Boston Red Sox Vs. NY Yankees...Act Three

The New York Yankees will play the Boston Red Sox in a three game Fenway Park series starting tonight (weather permitting). I'll give you the pitching matchups shortly. Since their last meeting at Yankee Stadium, the pinstripers have gone 20-10 while Boston has gone 16-14. The Yankee bullpen seems to have turned it around but we won't see Mariano Rivera tonight because he's pitched the last three days in a row. Boston is one game behind their hated rivals...not bad considering Big Papi's horrid start and a high ERA for their starting pitching staff. Leftfielder Jason Bay had this to say about that...

“We haven’t played our best baseball yet,” left fielder Jason Bay said. “I think we’re getting there. Our starting pitching is coming along. I still say we can be better as an offense. Defensively, we could be better. The only place we’ve really been good is the bullpen. So when you look at the position we’re in and all we’ve done, yeah, I’ll take that.”

That's an accurate "state of the team" statement. New York has been hot and the Red Sox have played near .500 ball. To be only one game out of first place is a good thing, not a bad one. The series stands at five games for Boston and ZERO games for the Yankees...that doesn't matter one bit. There are thirteen games left between these two teams in the regular season, so anything can and probably will happen. Here are the pitching matchups...

Tonight...AJ Burnett vs. Josh Beckett
Wednesday night...Chien-Ming Wang vs. Tim Wakefield
Thursday night...CC Sabathia vs. Brad Penny

Jacoby Ellsbury is officially day-to-day. An examination of his shoulder revealed NO structural damage, thank goodness, but he won't be in there tonight. Either Baldelli or Kotsay will go if Jacoby cannot. The eye examination of Big Papi David Ortiz revealed that his vision is fine. He was given drops to relieve the dryness he has experienced which caused him to blink while at the plate, hampering his sight at crucial moments (when the ball is on its way to the plate).

The weather for Boston shows rain on the way but it'll be on and off rain which will probably end by gametime. Right now in Farmington, Connecticut, it's pouring. The rain is moving towards the northeast on its way to Fenway but I'm fairly certain that the two teams will be playing ball tonight shortly after 7pm EDT. So enjoy!

You can click on the title of this post for more on this upcoming three game series. GO SOX. As always, BE WELL.