Bats Power Yankees To 9-4 Win Over The Sad, Sad Red Sox

How sad are the Boston Red Sox? Wow. They're 1-7, in last place, and currently have the worst record in all of baseball. I hope the Fenway Faithful take notice of that tomorrow at the ballpark when they see the standings on the Green Monster. The Red Sox, simply put, are terrible. Outside of Dustin Pedroia there isn't one person on that team that's doing much of anything.

As a team, through the 1st 7 games, they rank 29th out of 30th in team batting average, 27th out of 30th in OPS, and 21st out of 30th in runs scored. I remember having an exchange with a Sox fan on Twitter during the offseason. I had tweeted that the acquisitions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez provided a marginal offensive upgrade over Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre. I was of course called an idiot or something. I wish I remembered who that Sox fan was so I could throw this at them but alas, their Twitter handle escapes me.

What even makes the team sadder is their pitching. They rank dead last in team ERA and OPS. They've allowed the most HRs and I don't think the stats I'm looking at include the 4 they gave up today. Outside of one start by Jon Lester they've all been horrendous. So much for having a team of 5 aces, eh Sox fans? The Red Sox, as the title of this post says, are a very sad, sad team. For now anyway. I don't expect them to stay this bad for the entire season. I think they're highly overrated, arguably the most overrated team ever, but they are a good club. They will win their fair share of games. But enough about them......

How about that game today? Awesome, right? Sure, the Yankees had a few sore spots, namely Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner, and Mark Teixeira, but by and large, great game. The story of the day was the offense. They hammered the Sox, scoring 9 times on 13 hits and 4 walks, and best of all, 4 HRs. The highlights pretty much came from the bottom of the order. The 5 thru 9 hitters combined to go 10-21 with 8 runs scored 9 RBI, 3 2B, 4 HR and 3 BB. They stole the show.

The 2 biggest scene stealers came from the very bottom of the order. Eric Chavez, making his first start as a Yankee, went 3-5 with 2 doubles. The big knocks though came off the bat of Russell Martin. Russell Russ went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI. How big has Martin been this season? I am very, very impressed with what he's brought to the table. He now has 3 HRs on the year which is 2 less than the entire Red Sox team. Let me say that again. The Yankees catcher has 2 fewer HRs than the entire Red Sox team. Insert gut busting laughter here. If you were to put Martin on the Sox he'd be leading their team in longballs. The Red Sox. As previously mentioned, they're a sad, sad team.

The biggest negative from today's game had to be the start from Ivan Nova. As Yogi Berra would say, it's like deja vu all over again. What we saw today was reminiscent of the 2010 version of Ivan Nova. For those that can't remember that far back, in his seven 2010 starts Nova often struggled to make it through the 5th inning. He would be doing alright but then the wheels would fall off. His outing today kind of reminded me of that. He didn't have good stuff today. Lucky for him the Red Sox offense is terrible. If the Sox offense were any better the game could have finished much differently. Nova gave the Sox plenty of chances to score but the Sox just couldn't deliver. As a team the Sox went 1-17 with RISP. As I said they're a sad, sad team. Nova got away with one today in my book. He's got to be better. What he did today won't cut it.

Solid game by the bullpen. Glad to see David Robertson pick up the W on his birthday. D-Rob, Joba, and Luis Ayala combined for 4.2 scoreless IPs. Ayala was the only one of the trio to have a rough go of things. He allowed 3 hits and a walk. He struggled enough that the Yankees had to warm up both Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera. But Ayala got the outs when he needed to. Game over. Yankees win. Thuhh Yankees win.

We've got Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN tomorrow. CC vs. Josh Beckett. Yeah, I think we all know how this game is going to go. But hey, you never know. That's why they play the games, right. If they didn't the Red Sox would have already won the World Series and we wouldn't have any idea just how sad of a team they really are. Thankfully, we've gotten to see that. If you couldn't tell I'm absolutely loving it. But as I said up top I don't expect it to last. They've got a good squad and they'll win their share of games. I think it's clear though that they won't win as many as the Yankees. It's pretty evident who the better team is. As I tweeted this morning, Yankees > Red Sox. Always have been, always will be.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Explodes In 10-6 Win Over Tigers

Are you like me? Did you breathe a huge sigh of relief after A.J. Burnett's start? The last thing I wanted to see today was Burnett implode and pick up where he left off last year. A.J. wasn't lights out today but for my money it was a great start. He had exceptional control, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes. I'm cautiously optimistic about how he's going to do this year. I'm not putting a lot of stock in this start but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I caution everyone not to think all is good with Burnett. His first start in 2010 was almost identical to his start today. Check out these game lines:

• 2011 - 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, win


• 2010 - 5 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, no decision

So don't get too excited. Last season for A.J. was one we all want to forget. I think I saw a stat flash during the broadcast that A.J. was the 1st Yankee pitcher ever to lose 15 games and have an ERA over 5. Or it was something to that effect. To quote Charles Barkley, he was turrible. He got off on the right foot today. Hopefully, it continues.

Speaking of getting off on the right foot and hoping it continues, how about that Mark Teixeira? Everyone knows that Teixeira underperforms in April. It's no secret. I'll take a .286 average with 2 HR and 6 RBI after 2 games. It's pretty safe to assume that Teix would take it too. So far he looks like he's in mid-season form. Hopefully, it continues.

How about the start A-Rod is off to? His hot spring is carrying right over to the regular season. Alex is 3-5 (.600) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 BB and 2 RBI. Alex is locked and loaded. You can tell too just by watching him. When he hits the ball to the opposite field with power, he's on his game. I'm feeling very good about my pre-season AL MVP prediction right now. Hopefully, it continues.

I didn't see Russell Martin getting off to such an exciting start. He was a spark plug on Opening Day with his stolen base and run scored on a shallow sac fly to CF. Today he went deep to LF for a 3-run HR. Wow. I wish I didn't drop him in a fantasy league I'm in. I drafted him late but cut him to make room for a backup I needed at another position. Ooops. Same thing kind of happened last year with Teixeira. I had him in a sim league and he was terrible up until the moment I traded him. I'm happy to take one for the team if it means real-life performance improves once I'm done with them. Keeping with the running theme of this post, I hope Russell Russ's hot start continues.

Pretty good day all around for the offense. With the exception of Nick Swisher every Yankee starter had at least one base hit. But Swish knocked in a run with a sac fly so it's all good.

The only sore spot of today's game was the performance of the underbelly of the bullpen. Neither Boone Logan or Luis Ayala were terribly effective. Not worrying too much about it. I don't see Ayala pitching in big spots and Logan, well, I have a feeling we won't see him much either. Call it a hunch but I don't see him staying a Yankee for the entire season. Gut feeling. The only benefit of their suckiness was that it gave Mariano Rivera the chance to pick up a cheap save. As expected, he did. 3 pitches, game over. Mo = G.O.A.T.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game. I've always been a big Phil Hughes guy. I didn't see him in action at all during Spring Training so tomorrow will be the first time I see him this year. I'm expecting big things from Phil this year. I'm hoping to kick off the Hughes call. After each PH win I do a Hughes call. I did the same for Mike Mussina with a Moose call. Basically, I add a "u" for every win. So last year's Hughes call looked like this w/18 Us: Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! Go get 'em Phil.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie