Over the Monster- Know Your Enemy Section

One of my favorite blogs, Over the Monster, often feature of a section called "Know your enemy" where they profile Red Sox opponents. Here is the Yankees profile, which is very fitting because the Red Sox and Yankees are currently tied for second in the AL East.

Yes, friends, it's time to head into our first 'tilt' with the New York Yankees.
What's changed, in a year? What can really change beyond a lot of players getting older and a lot of other players making a lot of f'in money? The biggest addition, so far, has been Nick Swisher. We know, of course, about his ability to work the count and hit for power. He's also been pretty versatile for the Yanks, being an option in LF, RF, 1B, and at P. A.J. Burnett has also been a good signee so far, 17 Ks in 19 IP over 3 starts. Another big change the Yankees made was in CF. While Melky Cabrera saw most of the time out there last year, the Yankees decided to make a change and go with Brett Gardner as the starter. How has it worked? Gangbusters! Gardner's been tearing up the AL to the tune of a 1.211 OPS, while Melky has struggled to a .583 OPS. ...wait. Strike that, reverse it. The long-term for both of these guys is probably as 4th outfielders, but Melky has earned the bulk of the PT thusfar.
Somewhat quietly, a number of Yankee regulars are putting up their usual numbers. Jeter, Damon, Posada, and Matsui have all been as good as could have been expected or better. Swisher and Cano have probably been a bit above their heads, but they've also shown that their respective struggles last season may be behind them.
STRENGTHS
The offense. 4th in the AL in scoring runs while getting nothing from 3B and CF most of the time, with Alex Rodriguez coming back at some point and Mark Teixeira still having a cold April.
WEAKNESSES
In a small-sample way, this season, the bullpen. Beyond Rivera and Brian Bruney? A huge crap sandwich. It's not even a joke to say that Swisher has been among their best RPs this season.
YANKEES' KEYS TO SUCCESS IN 2009
Perhaps a swap out of some bullpen arms? The arrival of Mark Melancon? The offense will be fine, but the pitching isn't shaping up as intended. Pettitte and Burnett have been steady but Joba, Sabathia, and Wang have not been good. I keep waiting for Sabathia to get back on track, and young and inconsistent should actually have been an acceptable outcome for Joba this season. It's still early for both. It's probably pretty obvious to everyone right now that there's something wrong with the Yankees' Wang.
HOW THE SOX CAN BEAT THEM
Knock the starters out early. The Yankees probably have their 3 best (thusfar) going this weekend in Boston. Non-Bruney or Rivera RPs should be a welcome sight on the mound. In general, the pitching gives out a lot of walks, though CC's 14 in 24+ innings might be skewing that data a little bit. The pitchers should keep the ball down; the Yankees are slugging quite well thusfar.

2009 Season

by Elise Amendola - AP

After falling just one game short of returning to the world series last year, the Red Sox are backat Fenway Park for the 2009 season. So far, the Red Sox has only showed glimpses of their former selves but the season is still early. The hits are coming but we're still falling short on the pitching side.

Above is a picture of Pedroia hitting a home run during Opening Day (his first at bat might I add).

Red Sox Legend of the Month: Carl Yastrzemski

Credit: http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Carl Michael Yastrzemski, (born August 22, 1939), nicknamed "Yaz,"played his entire 23-year career with the Boston Red Sox, primarily as a left fielder, with part of his later career played at first base and as a designated hitter. Yaz is an 18-time all-star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox' all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is second on the team's list for home runs (in a Red Sox uniform) behind another Red Sox great, Ted Williams, his predecessor in left field. In 1967, Yastrzemski achieved a peak in his career, leading the Red Sox to the American League pennant for the first time in over two decades, in that season being voted the American League MVP, and being the last winner of the triple crown for batters in the major leagues. He is a member of the Hall of Fame and his number 8 is retired at Fenway Park.

Yaz official website is http://www.yaz8.com/index.shtml

Real Talk From Papelbon

Nick Lahem/Getty Images

In the March Issue of Esquire, Red Sox's closer Jonathan Papelbon spills the beans on the Manny situation that ended in his trade to the Dodgers.

It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening. Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go.

There you have it. It doesn't get any worse than calling someone a cancer. The lesson to be learned here is to be a team player, run out every ground ball, and go all out on defense.

The worst part about this is that I got a Manny jersey for my birthday last year. I was debating whether to get a Manny or a Pedroia jersey but I ultimately chose Manny because of his veteran status. Rumors of an Ellsbury trade casted some doubts in my mind about Theo's commitment to young players so I went with Manny. Big Mistake! I'll probably get a Pedroia jersey this year and buy my son one as well. Us little guys have to stick together.

What should I do with my Manny jersey? Any suggestions?

Pedroia on the Cover of MLB: The Show

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Little Pedroia comes up big again by scoring the cover of MLB 09.

Red Sox Legend of the Month: Jim Rice

Click on card for Stats

James Edward Rice (born March 8, 1953 in Anderson, South Carolina) is a former left fielder and a Baseball Hall of Fame-electee. Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974-1989. An 8-time American League(AL) All-Star , he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1978 after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases, and went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons, and join Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row. He batted .300 seven times, collected 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times and 200 hits four times, and had eleven seasons with 20 home runs, also leading the league in home runs three times, RBIs and slugging average twice each.

In the late 1970s he was part of one of the sport's great outfields along with Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans, who was his teammate for his entire career; Rice continued the tradition of his predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox. He ended his career with a .502 slugging average, and then ranked tenth in AL history with 382 home runs; his career marks in homers, hits (2,452), RBI (1,451) and total bases (4,129) remain Red Sox records for a right-handed hitter, with Evans eventually surpassing his Boston records for career runs scored, at bats and extra base hits by a right-handed hitter. When Rice retired, his 1,503 career games in left field ranked seventh in AL history. Rice will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009.

The Captain is Back

Capt. Tek gets a deal

Jason Varitek signs a deal with the Red Sox and it's about time! Since he decided to forgo arbitration, Tek's deal isn't a lucrative as he would have like, but beggars can't be choosers.