The Arch Enemies Meet Again
By Joe Davis
The Yankees will open up a series on Tuesday versus the Red Sox. As you might remember earlier in the season the Red Sox destroyed the Evil Empire. If 6 out of 7 games isn't enough for Sox fans, maybe 9 out of 10 will be. Last year the Red Sox only won 9 of 19 games versus the Yankees. This time the Red Sox will try to edge closer to first place. If a 3-game sweep occurred, the Yankees would only have a 2.5 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. However if the Yankees were to sweep the Red Sox, there would be a 8.5 game lead for first place. This series could make or break the AL East this year.
Let's look at the matchups:
Tuesday 7:05 EST: Javier Vázquez (8-5)3.38 ERA vs Derek Lowe (6-6) 5.24 ERA
Wednesday 7:05 EST: Jon Lieber (5-5) 5.26 ERA vs Tim Wakefield (4-5) 4.59 ERA
Thursday
Thursday 7:05 EST: Brad Halsey (1-1) 8.00 ERA or Kevin Brown (7-1) 4.13 ERA vs Pedro Martinez (8-3) 3.73 ERA
It looks like the matchups do favor the Red Sox is Halsey were to pitch on Thursday. Lowe has straightened himself out lately. He is 2-1 allowing 6 runs to score in the past 4 starts. Wakefield has been up and down lately and only gave up 1 run in his last start and had a no decision. Halsey was just awful in his last start vs. the Mets and Pedro is Pedro. It should be a good series. Let's go Sawx!
