Yankees @ Red Sox preview

The Yanks come to Fenway for a two game series starting Monday night. New York leads the division by percentage points after shutting down the Blue Jays today, while Boston's brutal road trip mercifully came to an end with a one-run, Rudy Seanez-aided loss in Tampa.

Monday: Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 4.80) vs. Tim Wakefield (1-4, 3.90)

Even I had to do a double-take when I looked at Wakefield's record. I knew he had been unlucky, but I can't believe he already has four losses. He's pitched fine, save for the opening series in Texas, but he's been victimized by less than stellar catching and an anemic offense that's only scored ten runs behind him.

The latter is unlikely to change anytime soon, as Boston can't seem to score any runs with Coco Crisp out of the lineup and a totally disinterested Manny Ramirez (who seemingly hasn't pulled a ball for any kind of power all season) in it. Of course, Alex Gonzalez continues to be an out factory, and Mark Loretta may be over the proverbial hill, and Wily Mo Pena hasn't gotten nearly enough at bats, but over-simplification is what we do in Boston, so it's easy to jump on Coco and Manny.

I'll be at this game tomorrow night - hopefully the rain holds out long enough to get the game in. In between Rodney Dangerfield "I want you to meet my friend Mr. Wang... no offense..." jokes and hurling obscenities at whoever takes over for Sheff in right field, I'm fearing the worst. This Red Sox team is very flawed, and I have no idea how Wake's knuckler will be affected by the weather.

Of course, the Johnny Damon question hangs over this game more than anything else. Somehow there's a controversy about this up here, but I don't get it. Of course I'm cheering him. Not only was he one of The 25, but he hit the biggest "high-five the nearest random stranger" home run of my lifetime (the Game Seven grand slam off of Javier Vazquez), and he routinely played through pain and never cheated the fans with his effort.

So he gets an automatic standing ovation from me... for his first at-bat. After that, he's the enemy. But hell, I gave Doug Mientkiewicz a standing ovation in Philadelphia last year, so I owe Damon at least that.

Tuesday: Shawn Chacon (3-1, 4.56) vs. Josh Beckett (3-1, 4.50)

Beckett had been great all season until his shellacking in Cleveland last week, but according to Peter Gammons on the radio this morning (a wonderful interview where he flat-out called David Glass a "thief"), the Rangers are convinced that the Indians are stealing signs, and they're using tape of the Beckett game as proof.

Now, who knows if this is just Showalter whining, or if Broussard really did know the location of each pitch he hit out, but either way, this is a big start for Beckett. Lest we forget, Lucchino made the panic trade for him because he's a "big game pitcher" who "knows how to beat the Yankees." So, you know, no pressure.

As for Chacon, he's the winner of the Tony Batista "I'd like to drive a stake through his heart" fantasy baseball award for this young season. Partially on the advice of Ross, but mostly because I liked him pitching at sea level, I picked him up in the pre-season in one of my leagues, then cut him after two awful, inexplicable relief appearances. Two good starts for someone else's team later, I remember why I never like to have Yankees on my team... and why it's a bad idea to give up on a player in mid-April. Bah.

Anyway, I'll have to cop out and predict a split in this series. The Sox will lose on Monday, when I'm there sitting in the bleachers in the rain with a Yankee fan on his first trip to Fenway. Good times. Then they'll rebound behind Beckett just as the first round of "the sky is falling" pieces start showing up in the Globe and the Herald. This town is too easy sometimes...

-- "I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don't tell 'em you're Jewish, okay?"