Yankees and Red Sox

I'm getting a bit nervous about the Yankees and a bit worried about the Red Sox.

Yesterday the Yankees traded for Matt Lawton. Now Lawton is no Manny Ramirez but he is a tremendous upgrade over what the Yankees had be trotting out in left field (I'm assuming Matsui is the CF here). The Yankees had black holes forming at 2B, LF and C. The first two were due primarily to the "Tony Womack Effect" and the third is due to Jorge Posada having his worst season since becoming the full-time starter for the Yankees.

Posada is hitting just .251 with 15 HR and a .753 OPS. He's not doing as bad as some people would have you believe. Last year he finished at .272 with 21 HR and an .881 OPS (OK so his OPS is really down - maybe he was on steroids? I'm just kidding. Wait am I kidding?).

The Red Sox still hold the edge in lineups. The way I see it - the Red Sox have the advantage at C, LF, CF and DH. The Yankees have the advantage at 3B and RF. The other positions are pretty much toss-ups (I could argue that the Sox also have the advantage at 2B but I haven't had any coffee yet and am in no mood for arguing).

The Yankees are now just 1.5 games back in the AL East race and it is their pitching that is really making me nervous. Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina are workhorses. Even though both are sporting 4+ ERAs - they are fairly steady and are playoff tested. Now into the mix you throw Shawn Chacon, who has been 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in six starts, and the Yankees have a very good three man playoff rotation.

To be blunt - the Yankee pitching is much better at this point than the Red Sox pitching.

The Red Sox need Curt Schilling to shut up and pitch. He needs to get back to a point where he'd be the front of the rotation equal of Randy Johnson. Matt Clement had an awful July (8.88 ERA in 5 starts) but settled back down to a 3.96 ERA in 5 August starts. David Wells has been what was expected - 10-6 with a 4.53 ERA. Both Wells and Clement have been just about the statistical equals of Mussina.

The Red Sox edge in pitching comes from the back end of the rotation. I feel more comfortable with Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo than whoever the Yankees trot out as 4th and 5th starters. And don't give me this Aaron Small stuff - he's a pumkin waiting for midnight.

In short - the Red Sox need their offense to cudgel the opponents to give the pitching a run support cushion plus they need the back of the rotation to win enough games so that the Red Sox win the East with hopefully enough wins heads up against the Yankees to knock them out of the Wild Card race. The Yankees are vulnerable in the regular season but a short rotation of Johnson, Mussina and Chacon with Mariano Rivera closing make them a very dangerous playoff team.