Red Sox Report: Yankees’ Problems Similar To Boston’s

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

While much has been made in these parts about the terrible start the Boston Red Sox are off to in 2012, there has been little attention paid to the equally shaky start their neighbors from the south have gotten off to as well.

Just a few hours down route 95 in the Bronx, New York, the Yankees haven’t exactly ripped it up to start 2012. In fact, following Boston’s 8-6 over first place Baltimore and Kansas City’s 6-0 whitewash of New York Monday night, the Red Sox improved to an even .500 (21-21) which is the same record that the Yankees have after 42 games. Both teams are tied for last place in the American League East 5 ½ games behind the Orioles.

The good news for both Boston and New York is that there are still 120 games to play and you wouldn’t think that Baltimore is a team that will remain in the division race for the long haul. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is a team that both the Red Sox and the Yankees should be concerned with.

But before both teams can worry about the Rays, they need to cure their own ills. For Boston, it’s all about their starting rotation. It is no coincidence that the team has won 9 of their last 11 games ever since the starting rotation started pitching well. The Red Sox also have some injuries to worry about with the latest being Cody Ross who will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken foot. When you add Ross to a list that includes Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Kevin Youkilis, that’s a lot of production missing from the line-up. Still, the Sox’ line-up is producing meaning it’s still about the pitching.

Down in New York, the Yankees are suffering from similar problems. Like Boston, New York has not had quality pitching on a consistent basis as well. Here’s a breakdown of the two teams pitching numbers and how they ranks in various categories through Monday:
BOSTON NEW YORK
4.60 (28) ERA    4.16 (22)
19 (25)    QUALITY STARTS 15 (27)
1.41 (26) WHIP 1.37 (24)
.266 (26)          BAA .264 (24)

It’s amazing how similar the two team’s pitching numbers are.

Where the Red Sox actually have a slight edge over the Yankees at the moment is on offense. Boston’s team batting average, slugging percentage and runs scored are all better than New York’s with the Yankees enjoying a slight edge in on-base percentage. But the biggest differential is how the teams are hitting with runners in scoring position. Boston (.299) is hitting .068 points higher than New York (.231) with 30 more hits than the Yankees have in such situations.

The biggest problems for the Yankees individually are the underproductive bats of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Texiera. A-Rod is looking every bit his 36 years of age hitting just .276 with 5 homeruns and 15 RBI. But his average seems downright gaudy compared to Texiera who is hitting a less-than-robust .227 with 5 homers and 20 RBI.

While Boston has won 9 of its last 11 games, New York has dropped 7 of their last 9. But that’s baseball. Teams get hot and they can cool off for stretches during the course of a 6-month season. But you have to wonder if the days of these two teams dominating the American League East are over with? The Tampa Bay Rays certainly subscribe to that theory and have backed it up by winning a couple of division titles and a Wild Card spot themselves.

It should be an interesting race this year in what has become a flawed American League East.

NOTES:

-Cody Ross (broken foot) will become the 15th player to go on the disabled list this season for the Red Sox. Ironically, Boston’s patch-work outfield had a pretty good night in Baltimore on Monday. Marlon Byrd had a double and a run scored while Daniel Nava had 2 hits, 1 run and 1 RBI. Rookie Che-Hsuan Lin picked up his first career hit in the Majors in the 8th inning and scored the team’s 8th run of the game when Dustin Pedroia drove him in with an RBI single.

-David Ortiz hit a moon shot to right field at Camden Yards Monday night in the 6th inning. It was his 10th homerun of the season. Big Papi also has 30 RBI this season.

-It was not a good night for Clay Buchholz who was staked to an early 2-0 lead by his teammates in the top of the third. Buchholz proceeded to give up 4 runs to the O’s in the bottom of the third thanks in part to issuing 3 walks. He finished the night going 5 1/3 innings allowing 6 hits and 5 earned runs. He walked 4 and struck out 2.

-Kevin Youkilis played his final game with the Pawsox Monday night going 1-2 at the plate. All-in-all he went 4-10 with the Pawsox including 3 walks. He will rejoin the team in Baltimore on Tuesday.

-If you’re wondering what will happen to Will Middlebrooks once Youkilis is activated, the answer is nothing at the moment. With Cody Ross on the shelf, Middlebrooks will likely remain in Boston at least for the short term. Last night he went 3-5 with a run and an RBI. His run came on a play where he bluffed Baltimore’s Tommy Hunter into balking in the 6th inning to tie the game at 5-5.

-Tuesday, Felix Doubront (4-1) will face Brian Matusz (3-4) at 7:05pm.