OH MY I want a photo of that catch by Pedroia! Okay, I guess I should take back ALL of my beefs (beef?) from that earlier post cause this series has proved them all wrong - Manny's hitting homers, Pedroia's making great plays, Coco Crisp is clutch.
Ooh, Papelbon is warming up!
20 comments:
I just want to throw out that we are only about 20 games into the season. So before you go get your underpants in a bundle just remember that the Red Sox historically hold first place in the AL East until sometime in the month following the all star game.
Obviously it's early in the season. It was still a GREAT series with drama worthy of the post-season! I mean, normally you don't see teams putting their best starters in for middle relief to try to stop the bleeding in the regular season - in fact, the last time that I remember seeing that was when Wakefield went in Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS when the Yankees were beating up on us 17-1 or something like that!! Like most neurotic Sox fans, I too am convinced that it will all come crashing down around me any day now, but for today I am just filled with love for Lowell, Papelbon, and yes, even Pedroia who I didn't know who he was.
Haha, my friend Brent who pretends to root for the Yankees just to get my goat told me that the Yankees put Pettitte in not out of desperation but for "reverse psychology".
Come on Janey. The Yankees' top 2 pitchers are on the DL and they were playing without 2 of their top players. Drama worthy of the post season is usually the best against the best. Our team beat up your top pitchers, your team beat up our rookies (and Rivera, but we already covered that).
Enjoy it while you can. Our pitchers will be back. Mwuhahahaha........
Come on...the four back-to-back homers, the lead changing hands several times, your top healthy starter pitching an inning of relief, the stare-down between Papelbon and A-Rod, that was totally drama worthy of postseason status. Sometimes the postseason drama comes precisely BECAUSE a team isn't at its healthiest? (Bloody sock, anyone?)
When your bullpen is healthy and you've got a lineup that includes Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi, Damon, Abreu, etc., all healthy, you can't really claim you're playing with a crippled team.
So what we saw this weekend was the best lineup in baseball against possibly the best pitching staff in baseball (yes, as of very early in the season, AJ, and my underpants remain unbundled, thank you very much) and I think, aside from the Curt debacle, our pitching staff (starters and relief) pretty effectively neutralized the A-Rod threat. That alone to me is cause for celebration!
Janey, you are setting yourself up for what could be a depressing second half of the season. Sure, I am really happy with this past weekend. It is the first time we've swept the Yankees in like 17 years or something...I don't even know that could be totally wrong. So trust me I am guardedly celebrating this past weekend. However, we have been swept by the Yankees probably several times in the past five years and their line-up is not totally healthy. As I mentioned before, Matsui is clutch and he hasn't been playing. With him the Yankee line-up is very very different. However, at the same time Aunt Cindy, typically players that come back from the DL do not play as well as they had before their injury. I am not in any way trying to say the Yankees will never be back to full strength, simply that I am waiting to see how well everyone bounces back. Will it be too late? When are these guys supposed to be getting off of the DL?
PS-my underpants are not in a bundle either, but I hate when it happens.
A-Rod is not the team. But 6 hits including 2 homers, 5 runs, and 5 RBI's are nothing to sneeze at. And sorry, but when your starting rotation is reduced to one ace, 3 rookies, and an empty slot, with your catcher out, the team is hurting. This would have been a totally different series if we had healthy starters. But feel free to enjoy it while it lasts. It's almost over.
The only thing I will give you is Papelbon, Can't stand him, but he is truly scary!
Matsui comes back today. Wang comes back tomorrow. Mussina, possibly this weekend.
We are talking about short DL stints. They should be fine.
My biggest worry is Rivera. We need our closer to be effective!
Jane-I think Adj made an unintentional TG reference in one of his comments. Can you find it??
Also, in reference to all the obvious underpants in their respected bundles (not bundled together for any of you potential readers outside the family, we're not like that) that your respected comments have shown, I stick by my previous thesis that you all put too much faith in individuals always being at the top of their performance. Sure Wright gave up 4 homers in a row (TEE-HEE!!!), but he could come back next series and totally kick some butt. And I hope he does, poor kid, against another team of course. Papelbon on the other hand, he will always kick butt.
Also, speaking of psychics...Jane, everything you said in your post about your "beefs" with the Red Sox was totally blown to bits as you already pointed out...let's keep it up, ok?
Excellent point Betsy - individuals have hot streaks and not-so-hot streaks and it's foolish to assume that everyone will continue to play the way they are right now! Something I am obvious guilty of. These things tend to balance each other out over the course of a long season. It is nice to know, though, that we have some depth when it comes to pitching (Lester is almost ready to return) and slugging (Wily Mo i.e. David Ortiz's mini-me) to help us ride out future rough patches.
And in the interest of making the best use of my psychic powers, I'd like to bring up the following beefs:
1. I thought we brought Coco Crisp in for his speed - only two stolen bases?!?
2. Ortiz and Drew may be hitting pretty well but they are still striking out a LOT - develop your eye, boys!
3. Mike Lowell, it pains me to say this one day after your spectacular two-homer game, but FIVE ERRORS this early in the season?!?
4. Julian Tavarez. I have a weird fondness for you that as of yet is still undeserved! You improved a lot from your first start to your second, now let's see one of those one-run, two-hit performances that Josh and Tim have been giving us!
Okay, let's see how my psychic powers play out on THOSE beefs!
I have two problems with the comments that have been posted since I proclaimed my dislike for underpants. Dislike only for those underpants that remain in a bundle of course. I don't normally let them get in a bundle, but sometimes when I am jogging it is inebiditible. Anyway, my two problems are this:
1. Yes, Janey, the Red Sox and Yankees both have depth that is beyond reason. I almost felt bad for Ortiz last night as he watched his four team mates make a little history, but that is the nature of the beast. While each team has its one or two super super stars, every player is so good that every night is unpredictable. I honestly think that is one of the best parts of the Yankee-BoSox mystique (case in point-Boone). However, Lester sucks and I will be the first to say it. It is like when Uncle Bobby pitches to Kelly in the backyard whiffle ball game. Kelly isn't supposed to get a hit, but Uncle Bobby is just so bad she always takes advantage of him. Ok, maybe a bad simile, but at least we can all get a laugh at Bob's expense.
2. I now see Aunt Cindy's excitement with the Yankees who are coming off of the DL. With such short stints, you are right Aunt Cindy, they will probably be back and rarin to go. Should make for a great rematch this weekend and if anything give the Red Sox a better look at who they are really playing against.
PS-what is the TG reference Bets?
This is so exhausting.
I am doing the work of 3 bloggers.
I think one of you should come over to my side to make it fair. Grampy would approve.
You've got to get your daughters involved! Blogging is fun!
Kristin will join up too when she gets a new computer.
As for the TG reference...
"Her underpants are all in a bundle"
"No they aren't"
"Yes they are"
"I hate it when that happens."
AKA...she's lost that lovin' feelin'
And no one has found my A Few Good Men (heretofore AFGM)reference... it was in a comment a few posts back. Good luck.
Also, I was just thinking while I was eliptisizing tonight that Aunt Cindy is really doing an excellent job holding down the Yankee camp all by herself. And while I'm sure Grampy would approve if we pulled a Damon (although I don't really think Gramp thought much of him, but that's debatable and I'm sure it will be), he was proud of us all just the way we are, and would want us to remain loyal to ourselves and our team.
Dude...and congrats to Jane for creating the most thought provoking and comment inducing blog to date!
I am really bad with these movie quotes. Speaking of which, did anybody get my TAWP (henceforth Team America World Police) reference a few comments back? It is pretty obvious.
Haha, A-rod looks kinda gay in this picture.
Never having seen the movie because Charlie's PSP was stolen before I could, I'm going to go with "inebiditible." Even you can spell better than that.
Post a Comment