Contest #5 : The Red Sox and the Yankees play 19 games this year. Last year they played 18, and the Yankees won 13 of them. What will the split be in 2013? Tie-Breaker: Who will be the outstanding player for each team, and who will be the dud on each team this year?
Prize: Two tickets to a Sox-Yankee game in 2014. Winner can choose the park and whether or not I join (use the second ticket).
Fifty-four per cent of those participating said the Yankees would win the series, taking 11.4 games to the Sox 7.6.
The 46% of you who thought the Sox would win said they’d win 11 games to 8.
With last nights 9-2 victory by the Sox, a sweep of the final three game series between the two teams, the Fenway heroes put the final nail in the coffin of any possibility of the Yankees winning the AL East Division.
The Sox, on the other hand, improved their record to 92-59 (.609) and increased their Division lead to 9.5 games over the tottering Tampa Bay Rays. With 11 games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Sox Magic Number is down to four.
(For those not paying close attention to the 2013 Red Sox, Yes, these are the Red Sox who last year ended the season with a record of 69-93. Certainly an amazing turn around, about which I probably will write in more detail on another, later post.)
Oh yes. The Sox-Yankee split this year?
Sox 13 to the Yankee’s 6, with the Sox scoring a total of 120 runs to the Yankee’s 85.
A(nother) total reversal of 2012.
Four of the MillersTime contestants were tied with the closest predictions. Dan Fisher, Meg Gage, Jere Smith and Tracy Capulo all predicted a split of 12-7, favoring the Sox.
(Ed. note: one contestant, Elizabeth R. Miller, predicted the Sox would take the series 15-4, being the only one who said the Sox would win more than 12 of the 19 games. Obviously, Ms Miller must have been raised well. On the other hand, Yankee homer David Price will have to live with another one of his sorry predictions, “Yankees will win 14 games. The Sox will be lucky to get away with the other 5.” David comes from ‘Across the Pond’ and perhaps that contributes to his continual misjudgments.)
Since Dan and Tracy failed to make predictions about who would be the outstanding players and who would be the duds, they tie for third place in this contest.
That leaves Meg Gage and Jere Smith.
Meg said Pedroia would be the Sox hero, and Dempster would be the dud for the Sox. And Cano would be the hero and Teixeira the dud for the Yankees.
Jere said for the Sox, Middlebrooks would be the outstanding player and Aceves the dud. For the Yankees, he picked Sabathia as the hero and Youk as the dud.
By the power invested in me by me, I therefore declare Jere Smith runner-up.
And Meg Gage wins the prize and gets to see a Sox-Yankee game in 2014.
However, if Mr. Smith would like to appeal this decision to the MillersTime readers, I will give him one week to present his case, and then I will put the appeal decision up to a vote.
Finally, the best quote I heard about last night’s game and the Sox-Yankee rivalry this year came from that no good fellow Alex Rodriquez: “I guess the good news is that we’re leaving Boston.”
Hopefully, for the rest of this season. And for ever (forever) for A-Rod.
Finally, if you didn’t have a chance to see the Sox tribute (and roast) to Mariano Rivera last night, you can see it now:
Fenway Gives Mo One Final Standing Ovation
