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The Spectacle Blog
The 2012 season has began inauspiciously for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The Red Sox and Yankees were swept in their opening series by the Detroit Tigers and the Tampa Bay Rays, respectively. It is the first time both teams started their seasons 0-3 since 1966.
Now bear in mind there are 159 games left to be played in the regular season but there will be plenty of discussion in both Red Sox Nation and the Bronx Zoo. Yankee fans are no doubt dismayed that the Mets have gotten off to a 3-0 start after sweeping the Braves.
Although the Bruins and Celtics are both playoff bound, I think there will be greater scrutiny of the Red Sox given how last season ended. The biggest concern is the bullpen. With Jonathan Papelbon signing with the Phillies in the off-season, the Sox acquired Andrew Bailey from the Oakland Athletics. However, Bailey injured his thumb in spring training and will be out until the All-Star break. Alfredo Aceves and Mark Melancon are at the back end of the Red Sox bullpen but both have been ineffective. Today, Aceves blew the save in the 9th giving up a three run homerun to Miguel Cabrera and then in the 11th inning Melancon gave up a walk off two run dinger to Alex Avila to give the Tigers a 13-12 win.
As for their starting pitching, while Jon Lester pitched effectively on Opening Day both Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz have struggled in their starts. Yesterday, Beckett gave up five homeruns (two apiece to Cabrera and new Tiger Prince Fielder and one to Avila) amidst concerns about his thumb. Beckett has seen two specialists concerning it.
The Red Sox are not without talent. But the reason I think they will finish last in the AL East because I think the team is a long way from psychologically overcoming the 2011 collapse and Bobby Valentine will only accelerate their descent to the bottom.
The Red Sox make their way from Detroit to Toronto while the Yankees travel from St. Pete to Baltimore to face the 3-0 Orioles.
View all comments (15) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/08/red-sox-yankees-are-both-0-3
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Occam's Tool| 4.8.12 @ 9:30PM
Early days.
Bob| 4.8.12 @ 9:34PM
They won't finish last. There's no way they will finish below the Orioles. It's just not possible. Just because they started 0-3 and the Orioles started 3-0, doesn't mean the Orioles are gonna pull off miracles this year.
That's reserved for the 2008 Rays. The 2012 Rays, an evolution of the 2008 Rays, are off to a good start and they'll keep it up for the rest of the season. They'll finish at least second and probably beat the Yankees for the division again.
And it's not the Blue Jays' year.
Ross Kaminsky | 4.9.12 @ 1:26AM
Not sure what to say other than "thanks for the good news, Aaron!" since I can't stand either team!
Occam's Tool| 4.9.12 @ 2:31AM
The Cubbies have put a win on the board!
Ross, Aaron, a blessed Pesach for both of you.
Bumr50| 4.9.12 @ 7:28AM
Hallelujah!
Maybe one day baseball will tell the players' union to piss off and implement a salary cap so we have to listen to how great these teams are every year and have REAL parity in the sport, like almost every other one.
JP| 4.9.12 @ 8:44AM
Jeff Smarzja for the Cubs went 82/3 innings and got a win. Oh, Happy Day! He hadn't had this much fun on a playing field since he was a WR with Notre Dame.
Martin | 4.9.12 @ 8:54AM
The Orioles are not terrible; they now have Dan Duquette. The Sox wins of 2004 and 2007 were a Duquette legacy, after he was disgracefully fired by the new ownership when they took over in '02. Theo Epstein was competent, but not as good as he thought he was and was anyway messed up by ownership. The new guy is unable to stop ownership rising all over him. Last place is still fairly unlikely, but I wouldn't mind betting they finish behind the Orioles.
Pete| 4.9.12 @ 11:13AM
Cool!
Tim| 4.9.12 @ 11:55AM
The Red Sox and Yankees also finished 9th and 10th, respectively, in 1966. Maybe their 0-3 starts this year will lead to similar finishes, but I doubt it. One can hope, though.
Drek| 4.9.12 @ 12:22PM
You want to watch some pathetic baseball?
Take a gander at the Philadelphia Phillies when they step to the plate!
Occam's Tool| 4.9.12 @ 1:39PM
I am going to make a mean prediction about Theo Epstein: The Curse will get his Goat. There are limits to genius.
Cpm| 4.9.12 @ 2:22PM
I saw this on ESPN's crawl yesterday and all it showed me was east coast bias. That this would even be a story - that someone would actually look back to see if this had happened before is just plain stupid. How meaningless. Like anybody but a fan of these two teams would even notice or much less give a rat's patoot. Of course ESPN puts stock in it because they love selling ads for those 5 hour Bosox/Yankee games.
rightasrain| 4.9.12 @ 5:00PM
The bad news is that the Yanks haven't started off 0-3 since 1998. The good news is they also won 144 regular season games that year and won the Series. But if they want to avoid going 0-4 which they haven't done for 39 years, they better crush the Orioles tonight.
Cpm| 4.10.12 @ 4:46AM
114 regular season wins in 1998.