Yankees - Red Sox Gear Up For Battle Again (5/8)

Tuesday night the Yankees and Red Sox will begin a three game series, their first meeting of the season at Yankee Stadium. Last Monday the two teams met in Fenway for the first of a two game series. As it turned out only one game was played due to a rainout on Tuesday night. Monday's game saw the Sox win 7-3 as Yankee killer supreme David Ortiz struck again. The Yankees lead 3-1 before Boston and tied it and ultimately broke it open when Ortiz hit a 3-run shot off lefty specialist and former teammate Mike Myers. Aaron Small took his first loss as a Yankee while Mike Timlin picked up the victory.

Each game has a good pitching match up - at least on paper anyway.

Monday - Josh Beckett vs. Randy Johnson
Tuesday - Curt Schilling vs. Mike Mussina
Thursday - Tim Wakefield vs. Shawn Chacon

Randy Johnson beat the Red Sox 5 times in 2005 including the division clinching victory in October. Johnson has struggled in 3 of his last 4 starts and the Yankees certainly cannot afford for that trend to continue.

This is the first time the Yankees will have faced Beckett since the 2003 World Series when the right hander beat them twice. The image of Derek Jeter bouncing out to Beckett to end the series is still engrained in my mind. The Yankees don't have much experience against him in the regular season. Gary Sheffield is 3-13 with 1 home run and 5 RBI, but will miss the game and the series. Miguel Cairo is the only other Yankee to face him in a non-post season situation. Cairo went 0-3 with 1 RBI.

Beckett won his first three starts this year, going 7 innings in each while allowing just 1 run. His last 3 outings have been a different story all together. Though he only has 1 loss and 2 no-decisions, Beckett has allowed 17 earned runs in 16 innings. It has caused his ERA to balloon from 1.29 to 4.86. He's also allowed 6 home runs and 10 walks in those 3 starts.

Mike Mussina has been nothing less than magnificent thus far. He may not be recognized as the official ace of the Yankees, but he has certainly performed that way. He's among leaders with his 5-1 record, 2.35 ERA, 42 strike outs and 0.98 ratio. Moose struggled against the Red Sox last year, going 0-2 in 4 starts, with a 7.20 ERA. Of course Moose pitched most of the season with a painful elbow. Mussina's career record in the regular season versus Boston is 17-14.

Mussina's opponent tomorrow night also struggled with injury last year. Curt Schilling was still suffering from his infamous injured ankle last year and it affected his performance. As did his noticeable weight gain. This year, Schilling is healthy and he has dropped weight. Schilling starts are very comparable to Mussina's. He's 5-1 with a 3.02 ERA, 47 strike outs, and a 0.99 ratio. He was 2-2, 4.15 versus the Yankees in 2005 and is 5-4 lifetime.

Shawn Chacon has won his last 3 starts, allowing just 3 earned runs in 19 2-3 innings. He’s raised his record to 4-1 while lowering his ERA to 3.94. Chacon got hammered in his one start against Boston last year, but showed in last year’s ALDS that he can pitch in pressure games.

Tim Wakefield has been a thorn in the Yankees side since the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry heated up again in 1999. Yes, he is the pitcher who served up Aaron Boone’s ALCS clinching home run, but if not for him there would not have been a game 7. In 2005 the Yankees actually solved Wakefield a bit, beating him 4 times. He’s 8-12 lifetime against the Yankees, 4-7 since 2001. He had a no-decision in last week’s game after producing a quality 7 innings, allowing 3 runs in the process.

Notes

Bernie Williams has gone 9-22 (.409) over the last 5 games to raise his average from .217 to .268.

Robinson Cano has a modest 7 game hitting streak (10-30, .333) that has actually dropped his average from .324 to .327.

Scott Proctor continues to emerge as a force out of the bullpen. With Taynon Sturtze’s continued struggles, Joe Torre has gone to Proctor in more situations than he has in the past. Proctor has allowed just 2 of 16 inherited runners to score.

David Ortiz has seen his batting average drop to .256 after picking up only 1 hit in his last 20 at-bats. Ortiz was in a 5-22 skid when he faced the Yankees last week, going 3-4 with a home run and 4 RBI.