Yankees-Red Sox: The Red Sox Domination Guide (Late August Edition)

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The New York Yankees (76-45) will meet up with the Boston Red Sox (69-51) for a three-game series at Fenway Park starting tonight.

The Red Sox currently hold a one-game Wild Card lead over the Texas Rangers, and a four-game lead over the AL East's third-place team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Undoubtedly, this is a huge series for the Red Sox, who need to take advantage of great pitching, solid hitting, and momentum sweeping Toronto in order to take down their hated rivals.

There are some intriguing pitching matchups in this three-game series. Let's take a look at who will be pitching.

Game 1: Andy Pettitte-NYY vs. Brad Penny-BOS

At the old age of 37, Andy Pettitte is proving he can still be a serviceable starter for the New York Yankees. With a 9-6 record and a 4.09 ERA, he is certainly keeping the Yankees in most of their games.

The Red Sox will counter with Brad Penny, who has shown he is purely an innings-eater at this point in his career. His 5.22 ERA and 1.50 WHIP are not good numbers, and he is barely maintaining a 2/1 K/BB ratio.

The Verdict: New York has the advantage in this pitching matchup, with Pettitte purely on fire over his past six starts. Despite a 1-1 record in the past month, Pettitte has posted a 2.23 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, with a 35/8 K/BB ratio.

The Key For Boston: The Red Sox must get out quickly in this matchup with the bats. In five out of the last six starts for Pettitte, he has thrown more than 101 pitches. If the Red Sox can remain patient at the plate and take plenty of pitches, they could sneak away with a win.

Game 2: AJ Burnett-NYY vs. Junichi Tazawa-BOS

A.J. Burnett's surface stats sure look attractive from the Yankees' standpoint. A 10-6 record with a 3.69 ERA defines a good pitcher, doesn't it? Take a closer look.

Over the past month, Burnett has averaged 7.4 K/9, with 3.8 BB/9. His command is actually worse than Pettitte's, both on the season and in the last month. Burnett has a good amount of downside the rest of the season, and the Red Sox could exploit his weaknesses in this matchup.

Junichi Tazawa is still much of an unknown as a Red Sox player. He came in for late-inning duty on August 7th against the Yankees - talk about being thrown into the fire! Tazawa has two starts on the season: one solid against the Detroit Tigers, and the other weak at The Ballpark in Arlington against the Texas Rangers.

With only 11.2 innings pitched on the season, it is tough to project how Tazawa will throw against the Yankees. A scary stat most Red Sox fans should be aware of is his opponent's OBP: a scary .354. Needless to say, Tazawa will have to perform better than that if he wants to beat the Yankees.

The Verdict: While Burnett has to be considered the favorite pitcher here, Tazawa is not far off from being at least a comparable pitcher. Considering Tazawa is throwing at home and has the home crowd behind him, Tazawa has a better-than-average chance to throw a quality start and put the Red Sox out in front.

The Key For Boston:

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