Spring Break
The Pro Side: Red Sox - Yankees rivalry as good as ever in '09
Mike Mauro
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: Sports
With Rivalry Week well underway in college hoops, and baseball season set to kick off with pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training this week, it's time to get excited for another season of the greatest rivalry in all of sports - Red Sox/Yankees
Fresh off an offseason that has seen the Yankees add high-profile free agents CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to their rotation and Mark Teixeira to the middle of their lineup, the Red Sox have laid low but added quality with future Hall of Famer John Smotlz, All-Star Brad Penny, reliever Takashi Saito and outfielder Rocco Baldelli.
The Yankees have been surrounded by distractions during the offseason compounded by the release of former manager Joe Torre's new book "The Yankee Years" which details some of the problems and issues he had with certain players, some current like Alex Rodriguez.
Then just as the focus was on A-Rod and his teammates to comment on the various personality allegations in the book, news broke that A-Rod failed what was supposed to be a confidential performance-enhancing drug test in 2003.
A-Rod's confession that he did use steroids from 2001-2003 while in Texas was the best thing he could had done for himself and the Yankees. If he denied the reports, he would have been put in the same boat as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and would have been questioned all season on the topic. Even though his apology to baseball was less than perfect, it was sufficient enough that once he starts hitting home runs inside the lines, all Yankee fans will care about is winning ball games.
Once again the pressure is on the Yankees' shoulders after their big-time additions, but the Red Sox return the core of the team they had late in the season. A full season with Jason Bay, AL MVP Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and (hopefully) a healthy David Ortiz to go along with a very strong rotation may make put the Red Sox as the team to beat in the AL East.
Fresh off an offseason that has seen the Yankees add high-profile free agents CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to their rotation and Mark Teixeira to the middle of their lineup, the Red Sox have laid low but added quality with future Hall of Famer John Smotlz, All-Star Brad Penny, reliever Takashi Saito and outfielder Rocco Baldelli.
The Yankees have been surrounded by distractions during the offseason compounded by the release of former manager Joe Torre's new book "The Yankee Years" which details some of the problems and issues he had with certain players, some current like Alex Rodriguez.
Then just as the focus was on A-Rod and his teammates to comment on the various personality allegations in the book, news broke that A-Rod failed what was supposed to be a confidential performance-enhancing drug test in 2003.
A-Rod's confession that he did use steroids from 2001-2003 while in Texas was the best thing he could had done for himself and the Yankees. If he denied the reports, he would have been put in the same boat as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and would have been questioned all season on the topic. Even though his apology to baseball was less than perfect, it was sufficient enough that once he starts hitting home runs inside the lines, all Yankee fans will care about is winning ball games.
Once again the pressure is on the Yankees' shoulders after their big-time additions, but the Red Sox return the core of the team they had late in the season. A full season with Jason Bay, AL MVP Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and (hopefully) a healthy David Ortiz to go along with a very strong rotation may make put the Red Sox as the team to beat in the AL East.
Be the first to comment on this story