Who would you root for? Red Sox or Mets

"It gets by Buckner!"

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots are set to add another chapter in the New York-Boston rivalry, but for Jets fans this is a nightmare. Mets fans had to deal with similar fate in 2009 when the Yankees and Phillies battled it out for the 2009 World Series. Luckily for Yankee fans, we haven't had to deal with a similar situation since the 1986 World Series, when the Mets and Red Sox faced off in a classic.

Of course that last time was quite a while ago, at the time "the curse of the bambino" was still alive and well, just ask Bill Buckner about that curse following that series. But if the Red Sox and Mets were to face off in a World Series in the near future, who would Yankee fans root for ? Lets take a look at the case for each team.

Why to root for the Red Sox:

•  In the same league- Sure it may seem silly but that means that they were the best team in the same league the Yankees are in. They deserved to win, and their is no shame is congratulating them if they were the best team.
• Would only hear gloating 9 times a year- Unless you have a friend who is a Red Sox fan or you live in New England, you won't likely have to hear the non stop chatter from Red Sox fans other than the 9 times they play in the Bronx. Now compare that to Mets fans who live amongst us in New York, every family has a black sheep someone who is a fan of the team from Queens or at least a friend who roots for the blue and orange. The trash talk would go on until the Yankees won another title.
• Respectable franchise- Assuming that this World Series was to happen in the near future, the Sox have done an admirable job in the front office, something almost every baseball fan could respect. Outside of the 2011 collapse, the Red Sox have stayed competitive with the Yanks, while making smart trades and building the team through the draft and international free agents.

Why to root for the Mets:

• Territory rights- At least they are from New York, plus it would add another chapter to the NY-Boston rivalry that the "little brother" of the Yanks beat the BoSox.
• You have some sympathy-  Lets face it since 2006 Met fans have been miserable. They collapsed in back to back seasons (2007 & 2008), and since have barely been competitive. Add in the financial issues of the Wilpons, and its hard not to feel a bit bad that all this has happened while the Yankees have won a World Series and been to the playoffs four times.
• Underdog story-  Strange to think that the Mets would be considered an underdog, but to add on from the earlier point the Mets haven't won since 1986, and haven't sniffed the World Series since 2006. The Red Sox have won a pair of titles since 1986.

Who would I root for? I would go the Mets- I don't see much of a rivalry between them and the Yanks other than the 6 games they play each other and if they were to meet again in the World Series. Sure the bragging might get annoying after a while, but I rather NY win... Plus they would need to win a whole lot more to catch the Yankees. But who would you root for?

Another New Era Rivalry Commercial

Yet another great commercial by New Era, they really should continue with this series and create a few more. Hopefully today the bombers bats can pack as much of a punch as Alec Baldwin's fist.

Editors Note: Sorry for the lack of posts lately but Blogger has been acting up and hadn't allowed me to post anything since Wednesday. But don't you worry cause its working now!

New Era Yankees Red Sox rivalry commercial

So funny, love the line "does a lawn mower have a rivalry with grass?"

Would a sweep for the Yanks equal dead sox?

The Red Sox are 0-6! Can you imagine the panic in Boston this weekend if the Yankees sweep. They would be wanting to trade away Crawford, cut Papelbon and beg for Mike Lowell to come out of retirement.

But before we can plan the celebration, the Yankees need to get the job done. A tough chore since Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova both worry me. But if the Yankees do sweep, are the Red Sox done? 0-9 is a tough hill to climb. The simple answer is no. They still would have 153 games to go, and could easily win 9 in a row. So don't count out the Red Sox.

But with the start to a long weekend of Red Sox Yankees rivalry talk enjoy the following video from Michael LaPayower:

New York vs Boston: Battle for Video Embarrassment

Ahh the Yanks and Sox don't face off for another few weeks on the field, but the war in the stands and on the street will always be going between these two long time rivals.

In the latest battle, lets look at who has the more embarressing video: Lets start with the "2011 Red Sox anthem"



Wow where to start on this one. I will give them credit on nice video editing but still talking about 2004 Red Sox fans? That is really weak. Also can Sox fans stop talking about the A-Rod-Jason Varitek fight? They might be the only group of fans to defend a player who had on a mask during the fight.

That said the rapping is awful,is since when does the World Series trophy belong in Boston? It had not been there prior to 2004 in 86 years.


Now time for the Yankees video


Michael lapayower seems like a nice guy, I even follow him on Twitter. But with that said the way he starts this video is so creepy "Heyyy Yankeeee fans" in that creepy voice. From their it just gets corny, how many times have we seen a rocky video? I mean even the Yankees use it at the stadium between innings when they are trying to rally.

Who is the winner for more embarrassing? Well that job is up to you. Comment and let me know, if I like the comment, may you get a prize. If not you atleast made me laugh.

If you think I was mean, read what LA Times writer T.J. Simer had to say about Marcus Thames. Talk about classless, Thames always seemed like a nice guy, and even took the high road on this one. Simer should lose his press credintials, because it seemed like it was a personal attack on the former Yankee.

Yankee Stadium Experience : Yankees vs Red Sox 9-24-2010

It had been a few weeks since I was at Yankee Stadium.Class has started back up, along with working I have been pretty busy, but a Yanks vs Sox match up could not keep me away. I had bought tickets for this game all the way back in March, when tickets went on sale to the general public so I wasn't sitting in my usual seats, but instead in 434B a.k.a the last section in the left field upper deck.

While driving down River Ave I took a picture of what was once a parking lot, that has been turned into a park. The parking lot use to be right across from the old stadium, but now it would be considered a longer walk. Some may remember this lot because it was very small (possibly a private lot) and along the back wall was a mural that included Mantle,Ruth, Munson and many other Yankee greats.

What once was a parking lot is now a playground.

After my friend and I parked we walked around River Ave a bit looking at the shops, I had been looking for a Paul O'Neill shirt. After looking at a poorly done knock off, I choose to buy a shirt from bleacher creature Bald Vinny.

It was almost 5pm and the gates to the stadium were soon going to be opening, the lines to get in were absolutely ridiculous, so long you have thought the playoffs had began already. But before we went in we went into the McDonald's across the street. I had never been inside, but it is one of , if not the cleanest McDonald's I had ever been in.

Eventually we went into the stadium, the entire season I have brought in a small drawstring backpack with water and a few snacks and security never even checked the bag. This time the guard went all out searching, maybe cause the Red Sox were in town.

As I wandered around to gate 2, I noticed they got rid of the clearance stand and the kiddie cart and speed pitch were back. My friend Jerry did the speed pitch and hit 62 MPH (while throwing his arm out, but in his defense I have hit against him before and I believe he could throw a bit harder). Apparently if you hit a certain MPH they give you a prize and he won a 2009 World Series lanyard and a poster that was out dated mentioning 26 rings. It should be noted that gate 2, was an absolute ghost town, even the employees looked really bored.

Before we hiked to our seats we walked around each level. After visiting the stadium so many times you see things and hear about them but never actually try/ visit them. In this case it was the team store on the main level. I never bother to go into the team stores cause they are often over crowded and over priced. The coolest thing was that I had never realized that the store looked above the entrance to gate 4.

All the walking around worked up an appetite, so I purchased nachos from Wholly Guacamole for $8.50 (how warped am I that I consider that reasonable ?). The seats weren't that bad even though we were very far away from the action. Seemed like the crowd was going to be sparse since 10 minutes before game time, there were plenty of empty seats but when the game began they filled up.



Annoying Red Sox fan

Just from walking around it didn't seem like many Red Sox fans were around, maybe because they realize that their team stinks ? That their season is over ? Or Mets fans realized that this season they couldn't turn into Red Sox fans. But of course where I was sitting I had to deal with two of the most Red Sox creatures alive (they don't deserve to be called people). One was an annoying woman behind me that screamed over everything that happened, and the other was a guy who was wearing a Ortiz jersey and had a red mohawk. More on them in a bit.



I had been excited to see Andy Pettitte face Josh Beckett but soon that excitement turned to anger once the Red Sox started to tee off on Andy, while the Yankees struggled to hit Beckett early. The Yankees were down, but after back to back homers by Tex and A-Rod the crowd began to get back into the game. Swisher would also add a two run shot to close the gap to 10-5. The worst part was that the fans attempted to do the wave at one point.

Once A-Rod hit his second homer of the night to pass Sammy Sosa on the all time list, it began to get a bit crazy in my section. The entire night the Red Sox fan with the mohawk had been obnoxious and yelling, some fans were yelling back at him but it never got too bad. Eventually one female Yankees fan had enough of him and decided to throw a soda in his face, the Sox fan threw his right back at her. She was kicked out, he got to stay. It should be known that security did have to call him over at least five times during the game to tell him to stop. He was eventually tossed in the ninth inning, but the annoying lady behind me was still around.



Mohawk Red Sox fan getting tossed



The Yankees rally fell short in the ninth even with Tex hitting a solo shot to make it 10-8 and Cano coming up as the tying run.



Just a few quick things, Tex now comes up to "Good Vibration" by Marky Mark. I liked it better when he came up to "I wanna rock". Another thing is why in the world do they still have Nick Johnson in the match game and in the videos they play on the scoreboard. They show Rocky getting pumped and then Nick Johnson ? Talk about complete opposites.

The next time I will be at the stadium will be for the ALDS. Thanks for reading.

Yankees notes : who's hot/not , pitching match ups & postseason presale

The bombers have just a game and a half lead in the division with just four home games left during the regular season. The Yanks and Rays have lived up to the expectation of a race till the end, and tonight it gets even better. CC Sabathia and David Price will be on the hill, two potential Cy Young award winners battling for the division. Last Monday the pair of lefties faced off and each proved why they each deserve consideration for the award, throwing a combined 16 innings and allowing just five hits combined. So expect a pitchers dual tonight at the stadium. The Yankees win and the lead goes back up to 2 1/2 games but if they lost it will be just 1/2 game with nine games remaining.The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff birth is three.        

The pitching match ups for the final Yankees vs Red Sox series in the Bronx for 2010 :

Friday 7:05 YES Network: Andy Pettitte (11-2) vs Josh Becket (5-5).

Pettitte will make his first start at home since suffering the groin injury in July. While Josh Beckett, who has been beat up by the Yankees over his career (except in the 2003 World Series) attempts to prevent the Yankees from clinching a playoff birth.  Beckett has a career 6.23 ERA against the Yankees and needs to watch out for Robinson Cano who has hit .341 against him along with three homers.

Saturday 4:05 Fox : Jon Lester(18-8) vs Ivan Nova (1-0).
Looks like a mismatch for the Yankees who will go with the inexperienced Nova. Nova has pitched well the first two times through the line up and then hits a bump in the road. Lester on the other hand never hits bumps against the Yanks (5-1 3.63 ERA ). Cano (.227), Posada (.231) and Nick Swisher (.133) all had had their struggles with Lester over their career. This one looks like a win for the BoSox.

Sunday 8:05 ESPN : Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-6) vs Phil Hughes (17-8)
You know its a Yankees-Red Sox weekend when Fox and ESPN each have a game that they are airing, even if the Red Sox are out of it. The Yanks have hit Dice-k hard (ERA 6.31) but the Red Sox have done the same to Hughes (5.81) , so expect a slug fest for the final regular season home game.

Who's hot
Curtis Granderson may be only hitting .256 but his four home runs and 12 RBI have helped the bombers beat up on the Rays in the first two games of the series. Curtis also has drawn seven walks.

Shh don't look now but Derek Jeter has an 11 game hit streak and over that time is hitting .357. So much for Jeter being finished for his career, the hot streak comes at the perfect time. Lets hope he can keep this up during the post season.

Could Cano pick a better time to continue his hot hitting ? Over his last 10 games hitting .350, while driving in nine. Josh Hamilton has been sidelined since September 4th, suddenly Cano could really make a fight for why he should be MVP.


Who's not
Tex has been battling injuries since the end of August and it has shown hitting just .176 during this month with out a home run.

Austin Kearns had looked like a great pick up when he first came over for Cleveland but recently has cooled off , hitting just .214 and battling a few nagging injuries.

Last thing don't forget that if you are a Yankees partial season ticket plan holder that the pre-sale is tomorrow starting at 10:00 AM. Your password for the sale can be found in you Yankees account manager page.

Yankees vs Rays just don't sell like Yanks - BoSox

The Rays may have gained a short lived lead in the AL East this past week, when they took two of three from the bombers but it doesn't mean that they are now a hot ticket. The division race is not over , and the Yanks and Rays will face each at the start of next week September 20-23, a four game series at Yankee Stadium.

Maybe it is because it is during the week, and school is back in session but the ticket prices for that series can be had for below face value. This year has been a tough one if you sell a lot of tickets since the Yankees market became flooded and seats were widely available for cheap. But in the middle of a pennant race against a team that is just half a game back is crazy. I'll admit that I sold two of the games I had from this series early in the season because I figured that by this time the Yankees would have a nice lead and the series wouldn't mean that much. Tickets can be had for as low as $8 on Stubhub for the series. It should also be noted that on three of the four nights there will be a promotional giveaway (including a Yankees Snoopy doll).

So while the Rays series is going for less then face, when the Red Sox come into town the next night the prices are above face. The Red Sox are currently six games back , and just don't seem to have that fight to get back into the mix. Yet because its Boston and the whole rivalry the prices are reasonably high. Another factor could also be because it is the last regular season series and it is being played on the weekend.

So while the Red Sox series may come when the Yankees are about to clinch a playoff berth, it wont have the same rivalry feeling. The Red Sox will be out of contention and will have young players in the game, not the old usual suspects that Yankee fans love to hate. Meanwhile the Tampa Bay series will feel much more like a playoff game, with every single pitch mattering. It just shows that even with the Rays being one of the best teams in baseball, coming to Yankee Stadium for a possible ALCS preview, the New York vs Boston rivalry holds stronger.

Best off season move for 2010 season : Marcus Thames

When the Yankees gave Marcus Thames a non guaranteed contract in February, it seemed like an after thought. Many teams sign players that are trying to catch on with a team to spring training and then either send them to AAA or cut them.

The Yankees had gotten Nick Johnson to fill the DH spot, along with Randy Winn to be the fourth outfielder, so Thames had a slim chance of making the team. But much to my surprise Thames made the team, and the Yankees carried five outfielders, Thames role was to hit against lefty starting pitching. I figured it wouldn't be long before Thames was gone, hes a great hitter but the Yankees had Nick Johnson at DH and Girardi planned to rest the older regulars at that spot. Thames is a poor defender so at the time was it really necessary for the Yanks to just have one player on the team to hit against lefties?

This season Thames got off to a good start and Yankees fans embraced him for his walk off home run against Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox in May. The love for Thames, who go the first pie of the 2010 season didn't last long, as the next night he dropped a key fly ball in the outfield and the Yanks lost the game.

Thames spent some time on the DL and missed most of June. But looking at his current numbers, it is easy to say that this has been the best pick up that Brian Cashman made this past off season. Thames already has 11 homers in only 165 at bats, not only is Thames hitting homers but he is hitting .327 against left handed pitching.

Thames recently gave the Yankees a huge spark while Alex Rodriguez was out, but even with A-Rod back Thames should see more playing time. Lance Berkman has struggled since coming to the Bronx and Austin Kearns can play the field instead of Brett Gardner.

I understand that during the playoffs Thames may not get many chances, other then at DH against a lefty pitcher. But Thames could always come off the bench and pinch hit, making a team re-think about bringing a lefty in for Curtis Granderson or Brett Gardner. With the Postseason arriving, and Thames possibly being on the bench as a pinch hitter, we should enjoy these Happy Thames !

Yankee Stadium Experience : August 9th 2010 Yankees vs Red Sox

It had been 3 years since I had attended a Yankees vs Red Sox game at the stadium. I have realized alot has changed since when I saw them play on a cold April 2007 night. The Yankees hadn't won a World Series since 2000, still played in the old Yankee Stadium and at the time Doug Mientkiewicz and Kei Igawa were part of the roster. For the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez was still loved for "Manny being Manny" , David Ortiz was still beating up on the bombers and Dice-K had just come over from Japan. Of all the things I listed the only thing that is still somewhat possible is Ortiz beating up on the Yanks and even that, we now find out was performance enhanced.

So about the stadium experience. In my last trip to the stadium, I wanted to grab a Lobel's steak sandwich but the line was way too long. This time with a 2:05 pm start time, and myself arriving at the stadium an hour and a half early, the line was reasonable. Its different how they do it at the small Lobel's stand in left field compared to all the other concessions in the stadium. You tell the cashier what you plan to order, pay them and they give u a receipt. You then move along, show your receipt to another worker and they grab your food and put it in a Lobel's bag, even if it is just one sandwich.

The sandwich runs $15, but compared to a $5 crappy hot dog it suddenly seems like a bargain. Part of me believes that after eating the sandwich that for only $15 it is a bargain. The meat was tender and juicy, and they piled a lot of it on the bun. So in case you don't get my point, next time your at the stadium and you got some extra cash to spend and don't mind spending some time on line, head to Lobel's. Trust me you will thank me once your mouth is in heaven.

While walking around before the first pitch I noticed that the Yankees have added one of those machines in which you put a penny into it along with a dollar and an imprint of your choice will come out on the penny. Maybe it has been there for a while and I hadn't noticed. Anyways if you would like to make a penny yourself , the machine is located outside the team store behind home plate.

Finally 20 minutes before first pitch, I ventured to my partial plan seats in section 235 of the bleachers. Lucky for me, I am the last row so a cement wall is behind me that i can use as a back rest. Last row or not it was not going to save me from the heat on this warm August day. I was surprised by how sparse the crowd leading up to first pitch, eventually the seats would fill in and the Yanks drew another crowd over 49,000.

Through the first few innings the crowd never really seemed into the game. Maybe it was because it was hot or it was a day game during the week, maybe the rowdy people had work, also maybe because for this Monday matinee I did not spot many Red Sox fans. Either way for a Yanks - Sox game it was very calm.

Here are some of my thoughts on the game while it was happening :

• Why in the world is Curtis Granderson playing against a tough lefty like Jon Lester
• Great, Lester is having trouble throwing strikes and we cant get a hit off this guy
• Um Yankees can you not get no hit by Lester here in the Bronx ?
• Alright now I'm getting annoyed. The worlds most annoying voice over guy is doing the Zales marquee message board and the Yankees still don't have a hit. I hope the Zales marquee guy gets laryngitis and had to miss the next 25 seasons.
• Marcus Thames almost saved the Yankees with a ball that hit off the top of the wall. Had the ball gone over it would have tied the game. At the time I wasn't too worried since the Yanks had no outs and I was feeling confident.
• Following strike outs from Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher to leave the bases loaded suddenly my confidence turns into frustration.
• Also it should be known Jorge Posada and the Yankees pitchers could not contain Jacoby Ellsbury on the base path.

When Jonathan Papelbon struck out Mark Teixiera ( who will miss the next game,due to his wife having a child) it meant that the Red Sox had come away with a 2-1 victory and a series split. As i mentioned earlier the game didn't really feel like a game against the Red Sox. Mostly because I didn't notice any fights in the stands and only once heard a "Boston Sucks" chant.

Following the game, it took forever to leave out of the 161st street parking garage, as my friend and I stood outside his car and chatted I took a few pictures from the top level. Certainly a nice view of Yankee Stadium.

In case you have not noticed the Yanks have lost the last four games that I have attended. I hope to change that trend next Wednesday August 18th when I head back to the Bronx to see Johnny Damon return. I will be sitting in my usual section 235 in the left field bleachers, should be interesting to see how the fans respond to Damon's return.

I leave you with some pictures from the game

The mess in the parking lot trying to leave.

The view from 235

Nobody cheering or standing as Phil Hughes had two strikes on a batter with two outs and runners on.

The crowd following Tex hitting a solo blast

Odd looking picture of Gate 2 following the game. It looks like the stadium is bending.

The gorgous Yankee Stadium following the bombers 2-1 loss against the Red Sox