Hello, Red Sox and Yankees fans!I would like to thank Dave and Aviv for inviting me to guest blog when their beloved teams play my wonderful, heart-wrenching Mets. The title of this entry is an homage to a friend of mine from Norwalk, Clayton Burroughs. I miss his Jose Reyes hugs.
A little about me. I've been a Mets fan for nearly 30 years. My first memory of a Met game was watching Tom Seaver's Cincinnati Reds win at Shea, and as my father, grandfather and I walked down the ramps leading out of the Stadium, a chorus of "Joe Torre Sucks!" chants echoed for minutes on end. Needless to say, I was hooked years before the ball trickled through Buckner's legs. I worked with Aviv at the Connecticut Post eons ago. Nearly a decade later, I work for a NY tabloid, and my views do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
I'll get straight to the point about this weekend's series at Fenway. I'm not optimistic concerning the Mets' chances of winning one game. I think they have as much of a chance to win Sunday's Tim Redding-Tim Wakefield matchup as they do tonight's Johan Santana-Daisuke Matsuzaka worldly tussle.
First off, the Mets are 3-6 in regular season games at Fenway, including a Boston sweep three years ago. No, the ghosts of Lenny Dykstra and Gary Carter from 1986 won't be much help here.
Next, Johan Santana historically does not pitch well at Fenway: He's 1-3 with a 6.89 ERA in four starts. Although for a pitcher that allows plenty of home runs, he's relinquished only one career Fenway bomb. Still, I don't like the idea of him facing gritty right-handed hitters like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay and even Mike Lowell. This is as good a right-handed lineup as he'll see all season. Throw a suddenly heating up Big Papi, and it will be difficult. Santana very well could win the NL Cy Young Award this year, mainly because he's one of the two best starters in baseball and Citi Field invites him to be even more aggressive than he normally is. A healthy Santana should win a least two Cy Youngs pitching at Citi Field, the park where home runs go to die (It's amazing how the new Yankee Stadium embraces the long ball, but Citi Field shoos them away like flies). I expect he'll keep the Mets close, maybe a 4-3 loss. But, he's the Mets' biggest hope for a win this weekend.
Mike Pelfrey (facing Beckett) tends to keep the ball in the park, so that will help on Saturday. Sunday will be nearly a tossup if Redding can go at least six innings.
The big question is which sacrificial lineup will the Mets will put out each game. No Carlos Delgado. Jose Reyes day-to-day with tendinitis in his knee. All the Sox pitchers will need to do is pitch around Carlos Beltran and David Wright, and they should go fairly unscathed. Boston must be salivating about facing Ramon Martinez, Jeremy Reed, Angel Pagan, Ramon Castro, and to a lesser degree Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church, as many as 10 times this weekend. That list of future Hall of Famers must have Red Sox Nation trembling in anticipation. The wild card is Gary Sheffield, of course, but what he'll provide this weekend is a mystery. Plus, if you haven't noticed on SportsCenter, the Mets are fielding as well as the Amazin' Mets of the early '60s. A healthy lineup might have come into Fenway off a sweep of the Dodgers. Instead, they come in reeling, having lost four straight.
A gem from Santana could give the Mets one win, and there's a chance of stealing a game Saturday or Sunday. I won't be happy with just one win, but I'm realistic. If the Mets come away with two or more wins, that would make me angry if I were a Sox fan. Enjoy!
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