New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox and the Importance of the Weekend Series
April 8, 2011 · Rich Stowe · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Starting today, the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox for the first time in 2011.
The overhyping of this series began earlier this week when the Red Sox got off to one of their slowest season starts in their history.
Just how important is this series? It all depends on who you ask.
To the Red Sox and their Nation, it’s very important. It marks the Red Sox’s first time playing in Fenway this season. Also, a Yankee sweep would put them at 0-9 to start the year.
Plus, they’re playing their rival, the New York Yankees, which alone makes the series important. Red Sox Nation is in panic mode and anything less than two wins this weekend would be disastrous.
To the Yankees and their Evil Empire of fans, it’s not that important. It’s just another series against the Red Sox. The only importance Yankee fans put on the series is to see if Hughes’ velocity is still down, if Ivan Nova can repeat the performance of his first start and if certain hitters can break out of their early-season slumps or continue their early-season hot streaks.
To the rest of the baseball world, it’s just another series between the Red Sox and Yankees that will be overhyped on ESPN and discussed to death by the teams’ fans on sites like this one.
Also, most of the baseball world realizes that a series in April doesn’t have the same importance as one in September, when just a couple of games are the difference between making the playoffs or not.
I’m a Yankee fan and even I can’t get geared up for this weekend series as I would if it was in September, with the winner of the series winning the division.
Yes, games are important in April, but no team has ever won the World Series in April and how you play in April against division rivals isn’t as important as what the season record against them looks like in September.
All Yankees fans remember in 2009 when the Yankees started off 0-8 against the Red Sox, only to win nine of the final 10 games against them on the way to the AL East crown and eventually the World Series.
Red Sox fans should be looking for the team to show any signs of improving, no matter what the record of the series ends up being.
Yankee fans should be looking to see if the team can simply continue doing what it’s done over the first week of the season, with slight improvements in certain areas.
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