So full disclosure this post was suppose to be about my boii Blake Swihart, but with his recent DL stint, and the Yanks coming to town, we took a little detour.

But hot damn! You got to love a good Yankees/Red Sox series especially one like this that has a little gusto. We are in the dog days of Summer, and literally nothing is going on. Football is on its way back, and while I tuned into the Hall of Fame Game, for me football does not really hold my interest until the 3rd preseason game. Besides there was too much to look into last Thursday. You have Sale going to the DL out of nowhere, and Brian Johnson starting a relatively important series against the Yankees who notoriously crush left handers.

How does this game start out? The Yankees putting on a Dong show to go up 4-0 in the top of the first. And you could hear Red Sox nation just shaking their collective heads, muttering ” not this shit again”. But this Red Sox team has done something this season that has been lacking since the 2013 season, they fought back. And by fought back I mean Steve Pearce had a date with the “Dong Report” and oh boyy did he get lucky ;). Pearce ended with 3 homers and 6 RBIs, as the Sox went onto a 15-7 absolute demolishing of the Yankees.

To be honest I missed the first inning and a third of the second game, which is where the fireworks began! I had just got home from work after one of those 1000 degree days we’ve been having. I was greeted getting out of the shower by a text from my brother ” LETS FUCKING GO!” Now what the hell did that mean? Did the Patriots sign Dez? Did the Celtics trade for Davis? Was Tebow back in the NFL!? No. the answer, while not as exciting has some of those options, was that Mookie had been thrown at, and the rivalry was officially back on.

Ricky “Raindrops” Porcello comes out by clunking Gardner. Now it looked like a sinker that just got away, was there intent, Im not really sure. Regardless, you best believe that if the Yankees have any sort of sack they are not coming off a 15-7 thrashing and just letting their leadoff guy get hit. So what does Severino do in the bottom of the 1st? Up and in right at the head of Betts. Now in 2018 with CTE and all the other medical concerns, our sports are getting less physical. I completely understand that, but at some time throwing at batters is all baseball has left in the form of intensity. You can’t collide at home any more, and MAYBE every 100 games you’ll get a benches clearing “brawl” which really just amounts to an NBA slap fight with no one really doing anything. So Severino goes at Mookie’s head which I am all for, Mookie is able to get out of the way and Cora loses his damn mind. Now watching the replay ( I literally joined the game with Pearce’s first at bat) its not one of the craziest manager throw outs I have ever seen. But you have to consider that Cora is such an even tempered manager, he is like Brad Stevens, you never really see much emotion, he has his player’s respect and that is just the way he is. So seeing him rush out of the dugout to protect his future 300 million dollar man, yeah that gave me a little movement in my pants. That followed by Pearce with another fucking homer! Damn son. Then you got Sale and the whole Sox dugout chirping Severino. Its back baby, Porcello gets the W throwing the compete game one-hitter, and at worse the Sox spilt the series.

Saturday was one of those peculiar games where the Yankees are starting a rookie, and the Sox started Evaoldi. So really this is a game that would be hard to predict, but the Sox do it again and take the series before even reaching tonight’s Primetime game. Thus, the Yankees enter tonight 8.5 games back with 7 games ( including tonight) left against the Sox. Tonight its Price/Tanaka in a matchup that means a lot for both teams. For the Yankees its obvious you need this win to save face, something to hang your hat one until they meet again in September. For the Sox its all about Price, the Yankees have always had his number, and you still have that concern that the moment anything goes wrong Price will tap out. The Sox are having a historic regular season, but they need to go far in the playoffs for this season to be considered even a little bit of a success. To have any chance at that the Sox need Price. With injuries to Pomeranz, Rodriguez, and with Sale having a “?” next to his name the Sox can’t afford to move Price to the bullpen. They need a starter they can rely on, someone who will get them into the 7th. The Sox bullpen is not good enough to have to come in the 5th and still give them a shot to win. So all eyes will be on the Mr. Fornite tonight.

Next lets look at the Red Sox and Yankees in a potential playoff series. I was listening to CBS radio as I do every night before I go to bed. And Maraz from the D.A. show was talking about how arrogant Sox fans are thinking that this is over. He went on to say that Yankee fans don’t care if they win the division, because there is no way they would lose a 1 game play in game. Lets just start with that statement. Like you want to talk about arrogance. Literally anything can happen in a playoff game, especially one where its winner take all. That coupled with the point my friend made that, Severino shits his pants in the playoffs, so whose pitching that game? Because if you start Severino there is no guarantee you make it out alive.

But lets say you do, and its Sox/Yankees in the ALDS. It would be Sale game 1 vs Tanaka. Edge Sale all the way. Game 2 I would go Price over CC,  but thats a toss up. After that who are the Yankees going to Pitch? Servino would pitch game 4, but in game 3 you get an interesting matchup of Porcello/Happ. Look I don’t know what would happen in that game or even the series. Would I be shocked if the Yankees took it? No. But lets not sit here and say the Yankees are the best team in baseball when they arn’t. When in actuality they sit almost 9 games back from the actual best team in baseball, the Boston Red Sox. And lets not write the Yankees into the playoffs just yet. Will they be there? Probably. But they still have a lot they have to prove, and that assumes they win that play in game, which is a big assumption to make no matter who the opponent would be.

Next Maraz went on to say that: “well its not a real test because Judge and Sanchez are out”. Okay well there is no certainty that Judge is coming back. He is dealing with a wrist injury, what player has ever come back in the same season with a wrist injury, and has been the same player? I cant think of any off the top of my head. The wrist has to much influence over how a hitter, especially a power hitter, performs. Then you have Sanchez who literally got DL’ed for being lazy and costing the Yankees a game, so yeah lets just label him a game changer if he comes back. But thats none of my business -_-.

Look I am no “homer” when it comes to sports, and Im one to give the Yankees credit when they do well. You are also looking at A-Rods biggest fan right here. But the one thing I can’t stand about the Yankee’s fanbase is they can never just admit when the Sox are doing well. You want to say “hey they are having one hell of a year, but the playoffs are going to be a dogfight”? Hell I can agree to that, putting aside, that for that statement to be true the Yankees actually have to make the playoffs, which will probably happen but there is no guarantee. But they cant even do that. They want to tell you how much better their lineup is, and how they have the best bullpen in baseball.

The second statement maybe true, but the first? Pssssh give me a break. Both lineups are good don’t get me wrong. But lets look at them. First ill take the Mookie/Martinez combo over Stanton/Judge any day of the week. Judge is good, but severely overrated especially going into his second season. Stanton has been better of late but is still hitting like 270 compared to Martinez’s 320ish average. His 33 HR’s and 91 RBIs crushes Stanton’s 25 HRs and 66 RBIs. Then the rest of the lineup I would take some Yankees here and some Red Sox there. For instance I’d take Sanchez over any of the Sox catchers ( Sorry Blake) even if he is a lazy. At 1B I would take the Pearce/ Moreland combo. Shortstop is a wash between Bogarets and DD. 2nd base goes to the Yankees with Torres. 3rd probably the Yankees again with Andujar but honestly that depends on Devers coming back and how he looks. LF give me Benny Biceps all day over Gardner. CF meh give me JBJ even though im not a fan, over Hicks.

So what does all that mean? The lineups are kinda even, Id probably take the Sox lineup, but Id listen to arguments for the Yankees. Then the Yanks starting pitching is a mess even worse then the Sox. They have Sevrino, Tanaka, CC and Happ. Sox have Sale, Price, Porcello, and then some combination of Rodriguez/Eovaldi. Again there are so many question marks here, the Yankees might look better on paper, but both clubs starters have had issues in the playoffs. So lets just see what it all looks like in October for pegging either team as better than the other.

But all that this says is its going to be one hell of a matchup if it happens. It brings fire back to the rivalry, I want them to beat the shit out of each other, I want a reason to watch baseball. I want to go back to the Manny throwing that old dude down by his bald head.

Give me something.

All eyes are on you tonight Price…. Go Sox.

Turns out that upper and lowercase letters became known as such because print shops needed a metal type piece for every possible character. These were stored in boxes called “cases” with capital letters stored in the “upper” case and the more often used smaller letters kept in the “lower” case for easier assess.

-Slang of the Day

“Ding Toasted” : Believed to have originated from the more colloquial phase “boom roasted” this slang is used to punctuate a partially potent or clever insult.

Ex: Speaker 1. Your mama’s so fat that when she went to the clinic, the doctor said “I need your weight not your phone number”.

Speaker 2. OOOH Ding Toasted