New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox: The Top Players of the Series

It's the greatest rivalry in sports. Better than Lakers vs. Celtics. Michigan vs. Ohio State. USA vs. England. 

It's the New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox.

Two cities, two teams, located only a stone's throw away. One baseball championship juggernaut, and the other with a slump as long as most lifetimes. It all started when Harry Frazee, former owner of the Red Sox and Broadway producer, sold Babe Ruth to the rival Yankees.

It did not end with Ruth, though. Frazee sent player after player to the Yankees to pay for his Broadway dreams, devastating the Red Sox for years, while bringing four World Series titles to the Big Apple in Ruth's career there.

The Bronx Bombers and Red Stockings play every year in the heated AL East with the division, and usually the Wild Card, at stake.

With over 2,000 meetings between the two, there has been no shortage of all-time great players. The short list includes Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Jackson, Jim Rice, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Roger Maris.

This season, with six games left between the two teams, the Red Sox are playing for the postseason. They are currently six games back of the division-leading Yankees, and four games out of the Wild Card. If they are going to make up ground, it will most likely be against their lifetime rival.

Without further ado, here is the shortlist of the most important players to the series this season. 

John Lackey - Boston Red Sox

If you look up the definition of streaky in a dictionary, John Lackey's picture will be front and center. When he has been good this season, he's as good as anyone the Red Sox can send to the mound. But when he's bad, he's pretty awful. 

Lackey's Red Sox debut was made General Manager Theo Epstein look like a genius. After that, though, he rolled off two and a half months of bad pitching performances. And I mean rolled.

On July 10th, his ERA was an unsavory 4.78. Over his next three starts, though, he gave up only four earned runs, and lowered his ERA to 4.26.

Since then, he has given up 11 earned runs over his last two starts. 

Yeah, I think streaky is a good word to use.

If the Red Sox are going to make a run at the division, Lackey will have to be a solid #3 to Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. 

Lance Berkman - New York Yankees

Lance Berkman was the prize of the Yankees trade deadline deals, supposedly bringing in an experienced switch hitter with plenty of power. Well Berkman has not brought much of anything to the Big Apple since his arrival.

He has primarily been a designated hitter, batting in the #7 spot in the lineup. What impact does a #7 have on a team, you ask? Well when your whole team is made up of All Stars, production comes from everywhere.

If Berkman gets on base, he has Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner following him. Say they both get out, Derek Jeter comes up. Want me to keep going? Fine. Next you have Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. Then possible MVP Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, and you are right back to Berkman.

Now not all of these players are firing on all cylinders right now. The only player in the lineup having an above-average year is Cano. If Berkman can heat up to his career averages, or even slightly less, the Yankees can afford to sit a guy going through a slump.

The problem is, though, in his eight games with the team, he has yet to hit a home run, and is hitting a measly .185. 

The Red Sox, like Lester and Buchholz, know how to pitch the the regular Yankees like Jeter and A-Rod. They have faced each other so many times through their careers.

Berkman, on the other hand, is an unknown to AL East pitching. Look for him to take advantage of this mismatch and carry the Yankees over the Red Sox.

Jacoby Ellsbury - Boston Red Sox

Before his return from the DL on August 4th, Jacoby Ellsbury had played a total of nine games this season. And the impact has been significant. The speedy center fielder brings speed, speed, and more speed to an otherwise slow lineup.

Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, Mike Lowell. Those guys aren't exactly light on their feet.

Over the past two seasons as the primary center fielder, Ellsbury has racked up 343 hits and 120 steals. The leading base stealer, Dustin Pedroia, this season has eight. 

Without Ellsbury in the lineup, hitters like Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez had nobody on base when they came up to bat. 

Now that he is off the DL, Ellsbury is still only hitting .194 and an OPS of .512. The Red Sox need his legs on base when the Green Monster climbers come up to bat.

Phil Hughes - New York Yankees

The youngster Phil Hughes has been a huge surprise for the Bronx Bombers this season. We all knew this kid could pitch, but who would have thought he could be THIS good?

Hughes is currently 13-5 with a sub 4.00 ERA, and 110 punch-outs. He has been a top three pitcher on the Yanks this season, along with Andy Pettitte and C.C. Sabathia.

Pettitte and Sabathia have proved to us that they can pitch in high-intensity situations, with the series, if not the season, on the line. Hughes now needs to step up and prove the same thing. It's time to put some big boy pants on and be a true Yankee hero.

If he can accomplish this, imagine throwing out Sabathia, Hughes, and Pettitte in a five game ALDS.

The Yankees are a virtual lock for the postseason, whether it comes through the division crown or a Wild Card berth. And if Hughes and Co. can come up big in high-intensity situations against the Red Sox, look out.

Especially if Lester and Buchholz can continue their dominance, we may be looking at one special September.

The Disabled List - Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox's two most valuable players, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, are currently sidelined with injuries and taking up space on the beloved Disabled List.

When they join the team, Red Sox fans better hope they get the MVP caliber players, and not players with nagging injuries that hamper their season.

Pedroia got off to a hot start, hitting .292 and driving in 41 runs through June 25th. 

Youkilis was even hotter, hitting a sweet .307 with 62 RBI through his injury on August 2nd. 

If Pedroia and Youk can return anywhere close to their 2008 form, when they came in #1 and #3 in MVP voting, the Red Sox will be in good shape for the postseason.

They need to produce against the Yankees, most importantly, though. Beating up on the O's and Blue Jays will not do any good for the Red Stockings.