Who's on Second?

Before I get to my topic, I have to respond briefly to Teddy's comments about Ron Villone.

I knew, of course, as soon as Villone's name was mentioned in the post, that Villone is a UMass Alum, in fact, a quick search of baseball-reference.com reavealed that Villone is one of only 18 major leaguers who hail from the Pearl of the Pioneer Valley, and one of only 3 who were active through '06 (Chad Paronto, who would have played there while we were in High School is currently rocking a 5.23 ERA for the Braves, and something called a Doug Clark is 1 for 11 in a career split between the two Bay Area teams in '05 and '06)

There were some surprises on the list - such as Jeff Reardon, who was briefly the all-time leader in Saves and is more recently known for an unfortunate event involving prescription meds and a jewelry heist, Gary DiScarcina who retired just in time for David Eckstein to become America's sweetheart in 2002, and Mike Flanagan - pseudo GM of the Oriole's, Cy Young winner, World Series champion, and the last man to throw a pitch at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore (I know this off the top of my head because I was there) all knew the thrill of shouting, "Go... Go U... Go UMass... Go! U! Mass!"

(To go into a tangent off of my opening tangent, I will argue that Memorial Stadium was superior to Camden Yards until my dying day, and not only because I saw the immortal Wilson Alvarez(!) throw a no-hitter there, and the equally immortal Phil Bradley(?) hit an inside-the-park Grand Slam)

But I had a point here...

Run down (Competently - not A-Rod style)

Around about playoff time, there's often a feature that's run that compares teams position-by-position and gives an edge to one team over the other. For fun, let's do it here:

Catcher:
Jorge Posada (.365/3/21/.970)
Jason Varitek (.283/3/16/.799)
Edge: Yankees - Posada and Varitek are both in decline, but Posada has a lot more to decline from, and his diminished skills as a Catcher on the wrong side of 30 aren't nearly as evident.

First Base:
Doug Mientkiwicz (.233/3/11/.690)
Kevin Youkilis (.328/3/17/.891)
Edge: Red Sox - I was surprised that the counting stats are as surised as they are, but the rate stats certainly indicate Youk's superiority.

Second Base:
Robinson Cano (.230/1/16/.600)
Dustin Pedroia (.259/1/17/.716)
Edge: Red Sox - Cano will play better than this, and while Pedroia might improve as the season goes on, Cano will probably exceed his number by a comfortable margin. But as long as Pedroia is platooning with Alex Cora (.417/2/11/1.170), this has to go to the Sox

Third Base:
Alex Rodriguez (.329/15/39/1.121)
Mike Lowell (.318/7/30/.925)
Edge: Yankees - Lowell's having a nice little season, and I'm happy about it, but there's no way I would even attempt to convince anyone that he's close to A-Rod's equal.

Shortstop:
Derek Jeter (.375/2/20/.920)
Julio Lugo (.265/2/23/.710)
Edge: Yankees - both players are playing as well as can be expected.

Left Field:
Hideki Matusi (.278/2/14/.852)
Manny Ramirez (.248/6/24/.757)
Edge: Red Sox - Yes, Godzilla's rate stats are better than Manny's as off now, and Manny's edge in counting stats could be chalked up to the fact that Matsui has been on the DL, but this is a case where I'll ignore the numbers. Yankees' fans could argue that Matsui is better than Ramirez in the same way that they can argue that Thurman Munson/Ron Guidry/Don Mattingly are Hall of Famers. One could selectively compile evidence for the case, but it wouldn't stand up against any real cross-examination.

Center Field:
Johnny Damon (.259/2/13/.730)
Coco Crisp (.231/0/10/.599)
Edge: Yankees - Both of these guys are disappointing. Crisp was supposed to replace Damon in Boston, and has failed to live up to the billing. Damon seems to be giving way under the increasing weight of nagging injuries. This comparison could go either way by the end of the season, but "Looks Like Jesus, Acts Like Judas, Throws Like Mary" has the edge for now.

Right Field:
Bobby Abreu (.236/1/19/.603)
J.D. Drew (.248/2/12/.714)
Edge: Even - Both these guys are disappointing right now, and both of them have a huge potential to rebound. Their stats aren't terribly relevant right now.

Designated Hitter:
Jason Giambi (.278/5/18/.837)
David Ortiz (.314/9/33/1.046)
Edge: Red Sox - Yes, sentiment (Big Papi tag teams with Tom Brady as my man-crush, Jason Giambi is Barry Bonds' peer in the steroid controversy) has something to do with this, but while Giambi is expected to complement the office, Papi is expected to carry it. They're both doing their jobs, but Ortiz has the most important job.

Score:
Yankees 4, Red Sox 4, Tie 1.

This actually came out a lot closer than I thought - I expected the Yankees in a whitewash. If the difference comes down to pitching, the advantage has to go Red Sox right now.

And finally... who's on Second?

The Yankees have their Second Baseman of the future - Robinson Cano has struggled early on this season, but he's going to be very good for years to come.

The Red Sox are trying to establish their own franchise Second Baseman - Dustin Pedroia - which has been an up-and-down experience so far. He started out hot, struggled, and has since adjusted. He's always been billed as a guy who would excel on his baseball intelligence rather than his raw ability, and Red Sox nation is waiting for just that to happen. It doesn't have to happen all at once (Jimy Williams has never been given enough credit for just letting Trot Nixon bat 9th and play on a regular basis to get used to the big leagues), but the Sox have certainly hitched their wagon to Pedroia's star for the immediate future.

Even while the Red Sox were up and the Yankees' were nowhere ('86 to '95) the Yankees' have always been better equipped and more stable at second base than the Red Sox.

I remember the Yankees going through Gold Glovers/All-Stars Willie Randolph, Steve Sax, and Chuck Knoblauch, (and later Alfonso Soriano) while the Red Sox went through the Marty Barretts, Jody Reeds, Scott Fletchers, Jeff Fryes, Luis Aliceas, Jose Offermans, and Mike Lansings of the world. The most complimentary thing you can say about any of those guys is that they were "servicable".

Granted, Steve Sax and Chuck Knoblauch were ultimatley undone by their inability to throw from Second to First (which I will not make fun of - imagine being unable to do something as simple as back out of a parking space or brush your teeth with any degree of accuracy, that's how bad it was) and Knoblauch in particular was an early indication of Joe Torre's divorce with reality: "Hey, let's take a leadoff-hitting Second Baseman who can't hit leadoff anymore and put him in left field so we can keep him in the leadoff slot!"

By the same token, the Red Sox have been relatively successful at Second Base the last few years (Walker in '03, Bellhorn in '04, A Gaping Pit Of Despair in '05, and Loretta in '06), but considering there hasn't really been any stability at the position since Bobby Doerr was providing lineup protection for Ted Williams, Sox fans have to take what they can get.

I'll root for both Cano and Pedroia to be adding another dimension to the rivalry for years to come - Pedroia needs to get established, and Cano needs to come out of his slump, but I think they're going to be part of the conversation for quite awhile.