The fact that the New York Yankees title defense begins tonight against the Boston Red Sox just makes everything sweeter. The only thing that would have been better is if the Yanks opened up at home against their archrivals, hoisting the championship banner they fought long and hard for.
No matter. The rivalry will still be intense. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the new players on both sides, namely Curtis Granderson, respond to the pressure. I'm also incredibly grateful to the cross-town Mets for taking Yankee killer Jason Bay off Boston's hands.
For the Yankees, the main concern is health and they got a fresh dose of reality this week with injuries to numerous players, including Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira. While it seems all the players will be ready for tonight, it's still going to be a major concern throughout the season for a team that is so heavily dependent on its starters and has a very weak bench (Marcus Thames would have probably been cut by now in any other year or on another team).
For the Red Sox, the worry is whether the revamped team focused on pitching and defense will be enough to overcome the Yankees. No doubt Boston has a great rotation and you always want strong defenders behind those pitchers. But they let Bay go and didn't really replace his bat with Mike Cameron or anyone else for that matter. And it's hard to imagine Big Papi David Ortiz being able to regain his previous, crushing form.
But things heat up whenever these two teams get together and 2010 will be no exception. The title defense starts now!
No matter. The rivalry will still be intense. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the new players on both sides, namely Curtis Granderson, respond to the pressure. I'm also incredibly grateful to the cross-town Mets for taking Yankee killer Jason Bay off Boston's hands.
For the Yankees, the main concern is health and they got a fresh dose of reality this week with injuries to numerous players, including Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira. While it seems all the players will be ready for tonight, it's still going to be a major concern throughout the season for a team that is so heavily dependent on its starters and has a very weak bench (Marcus Thames would have probably been cut by now in any other year or on another team).
For the Red Sox, the worry is whether the revamped team focused on pitching and defense will be enough to overcome the Yankees. No doubt Boston has a great rotation and you always want strong defenders behind those pitchers. But they let Bay go and didn't really replace his bat with Mike Cameron or anyone else for that matter. And it's hard to imagine Big Papi David Ortiz being able to regain his previous, crushing form.
But things heat up whenever these two teams get together and 2010 will be no exception. The title defense starts now!
Thanks to Googie man via en.Wikipedia for the photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment