Write On Sports LLC - "Lessons Learned from a Red Sox/Yankees Weekend" by Troy Somero

Lessons Learned from a Red Sox/Yankees Weekend

2007-04-24 00:23:21 | By: Troy Somero

From the historic (back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs by the Red Sox Sunday night), to the impressive (a lights-out weekend from Jonathan Papelbon) to an anticipated first (Dice-K versus the Yankees), this past Red Sox-Yankees series has provided great fodder for talking heads and bloggers alike after the fact. Even though it is early in the season and the results from this weekend will likely have very little impact on the 162-game season for each team, there were a number of lessons learned from this weekend's play that demonstrate the current states of affair with respect to the Red Sox and Yankees.

1. The Red Sox are Mariano Rivera's "Daddy".

At the end of the 2004 regular season, then Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez responded to a reporter's question about his lackluster numbers against the Yankees by calling the Yankees his "daddy". As every baseball fan remembers, Yankee fans took a liking to this name and proceeded to chant, "Who's your daddy?" when Pedro pitched during the 2004 ALCS. While Pedro certainly struggled more against the Yankees than any other team, after this weekend it is safe to say that if the Yankees are Pedro's Daddy then the Red Sox are Marino Rivera's Daddy.

Since 2004, Mariano Rivera has only converted 12 of 17 save opportunities against the Red Sox. Rivera's 3.28 ERA against the Red Sox during this time period is the highest ERA he has against any team that he has faced in each of those seasons, culminating in a 2-4 record in 28 games. His 30.2 innings pitched against Boston since the start of 2004 season have resulted in a .248 batting average against with a 1.59 WHIP, 32 hits, 15 runs (11 earned), 14 walks and only 23 strikeouts. In comparison, for his career Rivera has posted a .213 BAA with a 1.04 WHIP and a 2.32 ERA. Rivera allows over .5 extra runners on base for every inning he faces the Red Sox and is 50% more likely to allow an earned run against Boston in comparison to any other opponent.

It has gotten to the point that Red Sox hitters exude confidence when they face Rivera, even if they pay him lip service in interviews by stating how "great" he still is. Boston fans know there is little left to fear against Rivera, as they symbolized by giving him a standing ovation during the 2005 Ring Ceremony where they officially celebrated their 2004 World Championship. After this weekend it is time for the rest of baseball to recognize something Red Sox fans have known for three years and counting: the Red Sox are Mariano's Daddy.

2. Mariano Rivera is "Passing the Torch" to Jonathan Papelbon

Just as Rivera struggled mightily against the Red Sox on Friday night, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was lights out against the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday. On the season, Rivera's stat line resembles that of a closer in Tampa Bay or Kansas City: 6 G, 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 1.50 WHIP, .286 BAA, 8.44 ERA, 2 BS, with a 1-2 record. In comparison, Papelbon's stat line looks vintage Mariano-esque: 7 G, 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 13 SO, .704 WHIP, .043 BAA, 0.00 ERA, 0 BS, with a 0-0 record.

Although it is early in the season and there are still over 140 games to play until the playoffs begin, one cannot help but be astounded at Papelbon's numbers. His WHIP is half of Rivera's, his BAA is nearly one-seventh that of Rivera, and he has no ERA, while Rivera is allowing nearly a run every inning.

Despite the numbers, Papelbon is most impressive off of paper, when one can view him live or on television. His two-inning save on Easter night in Texas was the single most impressive save of the season to this point. If that was not enough, Papelbon's April encore may have arrived this past weekend with his back-to-back saves against the Yankees. His steely glare, steadfast demeanor and unnerving delivery (seriously, did anyone think that any of the Yankees would catch up to his fastball?) combine the best of Trevor Hoffman, Eric Gagne and Rivera in each of their respective primes. The scariest aspect of Papelbon's game may be the fact that he is still three or four years away from his prime.

3. The Red Sox should be worried about their starting pitching.

This weekend the Red Sox showcased arguably their three best starts in succession: Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and Diasuke Matsuzaka. In contrast, the injury-ridden Yankees' rotation produced Andy Pettitte, Jeff Karstans, and Chase Wright. With those match-ups at hand, most people figured the Red Sox were a shoe-in for the sweep even before Schilling threw the first pitch of the series on Friday night.

Despite this supposed inevitability, each Red Sox starters struggled at times throughout the weekend. Schilling gave up two home runs to Alex Rodriguez and was on pace for the loss on Friday night before Rivera's late-game collapse. Beckett gave up 9 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) in 6.2innings on Saturday afternoon, only to be bailed out by an awful 4 th inning by Karstans, whose season ERA currently stands at 14.54. Dice-K pitched well at times, but his 6 earned runs in 7 innings pitched were luckily (for the Red Sox) overmatched by the four consecutive home runs given up by Wright and the questionable decision by Joe Torre to put an overused Scott Proctor in the game in the seventh inning. The good news for the Red Sox rotation is that the team swept the series; the bad news for the Red Sox rotation is that they had three shaky starts. It's one thing to sweep when pitchers like Chen Mien-Wang and Mike Mussina are not in the rotation, but when Wang and the Moose face off in tandem against the Red Sox, then the series may swing towards the Yankees.

4. Hitting, not (starting) pitching wins games when the Red Sox and Yankees play.

While the three game scores (7-5, 7-5, 7-6) indicate that each of the three games were close and both teams had little trouble producing runs, the fact remains that the Red Sox won the series because they hit better than the Yankees throughout the entire series. Despite the fact that the Yankees actually had three more at-bats in the series (105 vs. 102), the Yankees scored 4 fewer runs (17 vs. 21), had 8 less hits (29 vs. 37), 4 fewer home runs (3 vs. 7), 6 less RBIs (15 vs. 21), 8 less walks (9 vs. 17), and 13 more strikeouts (24 vs. 11). The difference between the collective team batting average from the series is the most outstanding comparison, as the Red Sox hit an electric .363 over the three-game tryst while the Yankees hovered in mediocrity at .276.

The Red Sox did leave 8 more runners on base than the Yankees (56 vs. 48), but the key fact here is that the Red Sox came through when the hits and runs mattered the most: in late-game situations. Home runs were often reserved for the early innings in the series; sacrifices, timely singles and smart base-running assisted the Red Sox hitters in their three triumphs over the course of the weekend. While Derek Jeter, one of the most patient hitters in baseball, often swung at first-pitches throughout the series, hitters at the bottom of the Red Sox lineup worked the count and earned a few walks in the process. When Yankee pitching broke down – especially the Wright/Proctor combination on Sunday – the Red Sox capitalized, while the Yankees left themselves fishing against the steady Sox bullpen late in the game by not capitalizing to a greater extent earlier in each game.

5. Joe Torre is overrated.

The statement likely appears blasphemous to any Yankee diehard, but the fact is that Joe Torre managed this entire series very poorly, and his managerial style in the series is emblematic of a style that has left the Yankees without a World Series title since 2000.

On Friday night, Torre's first major managerial lapse of the series was bringing Rivera into the game in the eighth inning. The problem here is not that Rivera blew the save when he did (in the eighth inning), but that Rivera was brought into the game in this inning in the first place. If Rivera did make it through the eighth inning, how could Torre expect the closer to complete a two-inning save when he himself stated in the preseason that he did not believe Rivera has what it took to complete two-inning saves this season? With Rivera unable to complete a one-inning save in his previous appearance in Oakland, Torre exhibited either arrogance or ignorance (or a combination of the two) to assume he could make it through the more potent Red Sox lineup for a two-inning save

While Torre overused his bullpen on Friday night, – Pettitte likely could have pitched another inning since he is as of now exhibits the greatest combination of health and experience that the Yankees have on their pitching staff – on Saturday afternoon exhibited a hubris that opposed the unabashed Yankee pride that he exhibited the night before. Torre not only allowed a struggling Jeff Karstans to complete a fourth inning in which he allowed 5 runs, but he also allowed Karstans to return to the game to face two more batters in the fifth inning before a Mike Lowell single held Torre at gunpoint and forced him to bring in reliever Brian Brunney. The decision to allow Karstans to pitch as long as he did made even less sense in hindsight after Sunday's game when Torre stated that the he removed Sunday's starter Chase Wright from the game after he surrendered four consecutive home runs because he did not want to startle his inexperienced rookie. If Torre is truly concerned about startling his inexperienced pitchers, why did he allow a pitcher with 9 career appearances to start the fifth inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox in which he had already thrown 90 pitches and allowed 7 runs, including 5 in the previous inning?

Torre's moribund task-turning was at its worst on Sunday when he made the decision to bring in an overworked Scott Proctor to relieve in the last game of the series. This decision was made despite the fact that in the previous inning Torre conceded the fact that his bullpen was overworked when he brought in Friday's starter Andy Pettitte to pitch the sixth inning. However, in the seventh inning Torre brought in the pitcher who has logged the most innings pitched and most appearances since the start of the 2006 season: Scott Proctor. Not only that, but Proctor had also appeared in 11 of the Yankees 16 games to this point in the season, including the two previous games against the Red Sox. The decision to overuse Proctor's tired arm resulted in this stat line: 0.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, and 1 L in 10 pitches! The two pitchers Torre brought in the finish the game – Luis Vizcaino and Sean Henn – finished with this combined stat line: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 ER, 0 HR and no losses. With Proctor so overworked and the Vizcaino/Henn relatively effective to this point in the season, why did Torre not rest Proctor in favor of one or both of these pitchers?

Despite all of his rings and all of his popularity, Joe Torre is quite simply a mediocre manager working for a well-funded owner. Put Terry Francona in Torre's position and the Yankees are no worse off. Torre's performance this past weekend, and the performance of the entire team from bench coaches to the captain-shortstop, does little to quiet this writer's doubts as to just how well-managed the Yankees truly are. If not for the average performance of the Red Sox starting rotation throughout the series, this doubt would likely have been voiced by many more baseball minds as of today.