Aggressive call on the Sox sweep, Patrick. Got to be happy with Beckett and Dice-K lined up for the series. And it's always nice to miss Pettitte.
But, seriously, do any of the starters on this Yankee team REALLY scare you? And, except for Joba, does any Yankee PITCHER make you worry?
It’s not quite the days when you’d pray to miss Cone, Wells or even Clemens. (Guys who might have brushed back Manny). Or hope Troy O’Leary and the boys could scrape together some runs before Jeff Nelson or Ramiro Mendoza came out of the bullpen.
Wang? Mussina? Come on. I won't even pile on my man Farnsworth. Yeah, Joba’s the real deal, and maybe Hughes will step up this weekend. But the Bombers just don’t have much to inspire the fear they used to.
With that in mind, what two teams have had so many classic showdowns in April and May as these two have in the last few years? Here goes some of my favorite pre-All Star break games between the two...
May 28, 2000 The Sox and Yankees meet in the Bronx, at the top of the standings. Pedro, in his prime, against Clemens, in his third prime (how DID he keep doing it?). Before a national audience, the game is scoreless going into the ninth.
In steps Trot Nixon, whom earlier in the game Clemens had told to shut up and sit down after Trot complained about a called third strike.
Nixon takes Clemens deep to right center, and thousands of Sox fans in the Bronx go bananas.
And the way Pedro owned the Yanks then, the game was over.
Man, I miss Trot.
April 20-22, 2004 The Sox come into the Bronx for a three-game series. Pedro and Derek Lowe throw donuts. Bill Mueller hits a three-run bomb. The Yanks bullpen implodes. Jeter is BOOED! Sox sweep. Damon gives moronic post-game interviews. Everyone awaits an official comment from Steinbrenner.
Alright, not a great series. But it was sure a sign of things to come.
April 14, 2005 Tim Wakefield outpitched the LATEST big-money Yankees free agent signee, Randy Johnson, at Fenway. But the lasting image of this game, of course, is Gary Sheffield blowing a gasket in the right field corner.
You remember: Varitek rattles a triple into the corner. As Sheffield tries to find the ball at the base of the wall, a fan reaches down and swats him. Sheffield picks up the ball, takes a quick swing at the fan, and then fires the ball to the infield. Beer flies. Police sprint onto the field.
There were different stories about what happened, but the fans toughness impressed me. I was about 20 rows deep behind the Pesky Pole that night, safe from any player contact, and Sheffield still scared me.
June 16-18, 1986 We’re going way back on this one...back when the Blue Jays and Orioles really were still the dominant teams in the "East," divisional rivals didn't meet for the first time until June, and the Sox hadn't made much noise in a few years.
But they came into the Bronx in first place that year with a young pitching staff and swept three straight, with Clemens outdueling Ron Guidry, 10-1, (1978 was a long way off, bub) in the opener.
But the classic moment of the series was Don Baylor, the Sox new DH acquired from the Yankees for Mike Easler in March, hammering a pitch into the gap to clinch the sweep.
This was the same Baylor whom Steinbrenner had earlier called washed up. And, looking back, what gives with the Sox and Yankees trading DHs before the season opener? Clemens sure was slim, then.
April 20-22, 2007 Alright, back to the modern era. This series last year set the tone for the whole season. You remember, the Yankees blew a 5-run lead in the 8th inning (including Mariano, who gave up 4 runs himself). Yankee fans may also remember this as the night they met Hideki Okajima.
Then, two nights later, on national television, Dice-K makes his debut against the Yankees, pitches OK, drills Jeter AND A-Rod, and, oh yeah, four Sox batters - including J.D. Drew, for God's sake - go deep on consecutive at-bats.
Jeff Nelson wouldn't have put up with that.
- Dennehy