Yankees-Red Sox: Bombers Must Sweep

In their sweep of the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, the New York Yankees scored five or more runs in three straight games for the first time since Aug. 4-6, putting together their first three-game winning streak since the eight-game string after the All-Star break.

But can the Bombers keep this momentum going against arch-rival and Wild Card-leading Boston?

They better.

Despite the recent run of success, the Yanks still trail the Red Sox by five with only 32 games remaining.  They're also four games back of the Minnesota Twins.  At this point, a 2-1 series win won't do New York a whole lot of good because they'd still be four games behind Boston, but a sweep would put them just two out, which is exactly where they need to be with the difficult schedule they having coming up.

After a make-up game at Detroit on Sept. 1, the Pinstripes play 13 of the following 17 against division-leading Tampa Bay, Los Angeles and Chicago, which means they can't wait to pick up ground in the race for the playoffs.

So what are the chances of the Yankees sweeping Boston this week?

The pitching match-ups indicate that it's possible.  New York catches a break because Josh Beckett, who was originally scheduled to pitch against the Yanks, is missing his start due to injury.  Beckett is 3-1 with a 3.25 ERA against the Bombers this year.

The Yankees are also fortunate not to have Darrell Rasner going to the mound for them this week.  Rasner has been their weakest pitcher of late, going 2-6 with a 6.50 ERA since June 11.

Here's a closer look at the pitching match-ups for Boston's final visit to the old Yankee Stadium (in the regular season).

Tuesday: Tim Wakefield (7-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (13-9, 4.17 ERA)

The Bombers usually kill the knuckleballer, who should be even worse Tuesday, being that it's the 42-year-old's first start since coming off the DL.  Wakefield, who's recovering from shoulder stiffness, is 9-17 with a 5.14 ERA in his career against the Yankees, including a loss on July 26, when he gave up six runs in just 5.1 innings.

Pettitte, on the other hand, is a stellar 16-7 with a 3.54 ERA versus Boston.  He actually won the game against Wakefield on July 26, surrendering just one earned run in six frames.

This is a game the Yankees should win 5-3.

Wednesday: Paul Byrd (8-11, 4.61 ERA) vs. Sidney Ponson (7-4, 4.67 ERA)

This should be the highest scoring game of the series.  The Yankees face a guy they passed on in Paul Byrd, who will be facing a team other than the light-hitting Toronto Blue Jays for the first time in four starts.  Byrd is a lousy 2-5 with a 4.90 ERA against New York and gave up nine runs and six homers in just 13 innings in two starts against the Yanks back in April and May.

It's been all or nothing for Ponson during his time in Pinstripes this season.  During his 10 starts with the club, he's surrendered seven runs on three separate occasions, but gave up four or less the other seven games.  One of those three bad starts was against the Red Sox on July 27 and he's a terrible 3-12 with a 6.92 ERA against Boston in his career.

Being unbiased, I unfortunately have to pick the Sox in this one, by a score of 7-5, but if the good Ponson shows up, the Yanks might have a shot at a sweep.

Thursday: Jon Lester  (12-5, 3.49 ERA) vs. Mike Mussina (16-7, 3.45 ERA)

This should be the lowest scoring game of the series.  Lester has dominated the Yankees in two wins this year, giving up just two runs in 16 innings, but he's coming off of his worst start of the year, surrendering seven runs in 2.1 innings against the Blue Jays.

Mussina, meanwhile, had two of his worst performances of the year against Boston in back-to-back starts in April.  But the Moose has been simply great since then, including a six-inning shutout of the Red Sox in a 2-1 win back on July 5.

This should be a classic pitchers' duel reminiscent of the game on July 5.  In fact, I'll predict the same 2-1 score.