Here we are in August and both the Yankees and Red Sox are tied for 1st place with records 68-42. One of these teams will come out of this weekend in first place and looking for home field advantage in the playoffs as the division winner. The Yankees come into this series red hot with a 7 game winning streak where they outscored their opponents 63-19. They have also won 8 of their last 10 games. The Red Sox come into this series after splitting a 4 game set with Cleveland and taking 2 of 3 in Chicago. Boston has won 10 of the last 15 games they played and 6 of their last 10.
The last time these two teams played was back on June 9th in the Bronx and the Yankees were swept. Now it’s time for some vindication and they Yankees are looking to keep their offensive numbers going and hopefully walk out of this series claiming 1st place. Although it’s only August and they will meet twice more, these games are very important and that is why Colon was bumped to start Friday’s game.
I think the keys for the Yankees to win this series are to score runs early as Boston’s bullpen has been shut down in the final three innings. If the Yankees can manufacture some early runs similar to what they have been doing over the last 30 games or so, they can take 2 of 3. The Yankees pitchers will need to be careful with the Boston batters as their lineup is tough and will make them pay for any mistake.
Here's an in depth look at the Red Sox Bullpen Situation
Here's an in depth look at the Red Sox Bullpen Situation
PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRI: Bartolo Colon (8-6, 3.30 ERA) vs. John Lester (11-4, 3.17 ERA)
-Colon pitched last Saturday against the Orioles and struggled a bit with his command but was able to pitch well enough for the win. He allowed only 2 runs on 5 hits, but used 105 pitches so he was pulled from the game following the 5th innings.
-Colon is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA over his last 3 starts with 19 strikeouts
-Colon is 3-3 on the road in the 10 games he started this season. His road ERA is 2.83 with 55 strikeouts and 1 complete game shutout against the A’s.
-Colon has faced the Red Sox twice this season and allowed only 3 runs over 10 1/3 innings with 9 strikeouts, but allowed 10 hits. Colon wasn’t at his best against the Red Sox and had to be pulled early from each game.
-Marco Scutaro is hitting .571 against Colon
-Lester is coming off a strong start against the White Sox last weekend after he pitched a solid 8 innings allowing only 2 runs and 4 hits.
-Opponents are hitting .245 off Lester this season
-Lester is 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 8 starts at Fenway park this season
-Lester is 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 19 strikeouts over his last three starts
-Lester is 8-1 against the Yankees in his young career with a 3.56 ERA. He has pitched a total of 86 innings and struck out 92 yankee batters.
SAT: CC Sabathia (16-5, 2.55 ERA) vs. John Lackey (9-8, 6.23 ERA)
-CC wasn’t his sharpest in his last outing against the White Sox this past week but managed to get the win after pitching 8 full innings. He did allow 10 hits as he labored through the start but allowed the White Sox to score only 2 runs. Even when CC doesn’t have his A-Game, he still finds a way to get the win.
-CC is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA and 28 strikeouts over his last 3 games
-CC is 9-1 since June 14th with a 1.01 ERA over his previous 8 games
-CC has 3 of his 5 losses this season against the Red Sox. In those 3 games, he’s allowed 24 hits, 9 walks, 13 runs in 19 innings with only 15 strikeouts. Clearly, he hasn’t pitched his best against Boston…. Yet!
-Carl Crawford is hitting .325 against CC
-Marco Scutaro is hitting .318 against CC
-Youk is hitting .409 against CC
-John Lackey is having another poor season for the Red Sox and had another subpar outing this past week against the Indians allowing 5 runs on 8 hits over 6 2/3 innings. Although many Boston fans thought this was a step in the right direction for Lackey as he lasted into the 7th inning, he still made errors & allowed back to back home runs. You can read more about Lackey’s Dissapointing season HERE
-Lackey pitched against the Yankees once this season and allowed 7 hits and 6 runs over 5 innings.
-Lackey is 2-0 with a 4.19 ERA and 12 strikeouts over his last 3 games
-Chavez is hitting .300 against Lackey
-Jeter is hitting .343 against lackey
-Posada is hitting .556 against Lackey
Sun: Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.22 ERA) vs Josh Beckett (9-4, 2.20 ERA)
-Garcia has now won his past three starts and in those starts he has a 2.21 ERA with 18 strikeouts. This game against Boston should prove more difficult for him as they are a hard hitting offensive team. It will be a big test for the Big Chief to see how his soft throws will hold up against this offense
-Garcia is 0-2 against the Red Sox this season
-Garcia has a 2.88 ERA on the road this season with 43 strikeouts in 53 innings pitched
-Beckett shut down the Yankees in the last Sunday night game they played allowing only 2 hits over 8 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. Beckett looked solid on the mound against the Yankees in every game he’s pitched against the Yankees this season. In the 21 innings pitched versus the yanks, Beckett has allowed only 10 hits and 2 earned runs over 21 innings while striking out 23!
-Beckett is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 22 strikeouts over his last three starts
-Beckett has started 21 games this season for the Red Sox and they have only lost 5 of those games
-Beckett’s ERA is 2.20 which is second best in the AL. His WHIP is .92 which is 2nd in the AL. He has allowed only 91 hits which is the lowest for the AL.
-Cano is hitting .339 against Beckett with 12 RBI’s
-Jeter is hitting .200 against Beckett with 9 RBI’s
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