The underdog Phils cash for us yesterday and it’s onto the BoSox phase of our September scheme.
Free Pick
Most Yankee fans started looking ahead to 2017, and even 2018, when their team lost Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez and traded away Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. New York’s activity at the trade deadline left no doubt that the franchise was already making moves that would best suit the club beyond 2016. But Gary Sanchez‘s super hero August changed everything and the Yankees are on the fringe of the American League wild card with two weeks left to play.
I say the fringe because, despite being just two games back of playoff positioning, New York will still have to bypass one AL East opponent, Detroit and the red-hot Seattle Mariners (winners of eight in a row). I don’t think they’ll be there after this weekend, though.
Losers of two straight at home, the Red Sox welcome the Yankees this weekend with a chance to bury their rival. Eddie Rodriguez gets the ball in game one of the four-game set against Masahiro Tanaka. Both have pitched extremely well against the opponent (twice) this season. And while Tanaka has the better numbers over the the entire season, Rodriguez is pitching as well right now, just 88 innings into his year. I like his chances to contain lefties Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner (8-for-30 combined career vs. E-Rod) at the top of the lineup, which would give him the chance to attack Sanchez in low-leverage spots.
Meanwhile, Boston stays at home after being shutout by the Orioles in the series finale. The Sox scored just two runs the game before, but there just isn’t any way to hold Boston’s lineup down for long. Tanaka’s done it twice, but he could be the victim of some bad timing here if the Sox have some extra pop stored up for this one. Boston has Price and Pomeranz lined up for games three and four so New York will have lots of pressure on them to win this one. I’m looking past that though. I genuinely believe this one could be a sweep that starts Thursday night. We’ll keep rolling along with half unit plays.
Gut Says: Red Sox -114
YTD: 33-23-1 +4.88
2015: 31-25-5 +1.09
2014: 45-28-3 +9.02
al east • Boston Red Sox • eddy rodriguez • eduardo rodriguez • fenway park • masahiro tanaka • New York Yankees • wild card