May 22nd @ New York

[ANiMAL]

Boston Red Sox (30-14) at New York Yankees (20-23)

 

 

Pitching Match Up:

 

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/images/players/action/ph_123118.jpg vs. http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/images/players/action/ph_119608.jpg

 

Julian Tavarez (2-4, 5.59 ERA) vs. Mike Mussina (2-2, 5.64 ERA)

 

 

The Red Sox will turn to the rubber-armed man in Game 2 of their three-game series with the Yankees on Tuesday.

Julian Tavarez has faced the Yankees 20 times in his career, but only three of those outings have been starts. Overall, he's gone 2-1 with a 5.73 ERA against New York.

 

The right-hander has been paired against several top pitchers this season, including the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang, the Twins' Johan Santana and Mike Mussina on Tuesday. But Tavarez doesn't mind the matchups.

 

"That's some tough starting pitching I've faced," he said. "It makes the competition better."

 

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said that the matchups have contributed to Tavarez's overall numbers this season.

 

"His ERA is a little deceiving," Francona said. "He's matched up with some really good pitchers. But more often than not, he's given us a chance to win the game."

 

Then again, equally deceiving could be Mussina's numbers, as he's posted a 2-2 record and a 5.64 ERA in five games to start his injury-slowed season.

 

It will be Mussina's first start against Boston this season, the 51st time he's faced the Red Sox in his career.

 

Pitching matchup

BOS: RHP Julian Tavarez (2-4, 5.59 ERA)

Tavarez worked a season-high seven innings against the Tigers on Thursday, allowing just one run on four hits. In his only start against the Yankees this season, Tavarez picked up the win as the Red Sox rolled to a 7-4 victory in the Bronx on April 29.

 

NYY: RHP Mike Mussina (2-2, 5.64 ERA)

Mussina looks to rebound after dropping a 5-3 decision in the first game of a doubleheader in his last outing against the White Sox. The right-hander owns a career 19-14 record with a 3.47 ERA in 50 games against the Red Sox.

 

 

Player to watch

Yankees right fielder Bobby Abreu has hit Tavarez hard throughout his career, posting an .808 slugging percentage with three home runs, three doubles and eight RBIs in 26 at-bats.

 

 

 

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070521&content_id=1978071&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

[ANiMAL]

Yay, I finally made a thread!

 

Well, of course I will make my weekly anti-Tavarez prediction.

 

Tavarez will blow today and ruin my chances of making another thread tomorrow. 8-6 Yankees.

 

Tavarez 4.2IP 7ER 2K 4BB 8H 2HR

[Peters34]

Yay, I finally made a thread!

 

Well, of course I will make my weekly anti-Tavarez prediction.

 

Tavarez will blow today and ruin my chances of making another thread tomorrow. 8-6 Yankees.

 

Tavarez 4.2IP 7ER 2K 4BB 8H 2HR

 

Come on have some Faith

[Gom]

Well, we seem to have the pitching advantage the whole series.

 

A Yankees sweep sure puts some life into the AL East. I know, presumptuous on my part.

[schillingouttheks]

And still leaves you 7.5 back

 

I kid. If we get swept, the Yanks will be up our asses before we know it. Lugo, Drew, and Crisp really need to start doing something. It's getting annoying. If we take just 1 game, we'll leave you 9.5 back. That's acceptable for me.

[Gom]

And still leaves you 7.5 back

 

I kid. If we get swept, the Yanks will be up our asses before we know it. Lugo, Drew, and Crisp really need to start doing something. It's getting annoying. If we take just 1 game, we'll leave you 9.5 back. That's acceptable for me.

 

Like I said, the East is pretty boring right now. I still believe that you guys are not as good as your record, and we are better than ours.

 

Plus, it would be nice to actually care about the AL East.

[ANiMAL]

Like I said, the East is pretty boring right now. I still believe that you guys are not as good as your record, and we are better than ours.

 

Plus, it would be nice to actually care about the AL East.

 

We're not as good as our record???

 

Have you've seen our pitching statistics?

 

Best BP in the League. Lowest Runs Scored Against in the League. 2nd in Runs Scored.

 

Those facts look like they came from a great team.

[redsoxrules]

Like I said, the East is pretty boring right now. I still believe that you guys are not as good as your record, and we are better than ours.

 

Plus, it would be nice to actually care about the AL East.

 

Gom , stop being jealous and admit that our team is better than yours at the moment

[ORS]

The Sox are 29-15 by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order Pyth. record. They are as good as their record suggests.

 

They Yankees are 24-19 by 1st and 2nd, 25-18 by 3rd order Pyth. record. Their record doesn't reflect their level of play. Of course, that happens when you win a few games by football scores and have an unreliable BP.

[jacksonianmarch]

We're not as good as our record???

 

Have you've seen our pitching statistics?

 

Best BP in the League. Lowest Runs Scored Against in the League. 2nd in Runs Scored.

 

Those facts look like they came from a great team.

 

I think he is saying that your team is overachieving right now.

[ANiMAL]

The only guy on the team that is over acheiving is Wakefeild, but not recently. Manny and Drew are under acheiving though. I dont see how the Sox as a whole are overacheiving.

[ksushi]

Our rotation and bullpen are great, nothing short of it. The middle of our order hasn't even begun to start producing yet, and we have the best record in baseball. To say that we aren't as good as our record is ridiculous. We have a very good run differential and the best relative power index in the majors (that means we have beaten the best teams in the major leagues). It's not like we are sitting around beating up on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Texas Rangers, who account for nine of your 20 wins (The rangers alone, no idea how many times you've beaten the rays). So, you have no reason to make that claim other than just to take a jab at the Sox, but if you'd like to back that up, go ahead.

 

The Yankees are definitely better than their record. I don't know if they are a 95 win team like they might need to be to grab the WC or win the division, but they definitely aren't a sub-.500 team. You need to get something out of Mariano. You need Mussina to be right. The left handers, Abreu, Giambi, Damon etc. need to do something. I think they will. I don't know if Mussina will be right. I don't know if Clemens is what you think he is. Mariano looks good... but he isn't. He still has velocity, he still seems to have decent command, hes just getting hit. The Yankees can put it together, but I'm not buying into this crap that they are a "different team" than they were 2 days ago, and "something changed". Bottom line is this, they have the pieces to be a good team, but they've lost ground, and it is VERY hard to make up ground against a rotation like the one Boston has.

 

 

Boston has the bullpen battle win, but not as much as Boston fans think. Bruney is good for you guys, Proctor is still pretty decent, but we have the closer.

 

The Rotation is head and shoulders better than yours. PettiteClemens, and Hughes > Lester/Tavarez. Any way you slice it, the sox are built around their starting arms, and there aren't many teams in the league than are gonna out hurl them this year.

 

The Yankees offense is disgusting, and Abreu, Damon and Giambi haven't done a whole lot. The Sox are very very patient and remind me a lot of some Yankees lineups of years past that just see a ton of pitches and then tee-off on the bullpen. That said, The Yankees lineup should be the best in baseball when all is said and done. They're ridiculous. That homer giambi hit yesterday was absolutely absurd.

 

The Sox are as good as their record indicates they are. The Yankees definitely are not a sub.-500 team, and they even still scare me a little bit, but I don't buy this crap going around ESPN( Is anyone else getting sick of ESPN's yankee bias, btw?) right now that the Yankees are gonna start chipping away, blah blah. The Sox have only lost 2 series this season. They are good enough to only lose 2 more between now and the All-Star break, and even if those two are Yankees series, it isn't just the Red Sox the yankees have to beat. You guys have to maintain hot-streaks and thats hard to do when your bullpen looks like a girl scout troop, and pettitte and wang are holding up your staff, which until Hughes gets back, is really weak after those two and I'm not even really a wang fan, although he looked great yesterday. If Manny never heats up, Lugo keeps giving us nothing, and Beckett hits the DL again at any point in the season, we might start taking water eventually, but this team is built well, and the Yankees aren't.

[ksushi]

I think he is saying that your team is overachieving right now.

 

But how can you even say that? Based on what? The only guy on our staff who may have been playing out of his own league is wakefield, and we know what he does pretty much every year...

 

Our offense isn't playing to its potential and our rotation is as expected... Where is the overachievment? Papelbon? Okajima? I dont know.

[ARod2212]

But how can you even say that? Based on what? The only guy on our staff who may have been playing out of his own league is wakefield, and we know what he does pretty much every year...

 

Our offense isn't playing to its potential and our rotation is as expected... Where is the overachievment? Papelbon? Okajima? I dont know.

The point is that this Red Sox team does not seem like one that will win at a .700 clip all year (113 wins). Everyone has cold streaks, and Boston has yet to hit theirs. Conversely, the Yankees are due to begin playing better, with the team getting healthier and starting to find their stroke offensively. The Yankees do not seem like a 75 win team, meaning they are probably going to play better, more consistent baseball.

[adam123]

Come on sox win tonight .

[ksushi]

What have you got to base that on though? No one has said anything to that. What about the Sox says they are overachieving?

[TedWilliams101]

Win Red sox, Win. Don't make Schilling stop the streak, lets start another win streak tonight.

[DrewDaGreat]

I think he is saying that your team is overachieving right now.

 

Overachieving? With Manny and JD batting in the .250s?

[ksushi]

Mike Mussina looked very hittable in his last start. Lets get 6 quality innings out of tavarez, and get to moose.

[TedWilliams101]

Yea this team sure is overachieving. Manny and Drew aren't hitting, niether is Crisp. We don't have Lester back yet and Beckett is out. We sure aren't as good as our record...

[mtbykr]

Some Fonzie Mojo:

 

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/2237/happydaysphotographc121ba0.jpg

[rician blast]

tear 'em up tonight, J-man:

 

http://digitalderek.typepad.com/sawxblog/photos/2006/tavarez_kruger.jpg

 

hey Sox, let's kill the Moose:

 

http://www.ridingthespine.com/gallery/alberta/fullsize/F1000002.JPG

[Gom]

The Sox are 29-15 by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order Pyth. record. They are as good as their record suggests.

 

They Yankees are 24-19 by 1st and 2nd, 25-18 by 3rd order Pyth. record. Their record doesn't reflect their level of play. Of course, that happens when you win a few games by football scores and have an unreliable BP.

 

I simply don't believe that the Sox are going to continue this trend. The Sox are as good as their record, I don't think they can maintain this level of excellence.

 

I've said it before, if the Yankees can close the Red Sox gap to 3 games by the All-Star break, it's over for the Sox. I, however, don't think they will.

[ksushi]

Can you say why?

[Cocos Disciples]

Just win. I played the next 2 games on 2k7 for 360. Manny got 5 hits, 3 homers total. We won 3-2, 7-5. Hope the real world echoes the fake world.

[TedWilliams101]

How aren't the Sox this good? I'll go through the lineup. Lugo isn't hitting all that well. Very low average, has an average OBP, good RBI production thus far though. Youk is hitting like Youk. Ortiz is ortiz. Manny can't hit a cold. Drew can't hit Manny who can't hit a cold. Lowell is looking like the Lowell of 04. Tek is looking like the Tek of 04/05. Coco still can't hit. WMP is a bad Adam Dunn right now. Pedroia is starting to come into his own. Mirabelli has done fairly well at the plate. Our backups have been good thus far (Cora outstanding).

 

Our pitching staff is one the best in baseball. Our rotation STILL isn't complete. Becketts on the DL and we still are waiting for Lester. Our pen is fantastic behind Paps, Jima, Donnelly and everyone knows their role.

 

Really, we can only improve from here. Just image how scary we might be when Beckett and Lester are back and Manny and Drew start hitting. That is a scary thought.

[riverside sluggers]

Todays is Julian Tavarez's 34th birthday

 

Julian Tavarez (21 games vs New York, 3-1 record with a 5.42 ERA---Career at Yankee Stadium in 10 games, 3-0 record with a 3.65 ERA)

Johnny Damon, 3 for 13 (.231 avg) Double, Triple, 2 RBIs, Walk, 2 Ks

Derek Jeter, 3 for 16 (.188 avg) RBI, Walk, 2 Ks

Hideki Matsui, 2 for 7 (.286 avg)

Alex Rodriguez, 6 for 19 (.316 avg) 2 RBIs, 3 Ks

Jorge Posada, 5 for 8 (.625 avg) 3 Doubles, HR, RBI, 3 Walks, 2 Ks

Bobby Abreu, 9 for 28 (.321 avg) 3 Doubles, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs, 7 Walks, 3 Ks, SB

Jason Giambi, 4 for 13 (.308 avg) 5 Walks, 2 Ks

Robinson Cano, 1 for 8 (.125 avg) Double, Walk, K

Doug Mientkiewicz, 3 for 7 (.429 avg) HR, 4 RBIs, 3 Walks

///

Melky Cabrera, 2 for 4 (.500 avg) 2 RBIs, 2 Walks

Miguel Cairo, 0 for 6, K

 

Mike Mussina (51 games vs Boston, 19-15 record with a 3.58 ERA---Career at Yankee Stadium in 105 games, 55-32 record with a 3.61 ERA)

Julio Lugo, 7 for 27 (.259 avg) 2 Doubles, HR, 4 RBIs, 4 Ks

Kevin Youkilis, 3 for 12 (.250 avg) RBI, 2 Ks

David Ortiz, 13 for 52 (.250 avg) 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, 5 Walks, 19 Ks

Manny Ramirez, 23 for 93 (.247 avg) 4 Doubles, Triple, 6 HRs, 18 RBIs, 7 Walks, 20 Ks

J.D. Drew, 0 for 7, K

Mike Lowell, 9 for 17 (.529 avg) 2 Doubles, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, K

Jason Varitek, 7 for 57 (.123 avg) RBI, 4 Walks, 25 Ks

Coco Crisp, 8 for 23 (.348 avg) 3 Doubles, RBI, 6 Ks, 3 SBs

Dustin Pedroia, 1 for 5 (.200 avg) K

///

Alex Cora, 0 for 2

Eric Hinske, 4 for 29 (.138 avg) RBI, 5 Walks, 12 Ks, 2 SBs

Doug Mirabelli, 6 for 14 (.429 avg) Double, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, Walk, 3 Ks

Wily Mo Pena, 0 for 2

 

Julian Tavarez this season vs New York in 2 games, 2-0 with a 4.41 ERA. On the road in 4 games, 2-2 with a 4.85 ERA

 

Mike Mussina this season at home in 3 games, 1-2 with an 8.33 ERA

[Youk Of The Nation]

Lets hope JT can do what he did in Detroit.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Red Sox need to take one this series, how bout this one. Celtics need a #1 or #2 pick also. Just win.

[ORS]

I simply don't believe that the Sox are going to continue this trend. The Sox are as good as their record, I don't think they can maintain this level of excellence.

 

I've said it before, if the Yankees can close the Red Sox gap to 3 games by the All-Star break, it's over for the Sox. I, however, don't think they will.

First, I ask why can't they continue this? Personally, I don't think they will, but I can't dismiss it as impossible.

 

The team OPS is .799, but it's been better 3 of the last 4 years, and the runs scored is pretty much right at the EqR or RC predictions. This is with 3 guys well below career averages and only 1 well above.

 

Only two pitchers have been pitching way over their heads, Wakefield and Okajima. Wake, while being a huge asset thus far, hasn't resulted in any extra wins. They are 4-5 in his starts. Jima won't keep this up, but who's to say if the runs he gives up result in losses. When/if relievers give up runs is random. Sometimes it coughs up the lead, sometimes it just reduces it.

 

Now, let's assume they don't keep it up for some reason. If they play .600 ball from here on out, they win 100 games. .580 gets them 98. .550 is good for 95. The Yankees have to play .680 ball for 101, .664 for 99, .639 for 96.

 

Bottom line, something bad needs to happen for the Sox to turn into a .500 or worse team, and if it doesn't, the Yankees need to play at about a 105 win pace to catch them.