But, in a similar vein, is there any way to force the Sox to always play on the road? Talk about an offense built specifically for their home park!

Is there a way to figure out who has done the best against the Yankees over the last say ten years?

I'd prefer the Yanks make a play for Freddy Garcia, Millwood, Gil Meche, Bronson Arroyo or someone who won't destroy the bank. I also wonder if it's too early (it probably is) to make a big deal for Jake Peavey and his fat contract. I could see offering IPK, Horne, Ajax and Tabata for him.

What the Yanks ought to do though is just be patient and go get Yu Darvish and CC Sabathia next season to go with Wang and the kids.

1. Frank Lary (the Yankee killer) (26-12, 3.44 ERA))
2. Frank Tanana (20-19, 3.70 ERA
3. Chuck Finley (17-10, 3.82 ERA)

NOTE: I typed in the above-names from memory, and THEN went and looked them up on baseball reference.

Other than Frank Lary's record and ERA (particularly considering the Yankee teams he was pitching against in the 50's) I'm not all that impressed with Tanana's and Finley's numbers. They're good but I honestly was expecting ERA's in the low 2's.

Since the Padres are in the toilet, the might consider moving him for the right price, but he's only make $6.5 million in 2008 which is stupidly low. (NOTE: I don't know what he's making in the rest of the deal).

Why didn't that dumbass wait for free agency and get paid $20 million per season? What an idiot.

6 Are you kidding? It seems to me between our pitching rich farm, the POTENTIAL of the 'Trip Aces', and all kinds of money for FAs, that pitching is not our problem over then next 5 years. Positional players at 1B, the OF and C are what we need. Maybe even a good young SS. AJax, Montero and Tabata seems to be the most likely kids to be impact players. I can't see trading any of them except for a young positional player.

Lackey is 4-7 with a 4.81 ERA against the Yankees

Memory is never as good as actual numbers.

Then go look up our runs scored from 2004-2007 and compare it to 1996-2003

What you're going to discover is that our ERA+ was awesome from 1996-2003 and it was below 100 from 2004-2007. You'll also find we've scored more runs per season from 2004-2007 than we did from 1996-2003.

Notwithstanding this season's hitting problems in a somewhat small sample size, pitching has been and will be our real problem.

We've got 3 years of Jorge left and have some catchers in the system now who might be about ready to hit the Bronx in a few years. We do need a first basemen, but can sign Texeira next season.

AND we don't have Trip Aces, my friend. There's no way that Hughes, IPK AND Joba will all make it. Someone will get hurt and someone just won't pan out.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/mdnp

Here's a list of multiple (3 or greater) appearances on the list:

Kevin Appier- 3
Eric Bedard- 3
Frank Castillo- 3
Kelvim Escobar- 3
Freddy Garcia- 3
Roy Halladay- 6
Tim Hudson- 4
Jason Johnson- 3
Scott Kazmir- 3
Cory Lidle- 4
Rodrigo Lopez- 4
Pedro Martinez- 13
Jamie Moyer- 3
Mark Mulder- 3
Ramon Ortiz- 4
Curt Schilling- 5
Tim Wakefield- 3
David Wells- 5

Washburn has never had a GameScore above 65 against the Yankees since 2000. Lackey has done it twice.

It should be noted that the #2 GameScore against the Yankees since 2000 was handed in by David Bush...

109 Starts, 704 IP, 50-34, 3.84 ERA, 430K/212BB, 112 ERA+

If you take out his sub-par 2006, his stats are pretty great:

2005: 120 ERA+
2006: 91
2007: 128
2008: 135

He would have been the Yankees' best starter every year except 2006...

Pitching is prime to winning it all, but it takes a balanced team. We have $$$ for FA pitchers. CC is ours if we want him. There will be others over the next 2-3 years. Out of the Trip Aces, we should hope to get a #2 and a #4. We got Wang, Horne, Melancon and many other good prospects.

Except ARod, all of our older position players are in decline. We might have another year or 2 of excellent O, we might not. By 2010, Giambi, Abreu, Matsui and JD are gone. Jeter could be a .700 OPS guy by then. Posada could be a .750 OPS guy.

Considering SP, RP, O and D, I'd like a B average. Last year we were C,C, A+ and C-. I think with one FA SP, we have a B rotation and BP with what we have. In 2010, I'm not sure about our O and D.

Jeez... poor kid. He's got a lot to deal with.

19 no offense, but many of your points aren't really backed up factually. We won those titles with pitching more than defense and those teams had their share of older players in decline (raines, straw, boggs, fielder, the 2000-01 versions of tino, brosius and O'Neill) but the starting pitching was great.

This particular team, meanwhile, has a bunch of aging hitters. Much of the reason for this has been the ill-advised signing of FA hitters at or past their primes. The Yankees would be wise to spend the bulk of their money having the best minor league organization in baseball.

13 UUUGGGHH, Frank Fing Castillo. God I used to hate how he would totally shut down the Yankees despite throwing such junk.

For all the good pitchers on that list, there are a lot of really mediocre guys...

What exactly does a game score of 65 mean though? Besides being good...

I'm not that worried about our aging hitters. We can replace them through trades or free agency or from within. Pitching is at a much much higher premium.

Next year giambi and abreu come off the book, and Damon comes in two years. To a large degree the "aging player" problem will take care of itself. Find jeter a new position and DH matsui and we're fine.
Just about every Yankee WS winner had some past their prime veteran hitters and we'll be no different.
Bottom line, compare the ERA+ and runs scored for the teams from 1996-2003 and 2004-2007 and you'll see the difference.

And this team will score runs.

Game Score: Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (or 3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk.

Interestingly, there have already been over 200 game scores above 65 in the major leagues this season. But in 7.25 years, less than 200 have occurred against the Yankees.

Where's Giambi?!

In 1996, we had an OPS+ of 100 and an ERA+ of 108 (Don't know how we won).
In 1998-2000, our OPS+ and ERA+ were within a few points of each other, with the OPS+ being higher then our ERA+ 2 of the 3 years.

With Scotty, Tino, Knobby, and young Bernie and young Jeter, our D was much better then our teams of late (Giambi, Matsui, Sheff, GOB)

Then there are many years where teams like Minn and Oakland didn't win with far better ERA+'s then the Yankees 1998-2000. However, they did not have the offense.

Furthermore, as you pointed out, by 2010, Mats, JD, Abreu and Giambi are gone, and Jeter and Posada are 2 years older. You ASSUME we can easily get impact position players. But teams are now locking up their young talent. JD Drew, Soriano, Tex and many others are/will get long and expensive contracts (sort of like Giambi's).

The Yankees built a dynasty by KEEPING Bernie, Jeter, Posada, Sori and Mo when they were young, and NOT trading them for the Big Name, and then augmenting the team with selected FAs.. Now you want to trade 2 of our best position youngsters for a big name?

As the Mets will prove with Santana, one stud pitcher is not enough. It is about a balanced team. Looking at our farm, we are pitching heavy. Over the next 2 years we are losing offense but gaining pitching.

And again, we will have a HUGE amount of money for FA's. Why do TRADES (like Santana) where we also have to lose young talent when we can get FAs (like CC) for money only?