Last Sunday, the Red Sox reached what they hope will be the low point of their season: getting swept by Baltimore, a team that had just seven wins after the three-game sweep. The Yankees’ season, meanwhile, just kept getting better: They took two of three from Chicago — that made seven out of eight series wins — plus, Phil Hughes turned in another brilliant performance, and even Mark Teixeira started to hit, now that the calendar had turned to May.
Since then, though, things have evened out a bit: Boston swept four games from the Angels and moved above .500 for the first time since opening night, while the Yankees — who did just sweep Baltimore — have been jinxed/hit with a string of injuries to Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. (They join Curtis Granderson — who injured himself on the basepaths last Saturday — in the trainer’s room, if not on the DL.) At least Derek Jeter’s got some extra protection coming to him.
With Javier Vazquez pushed back to Monday, Hughes opens the series tonight against Josh Beckett, followed by two nationally televised games: CC Sabathia versus Clay Buchholz tomorrow on Fox, and A.J. Burnett versus Jon Lester on ESPN Sunday night. Considering how dominant Hughes, Sabathia, and Burnett have been, the Yankees must like their matchups this weekend, especially since they’ll miss John Lackey. And sure, yes, they’ll pay for that in Detroit, when they open the series with Vazquez and “TBD,” but we’ll worry about that Monday.