Another Round...

                "You have to be kidding me," I muttered to myself as the missus called in from the dining room that dinner was on the table.  I paused the live action on the DVR and headed for the table.  In an unfortunate turn of serendipity, Pettitte, who had wiggled out of big time jams in the first two innings, including one in the second when the Rays hit three consecutive singles on three consecutive pitches, was touched for two runs after he got two outs and two strikes on two different batters.  And tonight, like last, I was sure as I sat down to my garlic & lemon chicken with broccoli and couscous that those runs were the beginning of the end for the Yanks.

            Why do I find myself with so little confidence in this team?  I think it has to be because they've shown an acute ability to fail every single time they have an opportunity to get the big hit.  As a team they are still in the bottom five in BA with RISP, runs scored with RISP, and seventh-to-last in runs scored.  Not as bad as last week, admittedly, but not too good.  Not only are they not clicking, but there are too many questions surrounding the lineup.  Is Giambi an everyday player on this team?  Or does he belong on the bench waiting for his shot at a pinch-hit miracle?  Is Ensberg still a major league player?  Am I asking too much from Johnny Damon when I'm looking for .275 with 75 runs scored?  Is he going to wind up closer to .250 with 50 runs scored?  I'm not so sure we can look to a lot of these guys to live up to their career stats.  Maybe I'm overreacting a bit.  Too early to tell, I think. 

            The good news is that despite the inert start, they are sitting on a winning record.  They have managed to find ways to hang on to wins that were in jeopardy, and they have managed to claw back to steal a few, particularly against Halladay and yesterday when they were the last man standing in St. Pete.  The bad news is that I think this is the MLB "even it out" scheduling at work.  One game separates the Red Sox and the Yankees, but the Red Sox are sweeping the Indians in Cleveland in dramatic fashion while the Yankees are hanging on for their lives against Tampa Bay.  The Yankees need to start playing better quickly, or they are going to fall behind before the schedule inevitably begins to right itself when the Red Sox are sitting on Tampa and KC while the Yankees are flying from Detroit to Anaheim to Toronto.  And although they've got some players slumping, the Red Sox seem to be in midseason form when it comes to yanking these games out their sox.  The bad news for them is probably that they're not as good as they think they are.  As much as the media in general and their fans would like to believe the page has been fully turned, let's not forget that we're talking about a team that coughed and wheezed away a double-digit lead to the Yankees last year, lost nine of their last twelve games to the Yankees, and won the AL East by the margin of exactly one miracle finish at Fenway in the second week of the season.  This, then, earned them the right to a seven game series against the Indians, rather than a five, in which they did exactly what the Yankees did - lost three of the first four.  To the victor go the spoils.  They won it all fair and square, so by all means, shower the accolades.  But don't kid yourself.  Schilling is gone, Beckett is back in a never-quite-healthy spell, and Dice K was never that good.  And the kids are, well, kids.  All of that said, their lineup is more settled, even without Ortiz, and their level of play is higher than the standings would indicate, particularly when compared to the Yankees.  Ortiz is slumping, but even if he has an off year, he'll come out of it to a large extent.  His counterpart, Giambi, is doing his best Dave Kingman impersonation.  He might hit 25 bombs while hitting .170.  And Posada seems to have one of those mysterious injuries that have a nasty habit of sticking around for months.  Until the Yankee lineup gets settled, you really can't even compare these two teams.  Even if Wang takes out the Sox again tomorrow and the two teams go into Thursday with identical records, it's a house of cards. 

            Speaking of matchups, I have to ask Raoul what game he was watching.  Dominating?  Dude, you simply cannot call Beckett dominating last Saturday.  Three runs in six-plus innings with Girardi and Manny the only thing standing between his getting out-pitched and hung with an "L" by Mike Mussina?  He was hardly dominating dude.  In fact, let's nobody kid themselves here.  There has not really been a pitcher on either side in this rivalry over the past ten years that has been consistently dominant.  Beckett's ERA against the Yankees since joining the Red Sox is what - over 5?  He's had his moments, like Wang did last weekend, but Wang's been lit up by the Sox as well.  Even Pedro, when he was the best pitcher on the planet Earth circa 1999 or so, consistently had problems against the Yankees, as Clemens, Pettitte et al did against the Sox.        

            Joseph - I agree 100%.  I was looking for Joba in that at-bat against Manny.  That was clearly going to be the game.

            I will be in section 24 Wednesday night with the Sherry Brothers, Mikey Rumble, and the Big Boy.  The gear is ready.  The concession stands never really are.