Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees, One more time for the History Books

By: Patrick Viveiros

Tomorrow will mark another monumental day in the history of the great rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Thursday, August 28, 2008, will mark the last match-up between the Yankees and Red Sox at the world renowned Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY. The marquee that faces I-87 and hangs from the Stadium will read Yankees vs. Red Sox for the last time ever.

Both teams are well aware that only one of them will be making it to October this year. The Tampa Rays own a 3.5 game lead over the Red Sox in the division currently, and a 9.5 game lead over the Yankees. The Red Sox lead in the Wild Card standings by 2.5 games over the Minnesota Twins, meanwhile the Yankees remain 6 games back for the Wild Card.

The clock is ticking, with only 15 games left this year at the original House that Ruth Built and 31 games left all together this season, the Yankees know it is crunch time, yet they are still underperforming.

In last night’s game Alex Rodriguez game up to bat with runners in scoring position twice late in the game and failed to provide the team with a crucial hit. Fans booed A-Rod as he trotted back to the dugout after grounding into an inning ending bases loaded double-play with the Yankees trailing 7-3, and booed him again when he struck out to end the game in the ninth inning. Rodriguez finished a fashionable 0-5, grounding into 2 double plays and even had a throwing error that cost the Yankees two runs to top off an all around HORRIBLE night for A-Rod and the New York Yankees as they lost the game 7-3.

As for the fans Rodriguez had this to say when asked by Yankees beat reporter Bryan Hoch, “They were loud. No one is more frustrated than me. Everyone is desperate for wins, and on a night like tonight, I was booing myself."

Well A-Rod booing yourself isn’t going to help you out at all. It’s time to stop crying and man-up and dig deep for that something extra. Stop letting all of these emotions build and just do the talking with the bat, the Yankees don’t want you booing yourself, they want you hitting the ball and to focus on winning baseball games, TEAM FIRST.

As for tomorrow, the starting pitching match-up should be interesting as Jon Lester of the Red Sox, and Mike Mussina of the Yankees will face-off in a game for the history books. (I wish I only had tickets to the game, or a press pass for that matter).

Mike Mussina has had his struggles against the Red Sox this season. In 3 starts against the Red Sox he owns a 1-2 record, along with a 5.53 ERA. However, in his last start against the Red Sox in New York on July 5th he pitched 6 innings of shutout baseball, eventually paving the way to his then 11th win of the year.

Lester is coming off his worst outing of the year after pitching 2.1 innings Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Lester allowed 8 hits and let up a season high 7 earned runs. In 4 starts in July Lester allowed only 7 earned runs, 2 of those starts came against the Yankees and in both of those starts he earned the win.

In his first start against the Yankees on July 3rd in New York, he pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 8 batters. On July 27th against the Yankees in Boston, he pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 earned runs, striking out 8. It appears Lester has owned the Yankees in recent history, but for Yankees fans like me, let’s hope that is not the case.

As the final days of Yankee Stadium begin to inch forward with no turning back, the Yankees have got to start winning ballgames, period. After 13 consecutive years of making the playoffs it would be a travesty to let ‘the old ballpark’ go to waste without a grand send-off like a 27th World Series Championship. Through all the hardships this team has faced all year, between the injuries to the pitching staff and starting line-up, it’s not hard to believe that the Yankees are not playoff ready this season. They have fought and battled all year, unless some of that old Yankee magic starts to stir-up, then maybe, just maybe the Yankees will be playing in October.

Michael Phelps vs. Mark Spitz: 3 down, 5 to go

After setting yet another World Record last night in the 200m freestyle, United States swimming phenom Michael Phelps, looks well on his way to another World Record, 8 gold medals in a single Olympic Games. After last night's rout, he earned his 3rd gold medal of the 2008 Summer Games and appears on his way to breaking former U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals in a single Olympic Games, which he accomplished in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

It was Phelps's ninth career gold medal, tying him with Spitz, former-U.S. trackstar Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi for the most in Olympic history. Not only is he looking to achieve the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games, but he is looking to win the most gold medals all-time!

There has been strong debate over Spitz's absence from this year's games in Beijing, China. As of yesterday Spitz could be seen on tabloids all over the Internet, speaking about his absence from this year’s games where Phelps holds a strong chance of breaking Spitz's World Record. According to Spitz, the International Olympic Committee or the US Network (which is televising the Olympics in the U.S.) should have invited him to Beijing in order to see Phelps take a shot at his World Record.

"I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am," Spitz told AFP in Hong Kong.

When asked whether or not he was upset with the issue Spitz responded. "They voted me one of the top five Olympians of all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me? Yes, I am a bit upset a bout it."

Spitz thought it would have been a great idea for the IOC to invite him to present one of the gold medals to Phelps. Spitz even admitted to 'admiring' Phelps for his accomplishments and even likened Phelps to himself during the 1972 Munich Games.

"He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did," Spitz said. "He reminds me of myself."

Phelps has already won gold medals in the 400m individual medley (during which he set another World Record) and led off an epic victory in the 4 x 100m free relay. Tonight Phelps will be looking to add 2 more gold medals to his repertoire; he will be competing in the 200m butterfly and the 4 x 200m free relay tonight at 10:00pm on NBC.

This Blockbuster Makes Sense

Last week the MLB Trade Deadline passed with a number of shocking deadline deals that could decide the overall season outcome. Let's take a closer look at one of these major deals.

The Red Sox/Dodgers/Pirates Three-Way Deal
This was indeed the most shocking deal of the deadline that saw the Red Sox deal away their best hitter, OF Manny Ramirez, to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Furthermore, the Red Sox sent OF Brandon Moss and RP Craig Hansen to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for OF Jason Bay, a former NL Rookie of the Year recepient. To help complete the deal the Dodgers sent OF Andy LaRoche to the Pirates.

The thing that irks me most about this trade is that all of the players involved in this trade have potential to break out in their new settings. Ramirez, who has been complaining for years about Red Sox owners John Henry and Larry Luchino finally got his wish to leave Boston. Now that Ramirez has freed himself from the Boston hierarchy, he has essentially given himself a chance to jumpstart his career in Los Angeles. The Dodgers have one of the worst ranked offenses in the league, and the addition of Ramirez's big-bat could spell a 2008 playoff berth for this once lowly Dodger team. Keep in mind, the Dodgers acquired OF Andruw Jones from the Braves in the offseason and saw a managerial change when they inked former Yankees manager Joe Torre. Jones has been anything but the player he was in Atlanta and although many predicted the Dodgers to be a powerhouse in the NL West, they have been anything but. With the acquisition of Manny Ramirez the Dodgers might have just punched their ticket to the playoffs, but keep in mind they still trail the Arizona Diamondbacks by 1.5 games for the division lead.

Everyone has been worried about the loss of Manny Ramirez to the Red Sox line-up simply because they really don't know who Jason Bay is, or what he is capable of. Well let's clarify that right now, Jason Bay is one of the games most underrated players. He is what many consider to be a 5-tool player and he has shown no signs of slowing down. Bay, who will be 30 this upcoming September , has been one of the league's most consistent hitters for the past 3 seasons. He has hit 20 or more home runs in the past 3 seasons, and is a career .283 hitter.

Now people may be saying he is NOT Manny Ramirez, and that is absolutely true! In fact, Bay could turn out to be BETTER THAN Ramirez, especially with the favorable hitting dimensions for right-handed hitters at Fenway Park. In acquiring Bay the Red Sox got the monkey off their back, they got rid of Manny Ramirez and his antics for a solid, focused and well-spoken for player in the form of Jason Bay.

People can argue this trade up and down, but when it comes down to it, the trade made sense for both the Dodgers and the Red Sox. Fans and sportswriters alike love to talk about Bay's lack of playoff experience (he has never played in a postseason game), but does that really matter? Keep in mind Bay was playing for a Pittsburgh team that hasn't sniffed the playoffs since the days of Barry Bonds and hasn't had a winning season in 15 years! When it comes down to it both teams filled major voids in their line-ups, no matter how you look at it. The Dodgers got themselves the big-bat they were looking for and the Red Sox filled the void of losing Manny by acquiring Bay, who has the potential to be the same caliber hitter than Manny was.

With that being said however, I was stymied by the fact that the Red Sox were willing to part ways with OF Brandon Moss and RP Craig Hansen. I had envisioned Hansen being traded at some point in the future but I was shocked to hear Moss's name involved in the deal. Moss has hit well for the Red Sox when he saw playing time and has shown plenty of potential. Many believe Moss could emerge as the next Dave Murphy (OF-Texas). Murphy was acquired by Texas from the Red Sox just before last year's trade deadline in exchange for RP Eric Gagne. We all know how the Eric Gagne went in Boston, UGLY! But what many people don't realize is that Murphy has emerged as one of the best hitters in the American League this season. He currently holds a .275 BA with 64 runs scored and 74 RBI.

Now I can agree with Red Sox fans when they say Moss was not needed in the outfield considering the Red Sox have a surplus of outfielders (Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew and Jason Bay) but why were the Red Sox willing to part ways with Moss? Wouldn't it have made more sense for them to shed the contract of Coco Crisp? There were no talks about trading Crisp during the deadline and it somewhat shocked me. Crisp was being dangled in a number of trade-talks before the season started, and I was certainly expecting him to be traded at some point mid-season, especially after seeing Moss excel when he received playing time. If you are a Red Sox fan, just pray that Moss isn't another Murphy in the making, or you might be sorry.