First Place Battle in Fenway; April Recap (5/1)

Yankees-Red Sox Meet For Pair

It may only be the 1st of May, but when the Yankees and Red Sox meet at Fenway Park tonight it will be a battle of first place teams. That has come out about because the Yankees have won 7 of 10 while the Sox have cooled off a bit losing 7 of 10. Of course the biggest buzz in Fenway tonight will be surrounding Johnny Damon, the traitor to Red Sox Nation. Personally, I don't care how the fans treat Damon. He needs to go out and do his job period.

The Yankees won't have Gary Sheffield tonight and may not tomorrow either. Though all X-Rays have proven to be negative, Sheffield is too sore to return to the lineup. One player that is expected to be in the lineup for Boston is catcher Doug Mirabelli. The Red Sox reacquired the knuckleball catching specialist from the San Diego Padres for Josh Bard and a minor leaguer. Mirabelli had been sent to the Padres over the winter for second baseman Mark Loretta. Bard, acquired as part of the Coco Crisp deal, failed miserably as Mirabelli's "Wakefield" replacement. He had 10 passed balls on the season including 4 in Wakefield's last start.

While Mirabelli is back, there are plenty of other new faces in Boston. Coco Crisp took over Damon in center field, but is currently on the disabled list. Newcomers Willy Mo Pena and Dustan Mohr have been seeing more playing time in Crisp's absence. Terry Francona had hoped Keith Foulke would be healthy enough to resume his closing roles, but Foulke has struggled physically with bad knees. Jon Papelbon, projected to be a starter, has stepped up as the team's new closer. While Francona won't commit the job completely to Papelbon, he's going to have a hard time changing his mind if the kid continues pitching the way he has. Papelbon saved 10 of the Red Sox 14 victories in April.

Josh Beckett jumped feet first in the starting rotation and won his first four games. One of those wins, however, came in his last two starts where he has allowed 13 earned runs in just 11 innings. He's also allowed six home runs in those 2 starts. Tuesday night the Yankees will face Beckett for the first time since he shut them down in the 6th and deciding game of the 2003 World Series.

Curt Schilling has bounced back from last year's injury plagued season, winning 4 times in April. Schilling has produced a quality start in 5 of 6 outings, winning the one game that wasn't a quality start. The Yankees will be glad to miss him this time out.

Of course, Boston's success or failure depends a lot on their big two - David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Ortiz comes into the series in a 5-27 mini-slump that has dropped his average to .278. He does have 10 home runs and 20 RBI and is a bonafide Yankee killer. Joe Torre will hope that red hot lefty specialist, and former Red Sox, Mike Myers can hold him in check.

Ramirez had a subpar first month of the season, not homering until April 21. He finished hitting .276 with just 4 home runs and 13 RBI.

Yankees April Recap

The Yankes started April 1-4 causing their fans to grab for the antacid. In going 12-6 (.667) since that point, the Yankees have moved .005 percentage points ahead of the Red Sox in their tie for first place. The Yankees had to play 11 of their first 14 on the road and came away just 7-7. But they followed that up by taking 2 of 3 from Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and Toronto to complete a 6-3 homestand.

APRIL MVP - Co-MVPs in this case between Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi. Jeter started hot from the start, coming out of the gate with a 9 game hitting streak. He's already had 11 multiple hit games and is hitting a gaudy .398 entering May. In addition, he has 14 extra base hits, 19 runs scored, and 20 RBI. Moving back to the 2-hole has seemed to genuinely agree with Jeter, who has also already drawn 19 walks. His OBP of .505 and OPS of 1.152 are among the league leaders.

Giambi was hitting just .167 after 6 games with 1 RBI and no extra base hits. He had 7 walks compared to just 3 hits. Those 6 games seemed like a repeat of his 2005 season start. That's where the comparison ends. Since then Giambi has gone on a tear. Since then he has hit .419 (.344 overall) with 9 home runs and an American League leading 27 RBI. He's walked 26 times and has an incredible 1.407 OPS, both top numbers in the AL. He's even hit as a DH where he has struggled in the past.

APRIL CY Young - Mike Mussina. With Mussina's win yesterday, he raised his record to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.31 (3rd in the AL). His 37 strike outs are second in the AL and he has had a quality outing in each of his six starts. He's allowed just 34 hits and 8 walks in 39 innings pitched.

APRIL FLOP - Unfortunately it falls right on Bernie Williams. Bernie has shown he still has some pop in his bat from the right side (.286), but has struggled terribly from the left side (.179) where most of his at-bats have come from. It spells out to a .217 average with 1 home run and 7 RBI. He's just .188 with runners in scoring position. Bernie has always been a notoriously slow starter, but this year the Yankees may have to find someone else who can swing the bat with more consistency.

PITCHING DUD - Tanyon Sturtze. Sturtze has been nothing short of horrible though his outing this past Saturday was encouraging. Hopefully the change pitching coach Ron Guidry made will make a difference. Randy Johnson could have won this just for his 2 horrible outings against the Jays.

SURPRISE OF APRIL - Mike Myers. The lefty specialist has been outstanding, making 10 scoreless appearances. Myers has held opponents to a .143 average, while allowing just 6 hits and 1 walk in 6 1-3 innings. He has also struck out six.

APRIL GRADE: B- The Yankees have not hit enough in the clutch and the starting pitching outside of Johnson and Mussina was shaky at best for most of the month. A late month surge raises this grade up from a C.