The New York Yankees were one of the deadline winners on paper, but it’s the Boston Red Sox who have gone on a roll. As has become the norm, these two rivals are fighting it out atop the AL East standings. Boston is trying to run away with the division, but they’ll have to play better against the Yankees to do it. New York has won six of nine in the season series to date.
This series will be contested from Friday, August 11, 2017 through Sunday, August 13, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in New York. All three games of this series will be on national television with MLB Network carrying Friday night’s action before Fox Sports 1 and ESPN cover the games on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
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Pitching Matchups
The Red Sox lefty-heavy rotation is alive and well—or mostly well, David Price is still out. Boston will use exclusively lefties against the Yankees in the three-game series. Eduardo Rodriguez will start the series opener on Friday with Drew Pomeranz and Chris Sale following the next two days.
Friday’s game figures to be E-Rod against Jaime Garcia for the Yanks.
The southpaw’s first start for the Yankees was a rough one. He went 4.2 innings against the Indians, allowing six runs. He’ll get a chance to redeem himself with a win over the division rival BoSox.
Garcia is usually a reliable arm and did have three straight quality starts—one for the Twins and two for Atlanta before his Yankee’s debut. All the movement may have had an impact though before his string of quality starts, he did allow five runs or more in four straight games.
While Garcia is coming off a clunker, Rodriguez looked good in his last start, throwing six innings and giving up only two runs against the Royals.
Rodriguez is 4-3 in 15 games with a 4.08 ERA. E-Rod’s number have shot up since his June 1 start. Prior to that, his ERA was 2.77. Since coming off the DL, he had allowed 11 runs in 14.2 innings before his performance against the White Sox. We’ll see if that can carry over against a more established Yankees’ lineup. He’s got a 3.31 career ERA against the Bronx Bombers.
In the middle game of the series, the Sox start Pomeranz while the Yankees go with their ace Luis Severino.
Pomeranz may be Boston’s number two starter behind Sale. He’s 11-4 with a 3.36 ERA though is 1.343 WHIP is a bit high.
Nevertheless, the southpaw is rolling. He hasn’t notched the loss since June 11 and the team is 7-3 in those 10 starts since that loss. He’s got a 3.00 ERA in seven career games against the Yankees though they scored four runs over six innings in their previous game against him.
As for Severino, he was an All-Star this year and for good reason. At 9-4 with a 2.91 ERA, he has carried this Yankees’ rotation at times and given age, ineffectiveness and injury, he’s been the only sure thing every fifth day.
The youngster has really pitched great, cutting down on the homers and walks, putting up a 1.069 WHIP and 2.91 FIP.
As scary as it may sound, he’s been even better since the break. He’s 4-0 with a 0.83 ERA in 32.2 innings. He’s red-hot right now and throwing the ball exceptionally well. He’s also had Boston’s number this year. He’s 2-0 against them in two starts, allowing one runs and seven hits over 14 innings.
The series wraps on Sunday night and John Ferrell and the Sox will send Chris Sale to the hill in that game.
New York hasn’t announced the start for Sunday, but does it really matter? Sale is the leading AL Cy Young Award candidate. He’s been filthy. He’s 14-4 with a 2.57 ERA and 0.880 WHIP. He’s thrown 161.1 innings, has 229 strikeouts and has struck out 7.9 batters for each he’s walked. Those numbers are ridiculous.
Who's Hot?
Didi Gregorius is red hot with eight homers, 17 RBIs and a .364 average since the break. He hasn’t walked much in those 25 games, but he hasn’t really had to either.
While the Yankees have generally gone cold offensively, Chase Headley and Ronald Torreyes have been good in the second half.
Right now, the New York bullpen is lockdown. There were some concerns about Aroldis Chapman for a little while and Dellin Betances had his hiccups heading into the All-Star game, both have pitched better lately and the additions along with the performances from Adam Warren and Chase Shreve illustrate the depth.
The Red Sox offense hasn’t been nearly as dominant as the Yankees. Boston has missed David Ortiz’s bat and haven’t been able to replicate the historic offense pace from last year.
That’s okay as the pitching, defense and ability to string together a few hits when needed go the job done.
Right now, however, this team is getting a spark from Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers. Boston already has the talent up-and-down the lineup to be an offensive juggernaut. They just need the spark and maybe, just maybe, the production of these two could filter down the lineup.
Who's Not?
The league has figured out how to pitch to Aaron Judge and it’s now his responsibility to show he can make the necessary adjustments. Or, if you want a more conspiracy inspired answer: the home run derby broke him.
Regardless of the reason, Judge has not been good in the second half. He’s hitting .167. He’s still hitting homers when he is connecting. He’s also recorded a team leading 21 walks to keep his OBP respectable, but 38 strikeouts in 24 second half games is a bit ridiculous.
Other players to struggle include Matt Holliday, Clint Frazier and Gary Sanchez, meaning struggles from the veteran clubhouse presence, the young rookie sensation and last year’s rookie sensation.
Hanley Ramirez has shown some recent pop, but he’s still not hitting nearly as well as he should as the DH in Boston. His .214 second half average and sub-.300 OBP leave plenty to be desired.
Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. each have disappointing second half numbers, too.
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