Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Red Sox Roll at Home

Keeping to form the Red Sox beat the Rays 7-4 last night in Fenway. This win came behind a solid performance from rookie Justin Masterson who threw 6 innings allowing 4 runs. This is the second time this year the Sox have brought Masterson up and he has given them a solid start. With the injuries the Sox have had it's good to know you have a kid in AAA who can come up and eat some innings.

Another bright point last night was Craig Hansen. Hansen has been a talked about prospect since the Red Sox drafted him in 2005 and has struggled throughout his big league career. I know his ERA is high and he did get into a little trouble last night, but he did manage to get out of it without allowing any runs. I am sick of seeing Manny Delcarmen suck it up, so I hope Hansen has turned a corner and can become a reliable bullpen guy Francona can count to get 3 outs in the 6th or 7th.

Now let me throw a bone to the Yankee fans. It's bad, I get it, but if you look at the whole picture it's not that bad. Before the season who were analysts talking about in the AL: Boston, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, and maybe LA. Now, basically 60 games in what do we have? Boston? Where everyone thought they would be. Seattle? Done. LA? give them the AL West and a first round playoff loss now and save their fans about 4 months. Detroit? Done in a week. Cleveland? Done by the All-star break. New York? In a battle in the roughest division in the AL.

If the Yanks can stick around and play well in August, like they always do, the Rays and Jays will fade (as much as I like the idea of them making the playoffs). The AL Central will continue to beat the crap out of each other and the AL West is a one team division. Now, the Yankees can't mess around anymore. They need to start winning series against the Jays, Rays, and Twins. They need to go get an 8th inning guy. They need some people to get healthy. So, at 28-30 in early June, my money is on the Yankees and the greatest baseball player of our generation (A-Rod). If the Yanks don't take the wildcard, I ask you, who has the fortitude to last until October?

2 comments:

Dan said...

I still wouldn't count out those Rays. I know a lot can happen between now and September, and they're not battle tested, I suppose. However, every team with experience in a pennant race had to do the first time at some point. Experience only takes you so far.

Unknown said...

The Rays are here to stay. Reid Brignac, Jeff Neimann, Jake McGee, and David Price could all be in the bigs by September.

Kazmer, Shields, Garza, and Price are better than most of the young pitchers on the Sox and Yanks. Still, I think the Sox will win the division and the Yanks will be in the thick of it.