Yankees/Red Sox rubber match

There never really needs to be any explanation for the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, and tonight is no different. In the first series of the year between these two historic franchises, the series victory comes down to the third game. on the weekend's brightest stage-- ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. After splitting the first two games, New York and Boston will battle it out on a national stage, implicating an early postseason atmosphere.

Chien-Ming Wang finally emerged as the Yankees' ace on Friday night when he threw a complete game, two-hitter at the Red Sox, stifling one of baseball's best offenses. The sinker-baller has been making strides to anchor the rotation, but it is performances like these that will permanently stamp his name in the number one slot. These are the kind of nights that aces need to pull out every once in a while. Show stopping performances-- Wang's left the Fenway faithful in dead silence.

But for one team's ace, the opposition counters with another, and Boston sent out their best in Josh Beckett to even up the series on Saturday. Beckett threw 6 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs, and leaving with a 4-3 lead. After starting the season on the DL, Beckett appears to be getting himself into game shape and will soon be rearing those bullets of his past lineups everywhere.

Mike Mussina opposed Beckett on Saturday and did a serviceable job, but it wasn't good enough going up against Boston's number one. Manny Ramirez sucker-punched Mussina with a bases loaded single, leaving Mussina with a job well done and nothing to show for it.

Saturday's contest endured a soggy field, miserable weatcher, and a healthy rain delay that extended over two innings. The most crucial moment of the game came immediately after the delay, when play was stopped with two runners on in the top of the 8th inning, with Alex Rodriguez at the plate and the scoreboard indicating a 4-3 ballgame. Boston manager Terry Francona went straight to his best gun-- closer Jonathan Papelbon-- to get Rodriguez, knowing that here lied the ballgame.

Papelbon promptly brought his rageful persona to the Fenway mound and struck out Rodriguez to end the threat. The All-Star closer struck out two more in a perfect ninth inning to earn the save and gain momentum going into Sunday night.

That brings us to this ballgame-- an interesting matchup it will be. Both teams have endured injuries in the early going, and substantila ones at that for this series. The Yankees are without shortstop Derek Jeter who is nursing a strained quadriceps, and Boston put third baseman Mike Lowell on the DL with a thumb injury. Both pieces are integral part of their respective lineups, but their absences have failed to dull the action.

The game will be decided on the mound, like usual, and the two starters tonight differ in experience, but compare in stuff. Phil Hughes will be taking the mound for the Yankees-- a rookie who has never pitched in Fenway Park. The last rookie to make his first start in Fenway for the Yankees did not turn out so well; Chase Wright gave up four homeruns in a row-- on a Sunday Night telecast no less.

But this debut shall certainly be different as the aforementioned Wright pales in comparison to Phil Hughes, who is regarded as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Hughes has the presence and the moxie to shut down the Red Sox under the bright lights of the game's fiercest rivalry. Hughes will bring a fastball, changeup, and curveball to the mound and must pound the zone early and often. His stuff is good, but his velocity has been a tick down so far this season and he cannot afford to work behind in the count to a lineup as potent as Boston's.

Matsuzaka has an electric arsenal as he will throw variations of three or four pitches, making it appear as if he actually has about eight pitches. The Japanese import has seemingly pitched around the world in the first week and a half of the season, making starts on both coasts of the United States and in Japan. Matsuzaka has the advantage when it comes to experience as he has pitched against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, and has pitched in numerous big games in his career with the Red Sox and in Japan. It will probably be a bit more difficult for Hughes to control his emotions on Sunday evening, giving Matsuzaka the early advantage.

The one absolute of this ballgame-- weather permitting-- is that the atmosphere will electric, the competition will be fervent, and the crowd will be defeaning. We are months away from postseason baseball but, as tonight will indicate, it is never too early for a taste.