The Year the Yankees Blew the Division?

i'm almost afraid to read shaughnessy's column in the globe today comparing the yankees of this year to the sox of '78 (because i'm afraid i'll believe it). off the top of my head i'll equate javy vazquez to luis tiant, kevin brown to dennis eckersley, mike mussina to bill lee (yankees don't have any lefty starters) and playing the part of mike torrez none other than esteban loaiza.

That is most of the Yankee lead right there. The Yanks are not collapsing as much as just playing average while the Red Sox are the hottest team in the AL.

The Yanks schedule is a bit more forgiving than the Sox, as they only contenders they have series with down the stretch are the Twins and the Sox. The Sox have two left with Anaheim and series against the A's, Rangers and Yanks.

I think it could come down to how the Sox play in the next week, if they stay hot and annihilate the A's, Angels and Rangers, that should open up the wild card lead and crate the stage for the three game series against the Yanks in the next to last weekend of the season in Fenway.

El Duque is pitching pretty well since joining the Yanks. He is 5-0 in nine starts, but is only averaging a bit over six innings a start. I figured that injuries could kill the Yanks chances, but Moose and Brown are starting to get healthy.

Starting today the Yanks (and all teams) will be able to call up some sacrificial lambs from the minors to fill in blow outs like last night, so they don't have to use their main relievers.

I don't think the Yanks are the favorites to win it all, as I think the AL is open and they could get beat by any of the other front runners in the playoffs. I don't think NY will miss the playoffs. The Yanks losing the division would be big, but I think the Red Sox are going to have to continue to roll, which may or may not happen.

"The best hope is that Steve Karsay re-emerges and combines with QuanGorMo to let the Yankees have a Reds '99 kind of finish, with the starters going four and the bullpen holding the opposition after that. Stay tuned, stay skeptical."

I mean, they've done so well with Robbie and Sandy Alomar, why not go with yet another post-35-year-old Indian star?

Kevin Brown RHP 	LAD 	Signed Dec 1998 - 7 years/$105M
1999: $10.0M (+$5.0M signing bonus)
 2000: $15.0M
 2001: $15.0M
 2002: $15.0M
 2003: $15.0M
 2004: $15.0M
 2005: $15.0M

meanwhile the bosox are rallying back against the rangers with a grandslam and a solo shot to come within 2 (8-6) in the top of the 8th.

Just in case you wanted another reason to hate the Evil Empire.

it seems like after the yanks lead in the east shrank in almost the blink of an eye, they've held fast at 2.5 for ages.

Yankees 9-3
Red Sox 9-3

El Duque has three of those wins for the Yanks. All three losses from two series with the O's.

The Sox are able to sweap through the Angels and A's, win two of three from the Rangers, but then split four with the Mariners. NY has KC for three, Boston has the D-Rays (who the Yanks beat up) and then they face off this weekend.

I can't think of many recent playoff contenders getting 15+ runs dropped on them twice within 2 weeks. Though that's really just a perk of having Tanyon Sturtze on your pitching staff AND actually giving him work.

I'm just sayin', is all.

(http://media.theinsiders.com/Media/Other/375005_1964.JPG)

Maybe the Sox have a chance, but I think they need to sweep this series.

And, yeah, Earl, it's a 99.9999% certainty that the Red Sox need a sweep to have a legitimate chance at taking the divisional title.

Lieber has pitched pretty well in his past few starts, although that is a guy I would not want to count upon in a playoff game.

Right now, I think this could be the A's year.