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Sweeping Pure Evil: Priceless.
Yes, that was an immensely satisfying weekend. Three wins in a row over the hated Yankees. A huge comeback on Friday night in a game that seemed irretrievably lost. A major league record-tying four consecutive homers in tonight’s series finale. Rivalry newcomer Daisuke Matsuzaka plunking both Slappy and Jetuh. Still, it wasn’t all good news.
I could expend lots of brain cells crafting a finely reasoned analysis of the series, but why bother? Hell, it’s only April, and there will be 15 more of these games. So instead, I’ll just cut and paste the comment I left on the Goat’s website.
The Good:1) Obviously, sweeping Pure Evil is always good.
2) The big comeback to beat Rivera on Friday.
3) The emergence of Okajima as an excellent setup man for the PapelBot.
4) Manny and Tek are finally starting to hit.
5) We scored more runs for Matsuzaka tonight than in his first three starts combined.The bad:
1) Our top three starters combined to give up 25 hits and 16 runs in 20.2 innings pitched.
2) Daisuke is MUCH less effective when men are on base and he has to pitch from the stretch…a discrepancy so glaring that even Joe Morgan couldn’t miss it.
3) Lowell’s second homer was the only hit all night with men in scoring position. We stranded 22 runners.
4) Against a Yankee team ravaged by injuries to its pitching staff and missing Matsui and Posada from its lineup, we had to come from behind to win three squeakers.Oh well, the good definitely outweighed the bad. However, this is far from a perfect team. The hitting with men in scoring position has to improve, and the bullpen (apart from Papelbon and Okajima) is still an adventure. Still, the Yankees are wounded, and this is the time to put some distance on them. We all know they won’t be down for long.
Chapter #9,652,785 of The Only Rivalry That Matters convenes in one week.
