Rays have much easier remaining schedule than Yankees’

Yankees’ remaining opponents combined record: (735-633, .537)
Rays’ remaining opponents combined record: (609-911, .401)

It’s kind of absurd.

If you aren’t a numbers guy, the Yankees play the third and fourth placed teams in the best division in baseball and the Rays play two last placed teams and then the Kansas City Royals four times.

Yeah, it’s pretty absurd.

Now get ready to cringe. The Yankees have a half game lead over the Rays right now.

Chances the Yankees win the division? Vote here.

Yanks to open at home for first time in ‘11

News broke last night that the Yankees will start next season at the new Yankee Stadium for the first time in its existence. They’ll face the Tigers March 31, and then finish the season at Tropicana Field to face the Rays.

The Yankees first series on the road, April 8-10, is at Fenway Park.

Their schedule at the end of the year popped out me the most. Their last eight games are against Tampa Bay (5) and the Red Sox (3).

Still, it’s not quite as harsh as the September and October the Yankees are trying to survive through this season.

Lupica: Padres’ success more impressive than Yankees’

I beg to differ.

Infamous New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica wrote a column praising the Padres for nearly matching the Yankees’ success this year despite spending $173 million less on players.

Bla bla bla … the Yankees are evil … bla bla bla.

Lupica forgot to mention one thing, and it seemed fairly obvious to me: Strength of schedule.

Yes, only a game-and-a-half separates the Friars and the Yanks, but the Yankees play the two toughest teams in baseball (besides themselves) more than most teams. Let’s compare divisions, shall we?

AL East	W	L	PCT	NL West	W	L	PCT
Yankees	75	46	.620	Padres	73	47	.608
Rays	74	47	.612	Giants	68	54	.557
Red Sox	69	53	.566	Rockies	62	58	.517
Blue Jays	63	57	.525	Dodgers	62	60	.508
Orioles	43	79	.352	Diamondbacks	47	75	.385
Total	324	282	.535	Total	312	294	.515

If you look at the MLB RPI rankings, the Yankees are well in front of the Padres in strength of schedule and are a few spots ahead in RPI.

So there.

P.S.: The last sentence of Lupica’s column will crack you up, unless you’re a Mets fan.

Poll Results: Rays meant to be in second

Fans voted the Rays as the second-best team in the toughest division in baseball, presumably behind the New York Yankees.

Currently, the Yankees hold a nine-run lead over the Rays in run differential (101-92), which rank Nos. 1-2, respectively, in the majors.

The standings are quite interesting to look at as we speak. The Yankees hold a one-game lead over the Rays AND the Red Sox, who have won six games in a row and head to Colorado and San Francisco this week. Yes, they do have to face Ubaldo Jimenez (13-1, 1.15) Wednesday.

The Rays have a little easier of a schedule, as they get to host San Diego and Arizona. The Yankees are on the road against Arizona and then Los Angeles over the weekend for their first meeting with Joe Torre since he left them.

Still, the top three records in baseball reside in the AL East. Unbelievable.

New poll: Are you for realignment?

Red Sox-Yankees series preview: Rays, Mets on horizon

via MLB.com (click to enlarge)

The Yankees are walking into what should be a memorable week with a score to settle after yesterday’s unthinkable eighth inning.

Seven games in seven days against the two most rivaled opponents, the Red Sox and Mets, as well as the best team in baseball sandwiched in between, the Rays.

All seven games will be played in New York, starting with two two-game series in The Bronx and closing with a weekend in Flushing.

Before the Yanks rekindle the rivalry with the Sox, let’s take a look at the standings in the AL East (via MLB.com).

Those top two winning percentages still rank at the top for all of baseball. But with the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, history has told us it really doesn’t matter which team is hot and which team is not. It’s like a playoff series. Any team can get their act together with the flip of a switch.

The Yankees are mad because of Mo’s meltdown yesterday, but the Red Sox have lost four of six against New York this year and the ultimate Yankee killer is returning to his old form, David Ortiz.

Pitching Matchups:

Date:	Red Sox starters	Yankees starters
Mon., 7:05 p.m.	D. Matsuzaka (2-1, 6.35)	Phil Hughes (5-0, 1.38)
Tues., 7:05 p.m.	Josh Beckett (1-1, 7.46)	CC Sabathia (4-2, 3.71)

Players to Watch:
Red Sox: Ortiz. His overall numbers still don’t look that great, but  he’s on a 7-for-14 run with two homers and six RBIs, reaching base in his last eight games.

Yankees: Derek Jeter. The captain is in a slump, and he needs the Yankee faithful to have his back. He’s hurting, and boos aren’t going to help him break out. A big hit in this series is extra important for the psyche. This constant grounding out to shortstop nonsense needs to come to an end. How about some line drives to right-center?

Prediction:
Fortunately for the Yankees, the Red Sox starters are not at top form as of late. Hughes should out-pitch Dice-K no matter what tonight, and who knows whether we’ll see good or bad Beckett on Tuesday. I give the edge to the Yankees for the sweep because they’re at home.

Yankees schedule analysis

My roommate did some research on the Yankees schedule this season, and he came up with some very interesting data. Here’s the breakdown of the schedule by month.

Month	Home	Away	Total
April	7	15	22
May	16	13	29
June	14	12	26
July	13	13	26
August	16	13	29
September	15	12	27
October	0	3	3
First Half	41	47	88
Second Half	40	34	74
Total	81	81	162

I guess the biggest noteworthy thing about the schedule is the Yankees are getting more road games out of the way in the first half, which gives them more home games down the home stretch.

Below are the dates of the series against the Red Sox and Mets, plus some notable games.

April 13 vs. Angels — home opener (ring ceremony)
April 4-7 at Red Sox
May 7-9 at Red Sox
May 17-18 vs. Red Sox
May 21-23 at Mets
June 15-17 vs. Phillies
June 18-20 vs. Mets
June 25-27 at Dodgers
Aug. 6-9 vs. Red Sox
Sept. 24-26 vs. Red Sox
Oct. 1-3 at Red Sox

Back to school + Yankees tidbits

Winter break has finally come to an end and today I'm headed back to Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.

I'll be quite busy getting situated back at school over the next few days which most likely means less posting.

But it's not like I'm missing out on a busy part of the year. In fact, this is the slowest time of year in terms of Yankees news. Once pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 17, expect the news to pick up quickly.

I have three morning/early afternoon classes Monday through Thursday, and two night courses on Monday, through Wednesday nights. Meaning, my typical post plan is a scheduled morning post (9 a.m.), a mid-afternoon post (3-4 p.m.) and then a game recap (10-11 p.m.).

Final exams finish up sometime in the second week of May, leaving me about a month into the season. Just keeping you informed.

Speaking of informing you...

• The Tigers have no interest in signing Johnny Damon, and the Braves aren't interested either. At this point, my best guess is he ends up with the Yankee making $2 million. I give up.
  
• Chad Gaudin and Boone Logan filed for arbitration yesterday.

Big whoop. All the Yankees have left to do this offseason is fill out their bench and figure out what to do with the Sergio Mitre/Chad Gaudin situation. If you had to pick three weeks out of the whole year not to read my blog, these ones upcoming would be them. But if you choose to keep coming back, I'll find ways to keep things entertaining.

Thank you, Mother Nature

Wasn’t it nice that the rain didn’t screw up this series? If either of the first two games had been rained out, it would have forced the Yankees to use a fourth starter.

In other words, you would not have watched CC Sabathia throw another gem like he did in game 4.

I hate it when weather interferes with the game. Don’t forget what happened with Joba Chamberlain and the gnats back in 2007.

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If you are wondering why the Yankees have an off-day today, it is because of TV — as usual. Tonight is the NLCS, and last night the NLCS had its off-day.

In the World Series, it will be two games at the American League ballpark, off-day, three games at the National League park and then two more back at the AL park — if it went seven games, that is.

Yankees’ 2010 schedule released

Apparently baseball thought it was a good idea to release the 2010 baseball schedule today, so that’s what they did. Here is the Yankees’ 2010 schedule, highlighted by starting and ending the season at Fenway Park.

Here are some other notes from the Yankees’ schedule:

• They will head out to LA June 25-27 to face Joe Torre and the Dodgers.
• They will face the Red Sox 18 times in 2010. Nine in New York, and nine in Boston.
• They visit Citi Field on May 21-23, and the Mets will come to Yankee Stadium June 18-20.
• They play 29 games in May and August (only two off-days in each month).
• The All-Star Game will be held in Anaheim on July 13 (a day before my birthday).
• Monday, Apr. 5 is opening day at Fenway. Mark it on your calendars.

Oh, and if someone knows why the MLB releases the schedule during the 2009 season, please leave it in the comments. Thanks.