Monday, April 27, 2009

Some comforting (kind of) numbers about Yankees-Red Sox

Feeling like jumping off a bridge over the state of the Yankees? Take heart! Things might be as bad as it seems right now.

One of our Subway Squawkers readers pointed out that the Yankees doing terrible against the Red Sox in April is petty much standard operating procedure. But it doesn't mean that things won't get better. Here's the post (I wish the person had typed in a name so I would know who to credit! Updated - Squawker Reader Peggy found these numbers on the Sliding Into Home blog):
Before people leap off the GWB by the thousands, the Yanks are continuing a trend that hasn’t changed since 2004. They tend to play woefully bad against the Red Sox in April and May but eventually turn things around and reverse that trend.

Yanks vs. Red Sox in April and May:

First Half Record - 13-24 (.351)

2004: 1-6
2005: 4-5
2006: 3-4
2007: 3-6
2008: 2-3

Yanks vs. Red Sox from June through Sept:

Second Half Record - 35-22 (.614)

2004: 7-6
2005: 6-4
2006: 8-4
2007: 7-2
2008: 7-6

Anyone notice a pattern here?

They haven’t had a winning record against the Red Sox early in the season since 2004 and have not had a losing record against them in the second half.
Yeah, it was five years ago this weekend that the Yanks got swept in Fenway, a high-priced star (A-Rod) made his debut, and the NFL draft meant that a big name (Eli Manning) was coming to town. And despite that bad start, the Yanks won the division, and ended up being one inning away from sweeping the Sox before it all fell apart...and...where is that bridge again?

What do you think of the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa ..that was me... Peggy (MyYanks)..but..I have to be honest I got the stats from another blogger on a different Yankee site. Just thought I'd pass them along to save the lives of the Yankee fans who think the season is over .. :o)

Lots of time to go yet ...so the only thing I can say is ..GOOOOOO YANKEES!!!

Go Yankees 2009 !!!

Paul said...

Just a little bit of trivia... In 1978, before the famous September "Boston Massacre" The Yankees were 2-6 against Boston. From that point on, they went 7-1 against them (including the Bucky Dent game) for a final record of 9-7 vs. The Sox

Traveling Baseball Babes said...

The stats make me feel slightly better about the weekend, but I still say Jonathan Papelbon looks like a deranged John Lithgow(who looks scary to begin with...)
-Serena (The Yankees fan half of the Traveling Baseball Babes)

NAM said...

Is there a non-deranged John Lithgow look? Paplebon looks fine to me, especially right after he saves another game for the Sox.

Unknown said...

All this squawking about the Red Sox - Yankee wins and losses. Dudn't matter. Over the last 100 or so games, they've split. It's all yesterday's news. What DOES matter is the pitching. As it stands right now, the Sox have the numbers and they're quality. Bowden and Jones, relatively two unknowns showed that. Bard, in Triple A, throwing 100mph, Bucholtz still not on the team, not to mention Smoltz waiting in the wings yet plus their current rotation and relievers. It's gonna be tough to overcome, kiddies, especially, let's face it, when the Yanks are now, with Bruney out, literally scrambling. We'll just have to see what the Tiger series brings but it surely doesn't look promising...

Paul from Boston said...

I love perusing the newspaper sites and blogs after this type of weekend - there are such similarities between the media of the two cities and the two fan bases (apologies to those that take offense to the comparison, but take the team logo away and ignore accents and it'd be hard for an unbiased third party to tell the difference). Fire this one, bench that one - all the "cute" nicknames for the Manager and GM. I'm sure some of the things I've read about Girardi today I was saying about Francona when Beckett wasn't pulled after walking Jeter on Saturday allowing Damon's HR.

Realistically, much of Boston forgot that the Sox started an awful 2-6 just like NY probably will soon forget this weekend when inevitably they string some wins together. I think our normal post-game emotions (happy, sad, or angry) are accentuated when its a game between these two.

All part of the fun of rooting for one of these teams. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Wow...it seems to me that NAM doesn't have much of a sense of humor. The Jonathan Papelbon comment seemed like a joke to me. But maybe I read it wrong...

Kudos to Paul from Boston who made an excellent point about the similarities between media & fan base. Let's face it, both cities can be pretty rough to play for.

Side note: not for nothing both teams should've been ashamed of the way game 2 was played. That was an extremely digusting display of baseball.

Paul from Boston said...

Thanks anon, and I agree with you about game 2...ugly.

So 2 games of 4:21 and a normal length one that nonetheless ended after 11 last night and now both teams are in rapid fire games in the Central. I may have time to watch last night's Family Guy on DVR after all!

nutballgazette said...

I'm not worried!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowl!!

Aggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

OK I feel better now..

Oh Wait I just saw the result of the game vs the Tigers..


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

NAM said...

My sense of humor is perfectly healthly thank you very much. I am chuckling now, right after the Sox 11th straight win. But I agree with Paul, I was at game 5 in 2005 when the Yankees beat us 5 in a row at home. What comes around, goes around. I just laugh when I can and I cry when I have to. It is baseball and I love it.

Uncle Mike said...

Well, can't blame either the starting pitcher or the bullpen for last night's loss, can we? Nor A-Rod... then again, if he were available, he'd have found a way to choke in the clutch, just like the "hitters" who actually were in the lineup.

Yikes, Paul, the Red Sox AND "Family Guy"? Do you like anything that doesn't make me sick? What next, disco?

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