The eyes of New England, and much of the baseball world, focused on Fenway Park last weekend, where the mighty New York Yankees brought their $124 million pay roll to Boston to take on the revamped Red Sox. The series began Friday night and concluded with an 11 a.m. Patriots' Day start on Monday.
The Sox won three of the four games played, with the most exciting coming on Saturday, when second-year third baseman Shea Hilenbrand went yard on Mariano Rivera to give Boston the victory. While Joe Torre's squad is far from hitting the panic button, the weekend series was important for Boston, which, with new ownership and coaching, is intent on asserting itself as a contender in the AL East.
Fielding woes continued to plague the Bronx Bombers. New York leads the American League in errors, and costly defensive mistakes by Bernie Williams, Alfonso Soriano, Robin Ventura and Derek Jeter contributed to the Yankees' losses last weekend. Williams and Jason Giambi, both better than career .300 hitters, have struggled mightily in the early goings of 2002.
With John Burkett and Dustin Hermanson on the disabled list, the Red Sox' pitching will only improve. And with Manny Ramirez and Tony Clark due to start clubbing homeruns, things are looking up in Boston.
The NL East has been baseball's toughest division so far, and don't expect that trend to end anytime soon. The distance between the first-place Mets and the cellar-dwelling Braves is a mere 2.5 games. The Montreal Expos, expected to be miserable, have played near .500 baseball, while the Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins both hope to make the playoffs.
Baseball's best story has been the Cleveland Indians. After losing Roberto Alomar and Juan Gonzalez from last year's team, Cleveland is 11-1 so far in 2002. Jim Thome is a big reason for the success; the first-baseman slugger was the AL's player of the week, hitting .350 with four homeruns and 11 RBIs. The contributions of ageless outfielder Ellis Burks and the newfound offensive prowess of shortstop Omar Vizquel have also helped the Indians' winning ways.
But what the Indians finally seem to possess is a deep and talented pitching staff. C.C. Sabathia, the big lefty fireballer, is proving that last year, his rookie season, was no fluke. Bartolo Colon has been impressive despite a waistline as big as his ERA is small. Chuck Finley, the lefty veteran, has been solid despite a public domestic incident with his wife, and newcomer Danny Baez has the stuff to be a star in the league for some time to come.
The Detroit Tigers have been baseball's worst team, despite a new ballpark and a semi-talented roster. A few years back, with Tony Clark and Bobby Higginson, the Tigers had two potential superstars on their roster. But Clark, who battled injuries and media criticism in his years in Detroit, departed for Boston in the off-season, and Higginson has never fulfilled his vast potential. The Tigers are a team without an identity, nor a direction. Their "best" pitcher is Jose Lima, who pitches like he's supposed to give up homeruns. There is no indication that the Tigers will turn things around in the future, and it will most definitely be another losing season for Detroit.
