I would like to see happy John Lackey tonight, thank you. (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission.)
I haven’t had time to “prepare” for this series and I thought because of that I wouldn’t be as charged up when I finally sat down to focus on it. Â So here I am reading about the pitching match-ups and suddenly I’m looking at the clock waiting for tonight’s game to begin.
Helping along my renewed excitement was an email I received from a Yankees fan pal basically saying that the pitching match-ups have him convinced that the Red Sox are going to take two out of three of these games. Â I enjoy it when Yankees fans get humbled. 🙂
Which doesn’t mean I’m buying into the “The Red Sox have this in the bag” sentiment either. Â If I’ve learned nothing as a Red Sox fan, I’ve learned that what you think will happen almost never does. Â I’m not convinced that John Lackey doesn’t have a chance of beating CC Sabathia tonight. Â And I’m not convinced that Jon Lester will automatically beat AJ Burnett in the last game of the series. Â But I’m lying if I don’t say that I’m not worried about the way the Red Sox will play this week.
Right now the Sox are sitting a game and a half up in first place. Â Even if the Yankees (perish the thought) sweep this series, it won’t do too much damage. Â I don’t want any part of a Yankees sweep (and if the Red Sox sweep you might see me dancing in the streets) but it’s nice to be in a position where the Red Sox are poised to do more damage than the Yankees. Â I like where we’re sitting right now.