ON DECK: RED SOX AT YANKEES

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ON DECK: RED SOX AT YANKEES
By BRETT CYRGALIS


August 27, 2008 --
By BRETT CYRGALIS

Rivalries are built on games like tonight. When the Yankees host the Red Sox for the second game in what Yankees manager Joe Girardi called a "crucial" three-game series (7:05, YES, WCBS 880 AM), no punches will be pulled in consideration of the future.

Boston has their foot on the Bombers' jugular following last night's 7-3 inept drubbing. Another defeat tonight would make the Yankees future filled with nothing but meaningless baseball games. A loss would put the Bombers seven games behind the Red Sox in the chase for the AL Wild Card, and with 30 games left would essentially end their 2008 campaign.

Optimism points to last year, when the Yankees were seven games back in the AL East at the same time and ended up closing the gap to two.

But this is not the division race, and this is not the same American League as last year. The upstart Rays have run away with the AL East, holding a 3 ½-game lead over the Red Sox and a 9 ½-game lead over the Yankees, making the two perennial powers fight the rest of the AL for the Wild Card.

The AL Central has also matured and grown deeper. Although all eyes in this area are on the Yankees and Red Sox for that fourth and final spot into the playoffs, the Twins are 2 ½ games back of Boston for the Wild Card.

"[Boston's] not the only team we're trying to catch, but they're a team that we need to catch if we see ourselves going to the postseason," Johnny Damon said. "We have to be really good down the stretch, and a bunch of these teams we're playing have given us problems this year."

What's really given the Yankees problems is the inability to hit in the clutch. Last night, Alex Rodriguez was deplorable, going 0-5, hitting into two double plays and striking out twice, leaving seven men on base. This year, Rodriguez is hitting .246 with runners in scoring position, adding fuel to the fire that the $28-million man can't perform in the clutch.

"No one is more frustrated than me," said Rodriguez, who admitted hearing the boos that filled the Stadium when Jonathan Papelbon struck him out to end the game.


Pitching Matchup:

Yankees: Sidney Ponson (7-4, 4.67 ERA) Although Ponson has been an unexpected bright spot as a fill-in for the Yankees rotation, he struggled in his last outing on Thursday in Toronto, giving up seven runs on eight hits, lasting 2 1/3 innings. Similarly, he was shelled the last time he pitched against Boston on July 27, giving up seven runs on 10 hits over four innings.

Boston: Paul Byrd (8-11, 4.61 ERA)

In his second start since being traded from the Indians on Aug. 12, Byrd picked up his first win as a Red Sox Friday against the Blue Jays, scrapping by while giving up four runs on four hits with and four strikeouts. "It's always one of the toughest places to play as an opponent," Byrd said of Yankee Stadium. "The screaming fans, the umpires, they're influenced, everybody is influenced. You've got to get out there and make your pitches and not let that get in your head."

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