The Boston Red Sox will travel to New York for the first time of the 2009 MLB season in what should be a solid two games of baseball. We all know the Red Sox were able to sweep the Yankees during their visit to Fenway a few weeks ago in an embarrassing series for the Yankees that saw Jacoby Ellsbury steal home off Andy Pettite. You know the Yankees and Yankee fans are hoping to get some payback on their hated rival. The showdown between the Red Sox and CC Sabathia will have to wait once again, as he is not schedule to face Boston in the short two-game series.
The Red Sox need Josh Beckett to return to form againts the Yankees Tuesday night
The first game of the Yankees Red Sox series will see Phil Hughes vs Jon Lester in a battle between the homegrown pitchers. This will be the Red Sox’s first time facing Hughes this year. Hughes was called up from AAA to fill in for Chien Ming Wang, who pitched terribly in his first three outings and was sent to the DL then the minors. It will be fun to see how the Red Sox are able to deal with Hughes. The Sox offense has not been stellar of late, and they are coming out of Tampa Bay after loosing three of four games. The Yankees lost to the Angels on Saturday and their Sunday game was postponed due to rain. Before that the Yankees had won four in a row, but before that had lost four in a row, three of those loses coming against the Sox.
The second and final game of the series will see Joba Chamberlain against Josh Beckett. Joba is 1-0 with a 3.13 era while the Red Sox ace is 2-2 and has a whopping 7.22 era. Josh has gotten rocked in his last two starts, going 4.2 innings and giving up seven runs in his start against the Rays, and going five innings and giving up eight runs to the Yankees, Red Sox fans are hoping Beckett will get back to his old self again, while the Yankees need Joba to keep doing what he has been doing.
Wile a short series, this will be a telling series on a few fronts. We will get to see if the Yankees can manage to fill the New Yankee Stadium for a series against their hated rival. This start is also very important for Josh Beckett, who needs to return to form if the Red Sox hope to beat out tough Yankees and Rays teams in the eastern division.
