Bleeding Yankee Blue: RED SOX VS. YANKEES: A TEST OF WILLS

Sunday, September 3, 2017

RED SOX VS. YANKEES: A TEST OF WILLS

Source: Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

It's like a game of cat and mouse, a ping-pong match, and a hold-your-breath test of wills. It's about endurance. It's about game play. And it's happening, right here in the Bronx as we near the end of the 2017 season in an all out foot race for the Division.

Source: Associated Press

2017 finds the Yankees leading the Red Sox 10 games to 8 in our head-to-head competitions for the season. It's been a back and forth kind of season, since we lost our lead on the Sox before the All Star Break. This is the final series of the rivals, so however it ends after Sunday, in wins and losses against one another, both teams will have to succumb their fate to other teams who play them respectively.

Source: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America

The Sox and Yankees are closely matched this season. Some may say the Sox have better pitching. I don't know. Perhaps on paper, but not necessarily in action. Others may say that the Yankees' lineup is not reaching its potential. I would have to agree with that insight. We should be producing more hits and more runs.

Source: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America

Saturday's performance seemed to cast a spotlight on the Yankees' offense of the past, prior to the All Star Break, led by slugger Matt Holliday. "Holliday made a smashing return to the Yankees' lineup after being sidelined a month, launching a three-run homer that led Masahiro Tanaka and New York over the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox 5-1 Saturday," according to the Boston Herald. But, Friday, it was a different story as the Yanks lost to the Sox 4-1. And Thursday, we dominated the Sox 6-2.

Source: Rich Schultz/Getty Images North America

Whatever happens in the final game of the series, the Yankees have a lot of games to gain and a lot of rebuilding to do with regards to the chemistry of the team, who have spent the season in and out of the DL. Now that we appear to be healthy, let's see if we can create more consistency on the field when it comes to hitting and supporting our average pitching staff. “We’re certainly not focused on anything but trying to win the division,’’ said Chase Headley, who has been hitting well, including having a multi-hit game in Saturday's win against the Sox, reported Newsday.

As I think about this notion of supporting our pitching staff with some extra runs from the lineup, I am reminded of the days of Ron Guidry, who took on a leadership role with his team in the late 1970s. Guys like Thurman Munson, Chris Chambliss and Reggie Jackson used to ask Guidry how many runs he needed to win. He would flat out tell them. "I need four from you today...I need five from you today..." We need that kind of banter again. If we are going to win, we need to talk like winners and play like winners. It is a test of wills and the team with the most endurance, wins.