Steve and the Tank! - Boston Massacre ii: Break out the Brooms, Yankees at Fenway, August 18-21

Boston Massacre ii: Break out the Brooms, Yankees at Fenway, August 18-21

I was very nervous going into this series because of losing two out of three to the Orioles and having to go to Fenway Park. I reserved comment earlier because Friday's game went late, I wanted to tip my hat to the Mets and "focus" on the 1986 WS Celebration, and I didn't want to jinx the Yankees. The last five game sweeps of the RS at Fenway were 1927 and 1943, respectively, years that the Yankees won championships. Let's hope history repeats itself, touch wood.

Game 1, Friday afternoon: Chien-Ming Wang won this must win game against Jason Johnson. Yankees win 12-4.

Game 2, Friday evening: Sidney Ponson has been battling his demons over the years and was not good but neither was the RS starter. The crooked number (7) that the Yankees put up in the seventh inning was magical to say the least. Yankees win 14-11.

Game 3, Saturday afternoon: Randy Johnson against Josh Beckett. Yes, Randy gave up the three run home run to Manny but he kept us close as Boston Bob likes to say and pitched seven good innings. Yankees win 13-5.

During the game, it was great to see ESPN's Peter Gammons in Mr. John Henry's owner's booth. Best wishes on a full recovery.

Game 4, Sunday evening: Moose against Schilling. Giambino's three run home run was awesome and it thankfully put the Yankees ahead in the third 3-2. The RS unfortunately tied it back up. Moose's groin injury going into the bottom of the fifth was very disturbing.

There are comebacks and there are comebacks. This is one of the best I will ever see. Yankees win 8-5 in ten innings. We never quit.

Game 5, Monday afternoon: Lidle against Wells. Lidle pitched great, especially after the recent passing of his 98 year old grandmother. Yankees complete the sweep 2-1.

Conclusion: Damon was unbelievable in the first three games. A-Rod was not perfect but a good 7-21. Bernie, Posada, and Jeter were thankfully clutch as always.

    The RS are killing themselves. Why did Francona bring a rookie to start the eighth inning? He should have gone straight to Papelbon who I agree with RS radio announcer Joe Castiligone that he is the RS best pitching prospect since Roger Clemens.
    Fox commentator Ted Rosenthal made a great point during Saturday afternoon's game that the RS are trying to simultaneously contend and rebuild. This is very tricky. They don't want to go above $120 million which is ridiculous because RS owner Mr. Henry is a hedge fund billionaire (and a personal hero as a Missouri farm boy and statistics genius made good) who can easily pay the chump change luxury tax that MLB would levy on him.
    Granted when Lester, Papelbon, Hansen, etc. mature, they are scary. How long will it take them? Will Wakefield, Schilling,
Varitek, and other key veterans be around when they do? If so, how much do the have left in the tank? (No pun intend.)
    Though GM Theo Epstein returned to the RS with more power, why didn't they make a trading deadline deal? Were others teams asking for too much (probably) or was it a power struggle (less likely)? Where does Team President Larry Lucchino fit in all of this? It's so confusing that you, me, and Hazzard County Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane could be running the RS; it makes Kremlinology seem like kids play.
    With Big Papi and Manny, I respect the RS too much and never count them out but it will be interesting to see how they navigate salary cap concerns and key injuries to Varitek, Wakefield, Nixon, etc.

Go Yankees! / Go Mets!
Posted by The Tank in NY.

P.S. Best wishes to and prayers for Tom Glavine's full and fast recovery. (As you could probably guess, I did not write the previous quote that Steve commented on in his last post.)

MLB

Monday, August 21, 2006 10:58:35 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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