Yankees Vs. Red Sox...Rounds 1, 2 & 3. A Springsteen Friday Night In Hartford

Yes, it's that time again...the New York Yankees visit Fenway Park for the first three of nineteen games in this 2009 baseball season. It's suddenly crunch time. The two clubs have identical 9-6 records with Boston winning their last seven. Let's hope they make it ten. Here are the all important pitching matchups...

Tonight...Joba Chamberlain (0-0 5.06) vs. Jon Lester (1-2 5.50) 7:10pm EDT NESN
Saturday...AJ Burnett (2-0 3.20) vs. Josh Beckett (2-1 3.79) 4:10pm EDT FOX & FOX HD
Sunday...Andy Pettitte (2-0 2.53) vs. Justin Masterson (1-0 3.18) 8:05pm EDT ESPN & ESPN HD

Big Papi David Ortiz, who has raised his batting average 62 points in the past five games, said this about tonight's pinstriped starter, Joba Chamberlain...

“He’s a guy that, as good as he is, the next step for him will be to earn respect from everyone in the league so people don’t get the wrong idea about him because he’s not a bad guy,” Ortiz said after the Sox’ 7-3 win against the Twins on Wednesday night. “When things like that happen (throwing at Youkilis), people get the wrong idea.”

Boston will take two of three (just a simple guess), but the fans will make their collective voices heard in a big way. Joba Chamberlain has a nasty habit of throwing at Kevin Youkilis' head and Mark Teixeira is not a loved character in beautiful New England. If John Lester can put it all together, much like his last start, the Fenway crowd will go home happy and contented. I won't be able to watch or listen to game #1 because I'll be in downtown Hartford, first for a 6pm dinner at Max Downtown with Nadia and my nephew Skip and then an 8:15pm concert at the XL Center. It'll be Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band playing their hearts out as they always do. Bruce and the band last played Tuesday and Wednesday nights in good old Boston and yesterday had the night off. That's a good thing because it'll be a Friday night in north central Connecticut, a Friday night with Bruce and the guys. I'll include the complete concert review in my Saturday morning post, a review of my 60th Springsteen concert. Holy you know what...time flies by too quickly. It's just 6:30am EDT right now and I love the anticipation of a Bruce night as well as the Saturday morning memories. I can't wait.

Please click on this post's title for more on the upcoming three game Yankee/Red Sox set and as always, BE WELL. Your comments are always welcome and always responded to. See ya...soon. GO SOX. GO HARTFORD. GO BRUCE. Forever.