It certainly is weird to watch a Red Sox-Yankees series knowing that Boston has finally won some championships. I miss the good old days of 1918 chants and Sawx fans wearing bitter t-shirts that said things such as, “Take your 26 rings and stick them up your ass.” Oh well. Like every Red Sox-Yankees series, this weekend’s matchup had its share of big moments and controversy. Saturday’s game suspiciously went into a rain delay right as the Yankees had turned around momentum and had Alex Rodriguez batting with runners on first and second, with Boston leading 4 to 3. After a long rain delay, the Yankees’ star, who undoubtedly had cramped up, struck out to end the inning. Poor A-Rod, he just cannot get a break. Anyway, the Red Sox-Yankees series was not the only thing that happened in baseball’s second week. Here’s a quick recap.
Three up:
1. Arizona Diamondbacks: The D-backs won eight straight after starting the year 1-2 and have opened up a 2.5-game lead on the second-place San Diego Padres. Even more impressive is the fact that only two of those nine wins have been by less than five runs. Twenty-year-old outfielder Justin Upton has ignited the offense. Upton is hitting .400 and already has five homers and 15 runs batted in, and is an early favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. On the mound, ace Brandon Webb is 3-0 with a 2.14 earned run average.
2. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals, who finished below .500 last season, are now 9-4 and have the second-best record in baseball. Unlike the Diamondbacks, the Cards have succeeded by winning close games. Saturday’s game serves as a perfect example of the way St. Louis has won all season. The Cardinals battled back from a five-run deficit and then won the game on a Chris Duncan single. Albert Pujols has done his part, hitting .390. But the player who has really stepped up is former pitcher Rick Ankiel, who has four homers (one more than Pujols) for the team lead.
3. Baltimore Orioles: The O’s, who were picked by many to lose at least a hundred games, have been the biggest early surprise. The AL East leaders feature a rotation of Jeremy Guthrie, Daniel Cabrera, Steve Trachsel, Adam Loewen and Brian Burres. Honestly, how many of those guys have you heard of? The team’s two young outfielders, Nick Markakis and newly acquired Adam Jones (from the Erik Bedard trade), are budding stars. Unfortunately, not many in Baltimore seem to care. The Orioles are 27th in attendance, averaging just more than 21,000 per game. Maybe it’s the team’s less-than-stellar slogan: This is Birdland.
Three down:
1. Washington Nationals: The Nats have performed a reverse-Diamondback. The team started out the year 3-0 but then lost their next nine, until winning one Sunday. The Nats are dead-last in baseball in hitting and 27th in pitching. Ryan Zimmerman, the face of the franchise, is hitting just .226. All in all, not exactly the best way to open up a new ballpark.
2. C.C. Sabathia: The 290-pound Indians’ pitcher is 0-2 with a 11.57 earned run average. In his last outing, on April 11 against Oakland, Sabathia surrendered nine runs, did not make it out of the fourth inning, and was booed by his home fans. “A tough night … he really wasn’t able to find it,” said manager Eric Wedge in one of the biggest understatements this season. Not surprisingly, it was young teammate Fausto Carmona, not Sabathia, who got the big contract extension last week.
3. Alfonso Soriano: The Cubs’ 136-million-dollar man is hitting a measly .175 and only has five RBIs. Cubs fans have looked everywhere for possible reasons to explain Sori’s struggles. “Do you guys think Soriano is jealous because of Fukudome, because last year Soriano was getting all of the attention being the new good guy in town, and now that Fukudome is off to a good start everyone is talking about Fukudome instead of Soriano,” asked one message board poster on Cubs.com. Umm, no comment.
YouTube Clip of the Week:
If that last post did not convince you that Cubs fans had too much time on their hands, this certainly will:
Best series next week:
Indians-Red Sox: April 14 and 15. The circus that is the Red Sox and Yankees may have ended, but the defending champs welcome in the Tribe for a rematch of last year’s ALCS.