Sunday, August 9, 2009

Thoughts on the Yankees/Red Sox series

-The crowd was as loud as I've heard it all season over the weekend. A winning team and the hated Red Sox tend to have that kind of effect.

-A.J. Burnett was simply marvelous Friday night. While Burnett can be somewhat erratic at times, his start Friday night was a snapshot to why the Yankees paid the man $82 million this offseason to be their #2 starter.

-Boy, John Smoltz has hit a wall hasn't he? If he was on any other team, I'd probably feel a little bad for the guy. It has to be tough for someone who has seen nothing but success for the majority of his career to have his performance just fall off a cliff like that. Regardless, I'm glad the Yankees were able to bash him into his current 'DFA' status.

- It's truly a beautiful thing to watch Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter turn the double play. There were three that stuck out to me this weekend, those being the Ortiz 4-6-3 on Friday night, the 4-6-3 on Lowell Saturday, and the 6-4-3 on Bay tonight. Boy, can they turn it or what?

- The ESPN broadcast team, as I've said ad nauseum, is absolutely horrendous. They make John Sterling sound like a combination of Marv Albert, Vin Scully and Al Michaels.

-It's good to see Alex Rodriguez come through with big hits for the team. Rodriguez is vilified far too much for a player of his stature. While he brings some of it on himself, the guy is a great baseball player. It's nice to see him come through in a big spot. He has actually done that quite a bit this year, and even in his relatively abbreviated season, he has come through quite a bit in the big spot. That was an absolute shot he hit off Lester tonight.

- Mark Teixiera is simply an awesome baseball player. To this point that signing has been a rousing success. His offensive numbers, and his defense have been top notch. I think you can make a very good argument for him as the American League MVP. To this point, he has been worth every penny. That bomb he hit off Bard was incredible, and I've never heard the Stadium that loud.

-This series was well pitched from the time A.J. Burnett took the mound on Friday to the end of the series. It's a pleasant change of pace from the usual sloppy, back and forth slugfests for which these two teams usually partake.

- While the Red Sox did get swept, I have to admit that they have the makings of a nice pitching staff with Beckett, Lester and Bucholz in the future. We all know about Lester and Beckett, as they are proven commodities, but Bucholz has nasty stuff and pitched very well on Saturday.

- Mariano Rivera is so automatic that it's a surprise when he puts a runner on base. I'm going to miss that man when he retires

- The chants of 'Sweep' at the end of Sunday's game was great. Hopefully the Stadium remains like this for the rest of the year, and the 'public library' atmosphere goes away. That is for the birds.

-Johnny Damon, like the rest of the Yankee team, has benefited immensely from the short right field porch in the New stadium, but that shot he hit last night was legitimate. He blasted it, and sent the Stadium into a frenzy. He has been a very good offensive player for the Yankees this year, artificially enhanced numbers or not.

-The sweep is a significant body blow to the Red Sox. They were already reeling and the Yankees set them back even further. It will be interesting to see if they can recover from it.

- The chant of 'Sweep' at the end of last night's game was incredible.

-Lastly, GO YANKEES!

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