Question of the day: Who can scare the Yankees?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The trade deadline has come and gone and the September roster expansion begins Tuesday. Which team do you think can put a scare in the Yankees come October? Reporters from across the Tribune family of newspapers will answer this question throughout the day. And we are interested in your comments too, so when you are done reading, chime in!
Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant:
It’s easy to imagine another Yankees-Red Sox heavyweight bout in October. The rivals have gone toe-to-toe this season – Boston won the first eight, New York has won six of the last seven – and they seem destined for another postseason rendezvous.
That’s assuming, of course, the Red Sox secure a wild-card berth and that’s no cinch. Even if they do, they are a difficult team to gauge with Josh Beckett suddenly slumping.
If Beckett is the vintage October Beckett, the Red Sox have a chance against the Yankees. If he’s not, Boston has no chance.
That leaves the Angels as other team standing between the Yankees and the World Series. And the Angels, generally a problem for the Yankees, jumped up a few notches when Scott Kazmir joined their rotation.
Kazmir’s career is heading in the wrong direction and he’s having an awful season (8-7, 5.92 ERA), but a change of scenery should revive him. As bad as he’s been this season, he has two quality starts against the Yankees this season (2-0, 2.63) and has good career success against New York’s sluggers – Johnny Damon (.167), Derek Jeter (.121) Alex Rodriguez (.125), Robinson Cano (.130).
He also gained some postseason experience with the Rays last year, which will be valuable when he’s pitching in front of 52,000 hostile fans at Yankee Stadium. If he’s up the task, the Angels might just be the team to take down the Yankees this fall.
--Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant
Mike DiGiovanna of the Times is after the jump
Mike DiGiovanna of The Times:
The Angels can. They are 32-17 in their last 49 games against the Yankees, including a three-game sweep before the All-Star break in which they outscored them, 29-18, without the injured Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera.
The Angels were the only team with a winning record against the Yankees during Manager Joe Torre’s tenure, which included four World Series championships from 1996 to 2000.
With a 78-63 mark against New York since 1996, including playoff victories in 2002 and 2005, the Angels are the one team that seems to strike genuine fear into the Yankees, who have trouble containing the Angels’ pesky hitters and aggressive baserunners.
The Angels also boosted their playoff hopes with Friday’s acquisition of Tampa Bay left-hander Scott Kazmir, who is 6-4 with a 2.53 ERA against the Yankees and said he “really feels comfortable on the big stage, facing the Yankees, facing the Red Sox at Fenway … you really get that vibe.”
-- Mike DiGiovanna