Yankees-Red Sox Comparison: Second Base, And Also Some Other Stuff.

Let us continue the comparison!

Robinson Cano vs. Dustin Pedroia

Just a year ago, I would have given the Yankees the advantage. Now, we'll see.

Robinson Cano:

Like Pedroia, Robby is a home-grown second sacker. Last year was a down year to put it lightly. However, there is no reason to believe he won't rebound in 2009. He has been compared to Rod Carew by Joe Torre. And in 2007, Buster Olney of ESPN published this glowing report on Robby. In 2005 he took over early for the rather disappointing Tony Womack. That year he hit .297 with 14 homers and 62 RBIs, showing pretty good defense and a rocket arm. 2006 was probably his best year ever, finishing third in the AL batting race behind The Captain and Joe Mauer, hitting .342 with 18 homers and 78 ribbies. The next year his power numbers went up, with 19 homers and 97 RBIs, but his average went down to .306. His strikeouts escalated alarmingly from 54 to 85, which is still a pretty good total. But still, that's about a 60% increase. Last year Robby hit a dismal .151 in April, hitting .246 total before the All-Star Game. He's always been thick, especially in his legs, but last year he was beginning to get heavy. He still managed a .307 second-half average, but he totaled a very disappointing .271 with 14 homers and 72 ribbies. After having a .237 April average in his last three years, a trimmer Cano is hitting .367 this one. At age 26, there's still time for him to fulfill Reggie Jackson's 30-home run power prophecy.

Dustin Pedroia:

Dustin Pedroia is listed by the Boston Red Sox as 5'9", but no one is really buying that. The two "real height"s of Pedroia I have heard most are 5'7" and 5'5". I'll say he's 5'6". Either way, he is a great run producer and a gritty leader in the field. In 2006 he debuted, playing in 31 games and hitting .191 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs. In '07 he became the Red Sox' regular secoond baseman, playing 139 games and winning the American League Rookie Of The Year award with a .317 average, 8 homers, and 50 RBIs. Last year he really busted out, hitting .326 with 17 home runs, 83 RBIs, and 20 steals. He won the MVP award, an award  many did not agree he deserved...but it was still a great season. Dustin P. is 25 years old.

Advantage: I'll give it to the Red Sox by a slim margin.

I'm trying very hard to keep posting right now...it's just hard. In 3 or 4 weeks I'll hopefully be going back to posting often, but for now, it'll be pretty hard for me to get out an interesting post more often than weekly, if that. So for this post, I'll review only our last game.

Two days ago, Melky Cabrera did the honors on the first walk off homer in the new Yankee Stadium!

We played 14 innings in the Bronx, but we're gonna start this from the beginning. CC had another horrendous start, lasting 6.2 innings and giving up 7 runs, 6 earned with 4 walks and 2 K's. But that's where our bullpen took over and was admirable. While the Yankees struggled for a single run from the 6th inning on, Phil Coke, Jonathan Albaladejo, Mariano Rivera, and Damaso Marte all held off the Athletics, and the struggling Jose Veras brought his ERA down to 5.59 with 3.1 perfect innings and 4 K's. The offense was pretty good before the 7th. Melky hit the first homer of the game for the Yankees in the 2nd, a solo shot, and Hideki Matsui did the same in the same inning. Robby had an RBI groundout in the 3rd, and Nick Swisher had a ribbie single in the 3rd as well. In the 4th, the Captain corked one out to center. He hit an RBI double in the 6th, and Tex hit a ribbie single. After Matt Holliday's ribbie single in the 7th tied it at 7, the scoring stopped for a long time as both bullpens performed well. Former Yank Dan Giese pitched a scoreless 13th, but could only get 1 out in 14th before Melky popped one out to right, scoring Nick Swisher for the win.

By the way, what ever happened to the Yankees selling out every game? There's a lot of empty seats in every picture...Someone tell me what's going on with that. Please. I'm guessing it's the ridiculous ticket prices, but..

In my last piece of news, today is the first Boskees game of the year! The greatest rivalry in sports will be renewed at Fenway Park, with Joba Chamberlain facing Jon Lester. I'll try to post later on that!

Just remember...