Monday, April 14, 2008

Brave New World

Game 13 – Red Sox

Red Sox 8, Yankees 5
Record: 7-6


“Be vewwy quiet. I’m hunting wabbits.” -- Elmer Fudd

With all due respect to the portion of the American League not located in Boston and New York, those far-flung franchises have stood in for the abovequoted bumbling bunny-hunter in very large part since 2003, chasing the Sox and Yankees without a great deal of sustained success. If any of those teams were paying attention over the past 3 days, though, they might well have run immediately to their pantries in pursuit of ingredients suitable for a tasty Wabbit Stew. For if we learned nothing else during the season’s first clash between Boston and New York, we saw clearly that both teams are eminently vulnerable.

The Yankees are young and inconsistent on the mound, except where they’re old and ineffective. The Bombers are also counting on offensive production from guys like Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, and Johnny Damon – all of whom are inarguably talented players equally unquestionably on the wrong side of their careers. Meanwhile, while the Sox may be more balanced on offense and theoretically more experienced on their rotation, this weekend exposed significant concerns in the Boston bullpen, especially if Mike Timlin’s slated to play a major role.

As the long-standing MLC mantra holds, there’s a lotta ball left, and the Sox and Yankees are both willing and able to invest to fill holes if necessary. And I’m not sure how meaningful a three-game set 13 games into the season really can be. That said, color me unimpressed with important parts of both of the AL East’s recent beasts.

Oh, and Daisuke-san. Straight ball, please to be throwing.

2 comments:

T.J. said...

Uh oh, Joba's dad isn't doing well...

rob said...

that sucks.