Yankees-Red Sox Comparison: Third Base, My MLBlogs Hiatus Thingy, Etc.

First off, I am very sorry for not posting for so long. In about 2 weeks now, I should be able to post with some regularity, but until then it should be very unpredictable. I'll post when I can.

So now let's go back to baseball with a continuation of my position-by-position comparison of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Alex Rodriguez vs. Mike Lowell

Alex Rodriguez:

A-Rod is a great natural talent, and that's for sure, but his off-field life can often be a distraction to him and the team. He is constantly swarmed with media members wanting to know every detail of everything, from his past steroid use to his love life. 2 days ago, when he (finally) rejoined the Yanks, he said while showing off his deep tan from the Florida sun he is now only focused on and only motivated by baseball. I'll tell you guys about that game later on. If he can hold true to what he said, likely he will have a monster season, simply because a monster season is the usual for A-Rod. If he can stay locked in, look for him to put up 35+ homers despite missing 28 games to begin this year. Alex is 34 years old, and he has had injuries in the past two years, which is some cause for concern for Yankee fans. However, he has a history of being a durable player and will likely bounce back just fine. But then there's the postseason. His career postseason average is .279. His playoff averages with the Seattle Mariners were .313 and .371, and in his first playoffs with the Yankees he hit .320. His .421 average in the division series that year bumped that up, as he hit .258 overall in the Championship Series and did not drive in a single run in those horrible final four games of our 2004 season. The next year he hit .133 and the Yankees were eliminated in the divisional round. In 2006 he hit .071 and the Yanks were done in the first round again. In '07 he hit .267 and his first postseason home run since the 2004 ALCS. The Yanks season was over after one round yet again. Last year we didn't even make the playoffs. While these are bad playoff stats already, his astounding ability to strike out in seemingly every crucial at-bat in the playoffs is very concerning. However, as I stated before, he will likely help us a lot on the way to the postseason, we should just call up Ramiro Pena when October comes around.

Mike Lowell:

A Yankees draftee, he had 8 games and 15 at-bats in a Yankee uniform in 1998, hitting .267 with 4 singles, scoring 1 run. He was traded to the Marlins that offseason, where he became an elite third baseman, both on the offensive and the glove side. His peak year was likely 2003, when he hit .276 with 32 homers and 105 RBIs. He has been a 20-30 homer hitter the rest of his career. In '04 he hit .293, the closest he came to hitting .300 in a Marlins uniform. In 2005 Lowell's bat just died, hitting .236 with 8 home runs in 500 at-bats. His lowest previous total with Florida in a full season was 18 in 2001, but he drove home 100 that year. In '05 he drove in 58. The Marlins were having another fire sale that offseason, and the Red Sox picked him up in what would have been one hell of a bargain if they hadn't included Hanley Ramirez in the deal. Nonetheless, the Sox got a starting third baseman in Lowell and an ace in Josh Beckett. In '06 he bounced back to a .284 average and 20 homers with 80 RBIs. In 2007 he was even better. He hit .324, his first time past the .300 threshold. His home run total only went up 1, but he established a career high in RBIs with 120. He ended his season by winning the World Series MVP award, and the Red Sox re-signed him. But what a difference a year makes. Last season Lowell was hurt and nagged by the injury for much of the year, though he still managed to post a .274 average with 17 homers and 73 RBIs. Now 35, his durability is a concern.

Advantage: Yankees

Now, the last game I reported on was on April 22. It was right before our first series in Boston. Long and painful story short, we got swept. After a loss to the Tigers made it four straight, we won two straight to pull out a series victory. The Yanks then proceeded to win the first two games of the Angels series. We then lost, and the last game of the series was rained out. So we proceeded to lose 5 straight games to the Red Sox and Rays, our two catchers, Cody Ransom, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, and Chien-Ming Wang, who all joined Xavier Nady on the disabled list. Ramiro Pena and Angel Berroa were our co-third baseman until A-Rod came back, and now we have Phil Hughes up taking Wang's place in the rotation, Alfredo Aceves and Brett Tomko in place of Bruney and Marte. But now catcher is a severe weak spot, with Jose Molina and Jorge Posada getting hurt. Francisco Cervelli and Kevin Cash are our new catchers. Mark Melancon was up until A-Rod came back, and he did very well. A-Rod did come back, though, and on the very first pitch he saw he smacked a three-run home run and the Yankees won 4-0. CC was positively stellar, throwing a complete game and giving up 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 8 batters.

Then yesterday Phil Hughes got torched for 8 runs in the second inning and we lost 12-5.

Today's game is going on right now, and the Orioles have a 3-1 lead.

Now, as for Manny... I really don't know what to say. You guys all know about Manny and his 50-game suspension. I really don't know the details and I don't care to find them out, because frankly I think I speak for all baseball fans when I say I am so tired of hearing about these things. Yes, we should definitely crack down and make sure no one is using steroids, but it's awfully tiring to keep hearing about some new scandal every other month.

I'm not quite sure what else to write about, but if I think of something I'll post it.

Thanks for reading guys, I'm trying to keep up here.