Do or Die

Its now or never for The New York Yankees. Starting at 7pm tonight they begin a 3 game series with their archrivals The Boston Red Sox, who traded away the Yankees nemesis, Manny Ramirez, to the LA Dodgers in a last minute deal at the trade deadline in July. The series feels strange for 3 reasons. One, its the first time the Red Sox have played NY since trading Ramirez, who was once the subject of this very blog during a tear this Spring where he eviscerated the Yankees. Two, its the last series the Yanks will play vs the Sox at the Old Yankee Stadium. The new one has already been built and the finishing touches are being put on it to open next April. Its sad in a way, but really, if you visit somewhere like Camden Yards or Jacob's Field, its pretty obvious the old stadium is obsolete and has to go.

Finally, its odd that the Yankees season is being determined in August and not Ocotber where it is usually contested in the Playoffs. Every year, no matter how far back, by this time, late August, the Yankees had either secured a spot in the playoff or cemented that they would be making a very strong run towards the wild card, where they had at least a 50% mathmatical chance of making the postseason. Right now, ESPN.com estimates the Yankees chance of an October berth at just 7.6 percent. In poker terms, the Red Sox, Devil Rays, and Twins holding pockets aces and kings, and the Yankees are stuck with queens on a low flop with 2 cards to come. Pretty much they just have to jam it and hope to get lucky. It all begins right now.