Yanks Go Yard Radio Show: Yankees-Red Sox (9/15-9/18)

On last night’s Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, we looked ahead to the four game series this weekend between the Yankees and the Red Sox

At the beginning of last night’s Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I talked about the New York Yankees (77-68) losing two out of three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. During this series, Aaron Judge strained his oblique and he is now out for the remainder of the season. During the show last night, the news broke from Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball that the Yankees signed designated hitter Billy Butler to a contract.

With 17 games left in the season, the Yankees are two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the second Wild Card spot in the American League. Tonight, they begin a four game series at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox (81-64), who lead New York by four games in the division and they have a one game lead on the Orioles.

This season, the Red Sox have one of the best lineups in baseball. Since the All-Star Break, John Farrell’s club has led the league in batting average (.276) and runs scored (315) and they are third in home runs (85). One of the changes Farrell made to the lineup was moving center fielder and AL MVP candidate Mookie Betts (.311, 30 home runs, 104 RBI’s) out of the leadoff spot.

With Betts out of the leadoff spot, second baseman Dustin Pedroia has become the new leadoff hitter and has flourished in that role. Pedroia is hitting .370 over his last 54 games with five home runs, 29 RBI’s, and has an on-base percentage of .423.

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As far as the starting pitching is concerned, David Price (Saturday’s starter) has won his last seven outings as he starts to round into form. The Yankees do catch a break in that they won’t be facing Rick Porcello this weekend. Porcello’s 20 wins this season put him right at the top of the Cy Young conversation.

Right now, when you look at the Red Sox bullpen, they don’t have that reliable eighth inning guy behind their closer, Craig Kimbrel. Boston used Clay Buchholz in that spot for a while, but he had to go back into the rotation with knuckleballer Steven Wright out because of a shoulder injury.

To get more information on the Red Sox, my guest for last night’s Yanks Go Yard Radio Show was Tracy Katzke of BoSox Injection. Tracy gave his take on Pedroia in the leadoff spot. Plus, how might the Red Sox rotation might look behind Price and Porcello if they make the playoffs. Here are the other topics we discussed:

• Takeaways from Red Sox last two series
• Impressions of Yoan Moncada
• Can Moncada/Andrew Benintendi/Gary Sanchez help revitalize Yankees-Red Sox rivalry?
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• Masahiro Tanaka (Tonight’s Yankees starter) is 7-2 in his last 11 starts
• Eduardo Rodriguez (Tonight’s Red Sox starter) has yet to win a game at home this season
• Luis Cessa (Tomorrow’s Yankees starter) gave up three home runs in his last start
• Buchholz (Tomorrow’s Red Sox starter) going back and forth between roles
• Mismatch between Price and Bryan Mitchell Saturday afternoon?
• Drew Pomeranz (Sunday’s Red Sox starter) not getting much run support from his offense
• C.C. Sabathia (Sunday’s Yankees starter) coming off one of his best outings of the season against the Dodgers
• Yankees hitters to watch: Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley
• Red Sox hitters to watch: Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez
• Koji Uehara’s impact on the bullpen

Next: Castro May Be Back To His Old Self

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