tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Survival Of The AL East

The Yankees and Red Sox appear to be limping toward the finish line as both teams lost again last night leaving the Yankees 2 1/2 games up on Boston. The Yanks received a very good pitching performance from Bartolo Colon but could not solve Jered Weaver but for Jesus Montero's home run. Montero is really showing why Brian Cashman & Company are so high on this kid.

I have never been a big fan of Luis Ayala. The guy just doesn't seem reliable to me but Joe Girardi had little options as the Yankees were involved in 2 extra inning games against the Orioles and the starters have not given him much length lately. Colon provided him 7 strong innings last night and David Robertson did his job in the eighth. The Yankee lineup is struggling. While any lineup can struggle against Weaver, the Yanks have not been hitting the ball well over the last few games. ARod still is trying to get back into shape however one has to wonder how well he is going to hit with that sore thumb. Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson have also been slumping over the last few games and now it appears that Nick Swisher may be out for a couple of games.

While the Yanks seem to be struggling, the Red Sox are also limping along. Their vaunted lineup has really been weak and last night against the Rays both Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz looked awful. With last night's loss to Tampa, their lead over the Rays for the wild card spot was reduced to 5 1/2 games. John Lackey has been terrible and the Sox now have similar pitching issues that the Yankees have.

Tonight the Red Sox start a kid by the name of Kyle Weiland against Tampa's Jeremy Hellickson. The Yanks will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face Dan Haren. Both of these AL East powers are struggling. The remaining 19 games are going to be real interesting.