The last time I saw Paul Byrd pitch at Yankee Stadium was on Yankee Elimination Day, 2007.

A Byrd win in game 2 of this series wont quite mean the same thing, but it will make fending off YED in 2008 that much more difficult to avoid.

Did I mention that Sidney Ponson is going for the MFYs?

I like the Sox chances in this one. A lot.

Manny Ramirez got doubled off second on a Nomar Garciaparra liner in a game Derek Lowe was pitching.


Weird...

Oh, and don't look now but, all our potential play-off opponents are struggling... while the Sox are not. Excellent.

If you've seen it once, you've seen it a million times.

The Yankees looked as tight as a drum last night. Win tonight and they're toast.

Is it safe to say tonight's game is the biggest of the year for the MFY?

Their biggest game of the season is in the hands of Sidney Ponson.

Battle of the Uglies... Round one

Except that these guys often come through for them when least expected, unlilke . . . A-Fraud, A-Wad, Boo-Rod, etc.

Actually, Manny got doubled off Third Base on a liner back to Ryan Zimmerman.

Tight?!? They looked moribund to me. They're already toast - soggy toast.

The Yankees are having a difficult century.

Byrd flies, Ponson sinks.

Win it for Alito!

Everyone is saying they need to take 2 out of 3 to have a shot.

Step on their necks and their goddamned season tonight.

Yesterday they were all saying that they needed to sweep to have a shot

Waiting for the Sox lineup...

YANKEES (70-61)
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
I. Rodriguez C
Ponson RHP

Edit: Also, no Kotsay in the lineup tonight per Extra Bases

My guess at the Boston lineup

Ells
DP
Papi
Youk
Bay
Lowrie
Casey
Tek
Coco

Maybe Tito will let Casey play tonight; he and Cora both have decent, not great, numbers against Fat Sir Sid. If EB is wrong and Kotsay makes in early enough to start, I hope he slots in for Ellsbury; Crisp is hot right now and is 4-8 against Ponson. If that happens, I would bet that Tito puts Coco leadoff and Kotsay lower.

There is always the danger that Tito sits Lowrie and plays Casey & Cora. Please no!

Tito HATES Sean Casey

I mean what the fuck is going on here?

Red Sox

1. Ellsbury, RF
2. Pedroia, 2B
3. Ortiz, DH
4. Youkilis, 1B
5. Bay, LF
6. Lowrie, 3B
7. Varitek, C
8. Cora, SS
9. Crisp, CF

It is strange that Tito wouldn't play him yesterday because he hadn't been able to hit for so long, and then worsens that by refusing to play him tonight.

Although we love to hate on Cora, he actually has been OK lately (750 ops in both July and Aug).

My question is which defensive lineup is worse--Casey DP Lowrie Youk or Youk DP Cora Lowrie? I'm not sure really. I think Tito thinks he's helping Byrd with the Cora IF configuration, but I'm not sure.

Any defensive alignment that includes Alex Cora playing SS is the worst.

The two teams that are struggling are the Angels and the Twins...the Rays...sorry the Rays have been even with us in the last ten (6-4 each)...The White Sox (next victim?) have been the hottest in the AL going 8-2 in their last ten. I wouldn't say everyone is struggling. We're not exactly doing that great. I would like to see an extended winning streak before I declare confidence in our chances of winning the division.

Nothing like a pig roast tonight!

yeah, last 10, but in the last 2 games, we are kicking ass!!!

I would have obviously rather seen Sean Casey than Cora, but all in all that isn't such a horrible lineup. I much prefer the 9/1 combo of Crisp/Ellsbury over last nights version of Cash/Ellsbury. With Molina out of the lineup maybe we can get some movement on the base paths.

Because Pudge is a slouch behind the dish.

I'm actually holding out hope for the division. We're 3.5 out (4 back in the loss column) and playing a stumbling Yankees squad. Toronto, on the other hand, has kept pace with the Sox and Rays over the last 30 games. Tampa Bay is 20-10, the Sox are 18-12 and the Jays are also 18-12. All three teams are 13-7 in their last 20 and 6-4 in their last ten. It's a really odd statement to make, but playing the Yankees right now gives us a chance to close the gap on the Rays.

If we take one of the remaining 2 games and they drop one of their next 2 against Toronto, it's 2.5 back with 33 to play. More of a hill than a mountain to climb.

Tito was saying he doesn't think Casey has shaken the rust off enough after having such a long time off. While I don't want Cora in there, if Tito doesn't think Casey can't provide the difference that an otherwise healthy Casey would give then I'll go with it.

Wouldn't that leave us 3.5 behind?

Comparing their CS rates in 2008 (45% v. 35%), who would you rather try to run on?

Oh, right... that was rather stupid of me. Still, 3.5 back with 33 isn't quite a mountain.

If Kotsay is in NY by game time, I say put him in there instead of CoCo


Looking forward to this lineup vs. RHP (hoping at least)

Drew
Pedroia
Papi
Youks
Bay
Casey/Lowell
Lowrie
Kotsay
Tek

That one is fairly deep.

Nah. Bad thought. Coco is red hot and has hit Ponson well.

Dreamboat OTOH is ice cold.

Kotsay is expected to be in uniform tonight at Yankee Stadium (mlb.com and Globe) so who knows? Maybe a late line-up change or at least a pinch hit situation.

Well, if Coco or Ellsbury is on first the batter can expect a steady diet of fastballs.

The idea that the Red Sox can't get him on a private jet or something and are subject to flight times like the rest of us is amusing to me. I picture him trying to stuff his bag full of batting gear into the overhead compartment and getting shit from the stewardess. Good stuff.

.590 OPS since the AS break

214/267/250 in the past 7 days

It's actually 44.8% v. 36.9% (according to espn anyway) which means pudge has allowed 4 more steals than Molina in 165 more innings (albeit 2 less attempts).

Career CS rates are 41.5% (Molina) vs 46.8% (Ivan). So I'd rather not run wild on either of them.

With all due respect, either way, having Rodriguez behind the plate isnt going to increase the run game and it shows given that he has had 2 less attempts than Molina to throw people out in 165 more innings.

I'd prefer running against the guy who has developed shoulder tenderness and throwing wildness in the past few weeks (Pudge).

This is usually the case when a player gets traded. They have to fly commercially or their agent hires a charter plane and his previous team ships all the contents of his locker either to his new team or the stadium he is traveling to.

Byrd with baffle the Yankees with his windup. Ponson will baffle the Red Sox batters with his ability to make loud clapping sounds with his lard folds. Byrd's baffling will baffle Bronx bomber bats while Beantown's bats counter baffle Ponson's baffling with beautiful beatdown's of bombastic balance. Boo ya. Make this happen gents. Go Sox. Win tonight. Here comes nail #2.

Touche, but this is in comparison to the guy who took a hard foul tip off his throwing arm collarbone last night and dropped to the ground in pain.

They're both excellent defensive catchers and both effectively limit the running game, thats my point.

I purposely didn't specify the color of the Sox, fyi.

Nomar your avatar is so funny--I keep laughing at it, and thinking "Let's go all best buy on the MFY!"

Thanks. I'm actually hoping we go all Dustin Pedroia on the MFY, prompting 70% of the classy fans to leave by the 6th inning.

Kotsay can't get from ATL to LGA by game time? WTF, Acrophobia?

If it was Manny for Jason Bay, they get a plane. The Doug Mirabelli's and Kotsay's of the world hope they don't get stuck in Coach.

Dougie would have needed one of those seat belt extenders.

I guess you mean Ells, right?

Coco is at .474/.524/.632 (1.155) last 7, .686 post ASB

Ells is .490 OPS last 7, .620 post ASB

stats from ESPN

Do you think I just made up the numbers? I wasn't aware that rounding was off the table.

According to Baseball-reference:
35.2941176% v. 44.7761194%

Who said anything about running wildly?

Tricky Tricky.

I still think the division is within grasp, but we've got to chip away some of that lead every week. This isn't a cake walk. It's going to be tough.

Kotsay's in uniform at the Toilet--just showed a pic on NESN

Is there any way in hell Byrd isn't lit up like a roman candle tonight? I think anything better than 6 ER in 4 IP will be a miracle.

Another nail in the MFY coffin tonight boys, with some more bottom of the line-up action, and added amunition and a nice jolt of adrenalin from the new guy. Kick ass Byrd and finish these suckers off tonight!

GO SOX - WIN TODAY!

I agree with this post so much, I put my money where my mouth is: I benched Byrd in my fantasy league.