The Red Sox pitching certainly looked to be much better in March, but injuries and a relatively ineffective Lackey on the Red Sox side, and a some considerable luck (Colon/Garcia) on the Yankee side have at the very least evened things out.

Sabathia, Colon, Nova, Garcia doesn’t look much (if at all) worse than Lester, Beckett, Lackey, Bedard in a playoff series.

I chalk up a a good chunk of this record to CC not being CC. I understand historically he’s not great against the Sox, but it doesn’t strike me as out of the question that he do better, if not as well as he does against everyone else.

And let’s not forget the Yankees batters basically beat Beckett last night. It’s just that the Yankee pitching was worse.

And yeah bad luck. The Yanks’ two worst pitchers go this series. (Albeit who in their right mind would wanna see Garcia out there with his slop bucket??)

But I’m not saying it’s luck. It could be match-ups. But as Ms. Oct. says, what exactly are the match-up problems supposed to be? Why do CC and Ivan match up badly against Boston but really well against, ummm, everybody else?

I love CC and Mo, but does anyone feel confident when those two are on the mound against the Red Sox and it’s a 1/2 run lead? I sure don’t. AND THIS IS MO I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!

We are mainly losing because of our pitching and some bad luck. Both lineups have great hitters and good at-bats. Beckett had good stuff yesterday and still gave up 5 runs on only 6 hits and no homers. Coming into the game, he had a 2.43 ERA. So he struggled against a good lineup like CC did. And he prevailed like CC. Hughes similarly labored but doesn’t have the maturity or the out pitch needed to win (yet).

Today the Yanks face Lester who hasn’t given up 5 runs since May. Ugh.

If bad luck means that the Yankees have just unluckily played worse than they are capable against their main rival over 14 games while the sox have played to the best of their ability over the exact same games, then fine.

But as long as the sox get all the credit for kicking the yankees asses all year – it’s not like this record is an undeserved fluke.

[20] i think the opposite scenario is more likely. apparently garcia takes forever to warm up, which is why he didn’t start the year in the pen. so i think they would be more likely to use him as a starter than a reliever in the post season. also girardi has experience with hughes in the pen that was good, so i would think that would be a factor.

I will join Jon waaaaay out on that limb and agree that it would be better if Teix had the same number of homers but was batting 73 points higher.

However, I do not agree with Weeping that the Red Sox’ advantage in .300 hitters is a big problem. The Yankees have scored more runs than the Sox, and in fewer games. And I think the idea that the Boston starting rotation is better is also very dubious, since ours has given up fewer runs than theirs. I think the fact that Boston has two very good pitchers who have looked strong recently is significant, but not as significant as the general sentiment seems to have it.

Oh, and I’m not so worried as Jon about having to dip into the bullpen early in a game. Remember, we’ll have two of our current starters in the pen for long relief. If Hughes goes only 4 2/3, say, Fred could give you 3, no problem.

So, yeah, I hate losing these games, but the mood is glummer than the facts justify.