ElMaestro

About the pointless argument, very much true. The 2007 Boston Red Sox were the best team in MLB, 'nuff said. They had a ABYSMAL difference in payroll against the Rockies, but that is no an argument for me to say "they bought their 2007 championship". So I expect the same from the other rich team fans, like Boston or Mets. The Yankees were the best team in 2009. 'Nuff said.

Of course is a fact. And the Red Sox, Mets and some other teams are also a spending giants for the other what? 20 teams?. I have no problem "learning" to stick with them, maybe some of you have that problem. Or that 50+ millions Dice-K posting fee was what? For a guy that never ever threw a single pitch in the majors? And 450M dollars is the total of those contracts. Please be fair to the numbers. They didn't spent 450M, they commited 450M in a X number of years. That's just media babbling.

Of course, as the hated yankees are closer to another championship again, the ol' argument of the "championship buying" appears again. How original. I would expect that from fans of the small market teams, but not from Red Sox fans. C'mon now.

Yankees should win in no less than 6. I will hope they win easier, but I also hope some day I will win the lottery,so...

I didn't post earlier because I know the feelings in the forum right now, and if I were you, I didn't want another Yankee fan coming in to give advices and analysis... That being said, I tell you that IMO this was nothing more than a bad series, like happens a lot of times in the regular season. Maybe the Angels were a better team, but they weren't by a lot. They didn't got hot in the right moment (except today's game that is ALL Papelbon's fault), just the Red Sox got cold. 1 run in 2 games? wtf... IMO, you just need to fix 2 positions: catcher and SS. Any of those 2 should be a great bat, that is really needed. With Beckett, Lester and Buchholz the team's rotation is solid for years to come. I have to say that I was rooting for the Sox, first because I wanted this series to go longer than 3, and also because I prefer the Sox in the ALCS. Now the yanks have to deal with this team and his momentum... I just hope we win that, but I'm sure will be an epic battle and a very, very difficult task.

I have to congratulate the Red Sox for being in the postseason again... Maybe they lost tonight, but they have won 91 games so far, and that's no easy task, even more in maybe the hardest division in baseball.

I may or may not agree with you guys, but I have to concede that some of your threads are really entertaining :-)

You mean an utter disaster based on the result, or the expectations?. Because if it was based on the result, then I agree partially. The yanks are supposed to go to the postseason every year, and the year they don't should be a "disaster". But in the other hand, we are so spoiled as a yankee fans that we "expect" them to have a shot at a championship every year, and that's unrealistic. I disagree if that was based on the expectations. 2008 was the year when all the bad decisions of the previous years finally hurt us. Also we had some key injuries (Wang, Joba, Posada) that were devastated. And anyway, before all that, since the beginning I didn't saw the yanks going to the posteason, because Boston and Tampa were better teams. This year it will be dissapointing in every way, but as I said in my "little boy" post, being the best during the regular season can assure you nothing. At the end, a little thing can change the outcome of the whole series. ...and I will drive my post count up, so I can be treated as a "big boy", as I can see

Dipre is obsessed with the idea that some of us (me the noobie) are ASSURING the yanks will win it all. I completely disagree with that. Neither jackson or me (the examples I remember now) NEVER assured that. In my humble analysis I just have said that I think the yanks are the team to beat, as IMO they are the best team in the league. In 2007 the Red Sox were the best team in the league, and I said that at the moment. I expected them to destroy the Rockies, and we know the story. Of course, I wanted the Rockies to win, but one thing is what you want, and another thing is the reality. Being the best team doesn't gives you nothing, we have plenty of examples of that in the past. They have to play up to their level to win it all. That's it.

As much as I want the Red Sox to make a push for the division, I don't think they will. That means a serious effort that would traduce into a loss in an early postseason series. Francona knows that, and he will start resting his players as soon as he can. Of course, that doesn't mean that you try to win every game and in the past days a lot of good things have occured to the Sox, but let's be realistic: the yankees are now with Chamberlain in short starts (dunno if good or bad lol), Gaudin and Mitre starting regularly, Pettitte skipped, etc. Even there, the yanks going 8-7 the rest of the way means that Boston has to go 16-2 to tie... You tell me... So, yeah, I hope they make a push for the division.

The yankees have the best ERA in the AL since the break (4.05), and if we see the whole season, they have an AMAZING .10 ERA over Detroit and Boston (4.34 vs. 4.24)... Also they have, as you may know, the best offense. They have .4 runs per game more than Boston, and 1.13 more runs per game than Detroit. So, you can tell what you want, and hope the yanks get swept by Detroit, at the end, anything can happen in a short series, even more if is a best-of-three series, but you cant deny that the yanks have been the best team in the league overall. Yankees over Phillies in 6.

I think Joba's velocity going slightly down has to be with a mechanics change, looking to save his arm for the long time. Maybe they saw him (I have read about it, but I confess that don't know a lot about this issue) and spotted possible injuries down the road for him if he continues pitching like he did on '07, so they took a more "conservative" approach, with a small loss of velocity.