Can the Red Sox make it eight straight against the Yankees?
Boston Red Sox v. New York Yankees
Pitching Matchup: Brad Penny (5-2, 5.85 ERA) v. CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.56 ERA)
It’s only June, and the wins that matter don’t come until September and October, but anyone who says it doesn’t matter that the Boston Red Sox have beaten the New York Yankees seven in a row to start the 2009 season must be an angry Yankees fan.
Bragging rights aside, head-to-head domination can be looked as a difference-maker in a close division race as there stands to be in the AL East, with Boston, New York, and Toronto all off to great starts and defending division and AL champ Tampa Bay a hot run away from being in the thick of things. Not only are the Red Sox 7-0 against the Yankees, but they’re 19-8 overall against their AL East foes, besting New York‘s 12-15 mark, Toronto‘s 6-9 mark, and Tampa Bay‘s 13-12 mark.
Today, the Yankees look to stave off the sweep and leave Fenway with a share of the division lead that they came in holding outright, as they send CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.56 ERA) to the mound tonight to face Brad Penny (5-2, 5.85 ERA).
After the Red Sox got a dominant pitching performance from Josh Beckett and the bullpen and the bats (including David Ortiz, finally) sent A.J. Burnett packing early on Tuesday in a 7-0 win, things ended up being a lot closer on Wednesday night. But, the Yankees once again dug themselves an early hole, with Chien-Ming Wang following suit with Burnett and not making it out of the third, and after the Yankees drew within 6-5 in the 7th, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon shut the door in the final couple of innings to take the streak to seven.
Tonight, the Yankees will be counting on their ace to help them salvage something from this series and go into their interleague showdown against the Mets on a positive note.
After a slow start, Sabathia has been much improved over his last several starts, going no less than seven innings in each of his last six starts and going 4-0 with a 2.49 ERA in that span.
However, as I mentioned in my preview of this series a few days ago, there is the matter of getting over the hump against a team that he’s traditionally struggled against. He may be 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in three regular-season starts at Fenway, but overall in his career, he’s 2-7 against the Red Sox, including two losses in the 2007 ALCS.
Penny isn’t exactly mowing ‘em down like a Cy Young winner, but having the lineup that he does behind him (even with a slumping Ortiz) gives him more leeway than someone like Jake Peavy has. But for the most part, Penny has also gotten the job done, which, at the end of the day, is all that matters.
Boston is 6-5 in Penny’s 10 starts, but two of the losses were of the walk-off variety, and Boston’s bullpen allowed late runs in another of those defeats.
Last Friday’s 5-1 loss to Texas was Penny’s first loss in five starts at home, and outside of the fifth inning in that loss (when he gave up four runs) and an atrocious showing against Baltimore on April 17 (six hits, eight runs, five walks in three innings), he’s done well at Fenway, going at least six innings and allowing no more than three runs in each of the other three starts (and blanking Texas for the first four innings on Friday)
Penny’s longest outing of the season is 6.2 innings in an 8-3 win over Toronto on May 20, so if he’s able to make it more than that, the chances are pretty high that Boston’s in line for a win.
It’s no surprise that the latest MLB odds have New York as a solid favorite, with the pitching matchup in their favor. But if Boston can get six solid innings out of Penny, and he can leave with the lead like Beckett and Wakefield have the last two nights, I foresee a sweep.
No related posts.
