Today on Pinstripe Alley - 6/25/21

On the whole, the Yankees have been playing pretty well following their unfortunate weekend sweep against the Phillies two weeks back. They’re 7-2 since then, but note the run differential in each game:

6/15 vs. Toronto, 6-5 W (+1)
6/16 vs. Toronto, 3-2 W (+1)
6/17 vs. Toronto, 8-4 W (+4)
6/18 vs. Oakland, 5-3 L (-2)
6/19 vs. Oakland, 7-5 W (+2)
6/20 vs. Oakland, 2-1 W (+1)
6/22 vs. Kansas City, 6-5 L (-1)
6/23 vs. Kansas City, 6-5 W (+1)

That’s a whole bunch of close, nail-biting affairs, and even in that lone four-run victory, the Yankees were trailing until the seventh inning.

All that is to say that the breezy 8-1 series-clinching win against the Royals yesterday afternoon was a breath of fresh air. The Red Sox will not likely be as generous over the weekend at the Vaunted Hall of Doubles, so I appreciated the smooth sailing. Now, we buckle up.

Today on the site, Matt will preview that aforementioned series in Boston and Ryan will answer your mailbag questions. Later, John will explore the degree to which DJ LeMahieu’s bat correlates to the success of the Yankees offense, and Erica will investigate the Rougned Odor paradox.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

Time: 7:10 p.m. EST

TV: YES, NESN, MLB Network (out-of-network)

Radio: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Venue: Fenway Park

Fun Questions:

1. Who’s the first Red Sox player you think of when you picture Fenway Park in your head?

2. Will the New York Islanders survive Game 7 and make the Stanley Cup Finals tonight?

Lastly, this is almost entirely random, but since Conan O’Brien hosted his last late-night show on Thursday night after 28 years in the business, the “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” superfan buried in me from the 2000s would be remiss if I didn’t link to probably the best item he ever did: “Old Timey Baseball.”

I still remember paying real dollars to download this from iTunes onto my iPod as soon as I got one that could play video. It’s also still gold.