sox game in the 2008 regular season. More than likely the story was just fabricated to drum up some excitement for the upcoming games.

Regardless of whether we are dealing with fact or fiction, the Yankees organization will pay no attention to the rumor. Die hard Sox and Yankee fans will recall the tale from time to time whenever the Yanks get a bad break against the Sox in their new park, and the sappy sports media will try to milk the story for all it's worth. Heck, I'm even blogging about it.

Yankees Return to Form With Win

There were quite a few things to encourage the Yankee faithful watching last nights game. Most importantly, the Yankees won the ballgame 6-1, avoiding a sweep by the Royals and moving back to .500.

The offense started to emerge from its slumber and the bombers were finally able to put some runs on the board. Melky Cabrera continues to deliver excitement, going 2 for 5 with a home run and an RBI single. Alex Rodriguez was 1 for 4, but was able to knock in two runs and hit a solo home run shot late in the game. A-Rods homer was followed by a solo dinger by Posada, hitting in the DH spot due to a sore shoulder. Morgan Ensberg had a nice night going 2 for 4.

Andy Pettite was the story of the evening in my book. Andy looked strong in 6.2 innings of work, giving up 5 hits and allowing only 1 run, walking 2 and striking out 1. This was the Pettitte pitching Yankee fans were hoping to see this year.

Pettitte still has a great pick off move. Andy was able to pick off Alex Gordon and held runners close to the bases. KC was unable to steal a base all night. Andy has always had one of the best moves to first in baseball, and it really helps at times, especially against speedy small ball teams like the Royals.

In the bottom of the 6th Pettitte had a line drive drilled inches to the right of his head. Andy ducked out of the way and managed to get his glove up for the out. It was a pure instinct play and most importantly Andy avoided injury. Catching the ball while hitting the ground was downright amazing. Molina and Rodriguez both came over to check on Pettitte after the play and Andy didn't look particularly happy at the time. Despite the close call he managed to strike out the next batter and get the following hitter to ground out for a 1-2-3 inning. Making great plays, getting shaken and coming back to dominate the next two hitters shows again why Andy is one of the best in the game.

Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera were their usual awesome selves in the final innings of the game, making a fantastic combination the Yankees haven't had since the Rivera-Wetteland days.

Hopefully the Yankees will continue this level of play both hitting and pitching. They've got their work cut out for them in the upcoming series with Boston.

AL East notes:

Edwin Jackson looked sharp again in Tampa's 7-0 win over Seattle.

Baltimore dropped 2 to Texas and may finally be starting their migration to the back of the pack.

Toronto lost to Oakland in 12 innings.

Boston outslugged Detroit 12-6 in a game that lasted 3:44. Both starting pitchers

Goose Wants Joba In Bullpen

The NY Post ran a story today in which Goose Gossage talked about where Joba fits into the team and how moving him around will be a bad thing.

Goose's main points were that moving a guy around from the bullpen to the starting rotation can cause problems and get a player off his game. He also lamented the lack of a clear plan for Joba from the Yankees. Finally, Rich said his preference would be for Chamberlain to stay in the bullpen, where he would be better off.

I'll buy that moving a guy around a lot could  be a bad thing. Pitchers are a fickle bunch and like to know when they are pitching, or at the very least when they could be pitching. They like to know about how many innings they should be expecting. I don't doubt that moving back and forth between starting and relief can put extra pressure on a guy.

Where I diverge from Goose's opinion is on the latter points. The Yankees have a plan for Joba. Perhaps Gossage didn't get the memo. Girardi doesn't think Chamberlain is ready for a full season in the starting rotation, and he's targeting approximately 150 innings of play this year. Joba has had some injury issues in the past and hasn't pitched a full starter's schedule lately. To get him into the starters role, he's going to have to go slowly. The Yankees have 5 starters penciled in right now. Other than Wang, there are two youngsters and two aging veterans. Odds are pretty good that someone will get injured or someone just won't have the stuff to stay in the rotation. Enter Joba. After hanging out in the bullpen for a while, later in the season Chamberlain will be able to step into the starting rotation and finish out the season, staying under his 150 inning cap.

Gossage's claim that Joba is more valuable in the bullpen is nonsense. Getting 6-7 quality innings out of Joba per start is much more valuable than 1-2 relief innings. If he spends time in the starting rotation and it turns out that he doesn't have what it takes, that in the end he doesn't have a sufficient number of effective pitches to throw or he begins to have injury problems with the starting workload, then it's time to relinquish him to the bullpen. If you can pitch effectively as a starter, you do.

It may be that Joba ends up being a more effective reliever than starter, but until he gets a real chance in the rotation, we'll never know.

Yanks Shut Out In Kansas City

Zack Greinke pitched 8 scoreless innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 2 and walking 2.

Worried about the game getting rained out, Joe Girardi decided at the last minute to start Brian Bruney, saving Ian Kennedy to come in later or be fresh to start tomorrow. The rain was steady most of the game. Bruney pitched an impressive scoreless 2 innings with 4 Ks, 1 walk and 1 hit. Girardi's strategy was looking fairly smart when Billy Traber came in to pitch a scoreless 3rd inning (1H, 1 SO, 1 BB). Unfortunately Girardi had Kyle Farnsworth factored into his master plan. Farnsworth got through the 4th but then gave up 2 runs in the 5th inning, including a leadoff home run.

Ian Kennedy came in the game in the bottom of the 6th and had trouble right off the bat, giving up 2 runs before getting out of the inning. After the 6th, Kennedy settled down a bit and was scoreless in the 7th and the 8th. In 3 innings of work Kennedy gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks and 3 strike outs.

Kennedy looked miserable in his very first outing. Tonight in the 6th it looked like we were going to see more of the same. Kennedy's last two innings were better and he appeared to have settled down a bit. Despite an impressive spring, Ike is struggling in the regular season. Yankee fans just have to hope that he'll straighten himself out before too long. I hate to make decisions on just two outings, but I'm a little worried.

Newsflash: Kyle Farnsworth gives up runs in relief appearances. He's only useful in garbage innings with big leads or huge deficits that you don't expect to overcome. The majority of the bullpen is rock solid. Traber, Bruney, Chamberlain and Rivera are doing amazing out of the gate.

Collectively the Yankees had 8 hits, but the offense was pretty feeble. There were no strike outs for A-rod tonight, who ended up getting two hits. The bomber bats couldn't string together enough consecutive hits to put any runs on board.

Melky Cabrera cost the Yanks a run with some poor baserunning. A ground was hit by Alberto Gonzalez toward the second baseman Grudzielanek. Melky should have stopped in his tracks, forcing Grudz to throw either chase and tag, throw to 2nd for the force or throw to 1st. Instead Melky decided to trot right into the tag, giving Grudzielanek plenty of time to also throw to 1st to complete the double play. Damon's hit afterward could have driven in a runner on 2nd or could have advanced a runner on 1st to 3rd.

It's going to be a long season if the Yankees bats don't start heating up. The inconsistent starting pitching needs lots of runs to back it up and so far the Pinstripers aren't giving enough run support.

Jose Molina went 1 for 4 and made a nice thow to third to catch Gathright attempting to steal. That was the first time the speedy Gathright has been caught all year. Molina also threw out Alex Gordon trying to steal second.

Alberto Gonzalez went 1 for 3 in his first major league appearance of 2008, hitting a nice stand up double.

Bruney Gets Bad Weather Start

Ian Kennedy was scheduled to start tonight's game, but come time to throw out the opening pitch, Brian Bruney is announced as the starter.

Apparently there was rain in the forecast and Joe Girardi did not want to start Ian Kennedy only to have the game get rained out early. Instead, he is starting Bruney who will pitch the opening innings. If the rain passes, Ian will be available to pitch. If the game is postponed, Ian will be ready for the next start. Using Bruney for a few innings doesn't have a big effect on the rotation at all.

Currently in the bottom of the 2nd inning it is raining fairly heavily. There has been no indication that the game will be called or delayed. Many of the fans have left their seats to seek shelter inside.

This is a very unique strategy that we're seeing out of Girardi. There's a certain logic to it. We'll see what the end result is.