WHY THE YANKEES WILL BURY THE SOX

The beast is unleashed and it's about to get good for the Yankees. As they approach their final week the regular season, momentum will build and lead them into the playoffs. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Yankees played the Red Sox tonight and it is clear watching them play, this is a ball club that is on a mission... 28.Freddy Garcia was on the mound against Jon Lester tonight. On paper, Lester wins that battle. But in real life, Lester got wrecked and in only 2.2 innings pitched, and he allowed 8 runs. Freddy on the other hand went 6 innings today, allowed 6 hits and 0 runs. Freddy, a seasoned veteran is ready for the playoffs. You can just tell.The star of the game in my eyes is the kid, Jesus Montero. Again Montero is an animal. Tonight he was 3 for 4, had 4 RBIs, and 2 runs. He had a home run and a double. If Girardi needed to bring anyone to the playoffs, it's Jesus Montero, no doubt.

The Captain cranked out a 3 run home run tonight. Who said this guy is old and can't play baseball anymore? Ladies and Gentlemen, Derek Jeter is batting .297. I'd say, he still has it.
Russell Martin had a 2 RBI single tonight. That's the way to contribute after you verbally destroy the Red Sox saying that you hate them. 2 more games and 2 more wins will put the final nail in the Sox coffin. You gotta love it.

Strangely, there was silence in the order tonight. Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano went 1-16 and had 5 strikeouts. Let's call it a bad day and hopefully that's all if is.

Boone Logan had a strong outing getting 2 big batters, David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez out to end the 8th inning. He looks good, real good and if Logan can keep it up, we'll have the lefty specialist we've wanted all year and finally, in the post season, he'll be ready to roll.

Final Score: Yankees 9 - Red Sox 1

Interesting stat... The Red Sox are 5-17 in September and have lost 6 of their last 7.

Tomorrow, AJ Burnett faces Tim Wakefield in the early game of the doubleheader. In the night game, it's Ivan Nova vs. John Lackey.

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WHY IT'S THE PERFECT YANKEE WIN

Several factors tonight in a big Yankee win in Fenway. One of the players of the game for me has got to be Mariano Rivera. He is now 5 saves away from 600, and while Mariano doesn't care about that, he did care about striking out Adrian Gonzalez. Huge strikeout to win the game and the Yankees have taken 2 of 3 against the dirty Sox and now we move on to the Blue Jays at home. I don't care what anyone says, this game tonight was huge. Momentum is high and that is important as we now go home to the Bronx.Well, AJ Burnett didn't whizz one past any of the Red Sox chin's but I wish he did. Overall though, he did it the Yankee way, he pitched well and kept his team in the game. That's all you can ask for. The Yankee way of retaliation is to just kick some ass, and yes, I respect it, but as you will see in a few moments, I get annoyed with having our guys continually pegged by Red Sox pitching. See Teixeria below. Anyway, here's AJ's line, he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 earned runs. He lives another day. Why? Because it was a do or die situation for AJ against the rival Red Sox and he kept his team in it. The bullpen followed and Cory Wade ended up getting the win, but AJ did a good job tonight. The most important part about AJ was his mechanics. Apparently, he made an adjustment with Larry Rothschild. That adjustment made him feel better on the mound tonight and more comfortable. As he was comfy, he became confident in his performace and didn't lose his cool. Can someone say the Pyramid of Pitching Dominance? I will... With mechanic analysis comes confidence, when the confidence comes, any doubt leaves and focus takes over. That's what happened tonight. Good, AJ needed that.



Tonight was the coming of Jesus and it was cool to see and I'm glad he's with the Yankees. Tonight, Montero didn't have a hit but he got hit by a pitch, what else is knew, and was the 4th run scored tonight on Russell Martin's triple. Exciting. Look, trust me, over the next few games, Montero will get adjusted to the Bigs... just be patient. Alot of butterflies tonight I'm sure and you can't expect him to just crank out homers. Welcome Jesus, we're excited to have you.



Like I said, Martin got the hit that we needed tonight to pull the Yankees ahead and it was a major hit. Mariano was one of my players of the game, and Russell Martin is the other. For some reason, it's usually Russell Martin or Eric Chavez that do damage against the Sox. I love that. Keep it us Russell.



The hitting of Yankee batters is aggravating me. Tonight it was Mark Teixeira and you could hear it pop off the side of his knee. Isn't anyone pissed by this or is it just me? I know the lack of power in my house for the past 5 days because of the aftermath of Hurricane Irene has got me irritated and tired, but for the love of God, a Yankee gets hit every single game against the Sox and it's bullshit. We need to put on up on the chin to one of the Sox. I wrote about it in WHY AJ NEEDS TO SEND A MESSAGE...HIGH & TIGHT. All we need to do is go up high 1 time, just to say, "You're on notice." That's all I ask.

Hands down, best play of the game has to come from Curtis Granderson, a sprawled out reach and catch in the 6th inning to end the inning. If that ball goes past him we probably lose this game tonight. Great job by the AL MVP.



Final Score tonight: Yankees 4 - Red Sox 2



Good job all around Yankees. I could not be happier. The Blue Jays are next. Every division Series counts now. The Yankees must win every Series now and not lose any. It's the way it has to be. Go Yanks!



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GOING INSIDE THE NUMBERS WITH THE AL MVP

As of September, there are probably five candidates who can win the American League MVP. Those five guys are Curtis Granderson, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Verlander, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Dustin Pedroia. The two front runners for the award are most likely Curtis Granderson and Adrian Gonzalez. Verlander, Ellsbury, and Pedroia are all having great years, but they either don't have quite the offensive numbers as Grandy and AGon, or they're a starting pitcher like Justin Verlander, who doesn't contribute to the team's success nearly every game like Granderson and Gonzalez.



Let's look at both of the front runner's numbers (As of 8/31):Curtis Granderson: 38 home runs, 107 RBI, 123 runs, and 10 triples all lead the league. Grandy also has a .963 OPS, fourth in the AL, and 24 stolen bases, good for 10th.



Adrian Gonzalez: .342 average, and 184 hits both lead the AL. He is 13th in homers, but is second in RBI with 103. But, he trails Granderson in stolen bases by 23, runs scored by 33, and triples by seven. He's also fifth in the league in OPS at .957.



With those stats in mind, baseball experts believe Gonzalez is right there in the AL MVP race, and some believe he should still win it. But not so fast, if you go inside those numbers you can clearly tell Granderson is by far the better candidate to win the award.Look at how Granderson does against opponents who have a .500 record or better, and against opponents with sub .500 records:

• Above .500 opponents: 63 games, .276 average, 22 homers, 54 RBI, 13 steals, 60 runs, .381 OBP, .627 slugging %, 1.009 OPS

• Below .500 opponents: 68 games, .273 average, 16 homers, 53 RBI, 11 steals, 63 runs, .371 OBP, .553 slugging %, .924 OPS

Now, if you look at those numbers you can see Granderson is pretty much the same player against all types of competition, which is good, because he doesn't fold against elite competition, and that's who he'll face in the postseason.Here are Gonzalez' numbers against above and below .500 opponents:

• Above .500 opponents: 66 games .261 average 68 hits, 13 homers, 48 RBI, .339 OBP, .487 slugging %, .826 OPS.

• Below .500 opponents: 66 games .419 average, 116 hits, 10 homers, 55 RBI, .464 OBP, .617 slugging %, 1.081 OPS.

If you look at Gonzalez' power numbers between the two splits, they're pretty much the same. But the main reason why he's in the MVP discussion is because of his batting average and hits. As you see, his numbers completely drop off when the competition gets tougher. Baseball writers, take note of this.



Sure it's nice Adrian Gonzalez can feed off against the bottom feeders of the league. That's fine and dandy, but anyone can do that. But it's a red flag when his signature batting average and total hits take a huge drop off when he plays better teams. In my eye, to be the most valuable player you have to continue to produce against all kinds of competition, and Granderson is either the same in some categories, or he's better. For Gonzalez, he's the same in some categories, but he drops off significantly against the better teams. I really hope I've caught the voter's eye on this, it really shows that Gonzalez really shouldn't be a front runner for the American League MVP, and that Granderson should be ahead of the pack.









--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer









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WHY CANO CAN DO ANYTHING

(Photo: Getty)
When Robinson Cano agreed to enter the Home Run Derby, I didn't know what to make of it. Should I be happy, should I be worried that the derby could screw up his swing like it did for players like Bobby Abreu? I decided to watch it anyway, after all, I wanted to root for the guys who represent the Yankees and Cano was in there representing.

Man oh man was I surprised. A great highlight of the night for was seeing Russell Martin, Curtis Granderson and David Robertson watching Cano in awe and then later in the final round getting the whole round involved to cheer on Cano. These are teammates of Cano and they see him every day. They looked at his homers and just were blown away. I was blown away too. Cano is the future of the Yankees and this night was just great.The final round of course featured the Yankees verses the Red Sox... Cano verses Adrian Gonzalez. Talk about a matchup, it was just brilliant. The only thing better would be if Chris Berman's mic didn't work. I didn't mind hearing the other guys, but Berman's days are over. Hang it up pal.

In the final round Adrian Gonzalez had 11 home runs. Cano came out of the tunnel looking like he was in the zone. My 8 year old stayed up tonight to see Robbie in action. He said "It's like a Yankees, Red Sox game." Wow, they start early don't they? He was right... it kind of was.

Once he tied Gonzalez at 11, Jose Cano, Robinson's father walked out from the pitcher's mound and put 1 finger up. "One more," he said. "I love you Dad" Robbie said on the opened mic. Robbie went back, took a drink of Gatorade, stood into the box and lit the next pitch up. My 8 year old quickly said "Yankees win... Thhhheeeeee Yaaaaannkkkeeees Wiiiinnnn." Cano is a superstar and yes, it's only the Home Run Derby, but for us, that was more touching than any moment in sports; A father who believed in his son, and a son who believed in himself.

Congrats Robbie, you deserve everything good that comes your way.

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