Afternoon Baseball

EDIT: Well, that work won't start until tomorrow.

The Yankees start a series with the Chicago White Sox tonight, and both teams are looking to be better than their records.
Mark Buehrle's no-hitter has been the highlight for the Sox, who have scored but 131 runs in 34 games, leaving them hovering around .500 despite giving up only 142. They are also only 7-8 at home, although they are coming off back-to-back series wins -- taking two of three at home against the Royals and two of three at Minnesota.

The loss of Jim Thome, of course, has clocked this team, with its leading average and OPS man of the moment being Juan Uribe (.255/.768). Paul Konerko has had an atrocious stretch, even for a man of his streakiness (as my fantasy team has learned). Thome begins his rehab assignment today, but for now, the Yankees won't have to worry about him.

What does this say? If the Yankees can score runs, they can take this series. They need to do so, of course, after losing more ground to the Red Sox last night. That means Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui need to step it up, and one hopes Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon stay/get healthy soon.

And oh yeah, Alex Rodriguez, April's over. Get on with some May production.

However, we can all enjoy these few days when Jorge Posada is one of the top five AL batting leaders. I don't think it's a stretch to say he won't stay above .350 all year.
On the other hand, Derek Jeter has been a model of consistency, which bodes well for his average.

Labels: Baseball, Yankees