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May 18, 2007
Two Reasons To Think "Wildcard"
Think the Yankees can catch Boston? Think again. From Elias Says ...
- The Red Sox won both ends of their Cole Porter affair -- night and day -- against the Tigers, and reached the 40-game mark with a 28-12 record and a 9.5-game lead over the Yankees.
Boston's pitchers have allowed only 136 runs in 40 games. Only twice in the American League's DH era (that is, since 1973) have teams won at least 28 of their first 40 games while allowing as few runs as have the Red Sox. The 1984 Tigers started 35-5, with 120 runs allowed, and the 1990 Athletics started 28-12 with 130 runs allowed.
- Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis and Alex Cora all produced hits with two outs and runners in scoring position for the Red Sox on Thursday. Over the team's last 11 games (nine wins, two losses), Boston hitters are batting .444 (28-for-63) in those situations.
- The Yankees will arrive at Shea Stadium for the start of a three-game series with the Mets trailing the Red Sox by 9.5 games in the American League East. It's the most games behind that the Yankees have been out of first place since Sept. 6, 1997, when they trailed the first-place Orioles by 9.5 games (but nonetheless held a six-game lead in the Wild Card race).
The Yankees have not faced a double-digit games-behind deficit since Joe Torre took over as the team's manager in the 1996 season.
For the record, the Yanks now trail the Tigers by 5 1/2 games in the Wildcard. If New York starts to play better, the wildcard is a doable goal.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at May 18, 2007 09:11 AM