Series Preview: The Rivalry Renews

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Although the rivalry is not now what it was ten years ago or even in the late 1970’s, when the Yankees and Red Sox get together, its always a lot of fun. This time, the Bronx will host the series. Both teams have greatly under performed thus far, but that does not matter because records are thrown out the window when the two clubs come together. The Bombers are 5-2 against Boston this year, and will look to continue their success this weekend.                   

                                               Probable Pitching Match-ups

          Red Sox                                                @                                           Yankees

 Brandon Workman          Friday, June 27th:  7:05 pm EST                 Vidal Nuno

        Jon Lester                Saturday, June 28th: 7:15 pm EST          Masahiro Tanaka

      John Lackey               Sunday, June 29th: 8:05 pm EST                Chase Whitley

Who’s Hot?: David Ortiz seems to always be on fire. He is again. Over the last seven games, he has hit .333 with two long balls and six RBI. He’s obviously good anywhere he plays, but Big Papi in Yankee Stadium is scary.

For the Yanks, Jacoby Ellsbury is on one of his tears again. He is 8 for his last 22, which gives him a .364 average during the span, to go along with a couple of RBI.

Who’s Not?:  Xander Bogaerts and Stephen Drew have been awful at the plate over the last week. Bogaerts is hitting under .200 over the stretch, with no home runs or RBI, but Drew has done much worse considering he has not even picked up a hit this week. Both are in terrible slumps, which will hopefully continue through the series in the Bronx.                                               

                                                      *What To Watch For*

Only God knows why, but Vidal Nuno is still in the rotation, and will be given the ball in the opener on Friday. Nuno has never faced the Red Sox, but one can only hope that is a good thing, because he has not been fooling anyone with his stuff this year. Masahiro Tanaka will start the middle game of the series on Saturday. In his one start against the Red Sox, which came on April 22nd, Tanaka pitched 7.1 innings giving up just two runs on seven hits.

Lastly, the final game of the series which also happens to be the game of the week will go to Chase Whitley. The 25-year-old looks to redeem himself after getting rocked his last outing. Just like Nuno, this will be Whitley’s first shot against the Sox, as he hopes to pitch much better this time around.