i am simply going to make comparisons between the team that has won two games and the team that has lost two games.

mostly i'm doing this because (1) red sox fans are just as obnoxious (if not more) as yankees fans and we (yanks fans) are totally outnumbered in denver, (2) all the experts picked the red sox to win, and (3) everyone said before the series that the red sox had a better team in most areas.

CATCHER
jorge posada vs. jason varitek
ADVANTAGE: EVEN.
varitek hasn't done anything except hit a home run. posada isn't lighting it up either, but he got on base 3 times last night, scored a run, and has been playing good D. most people thought these guys were pretty evenly matched.

FIRST BASE
john olerud vs. kevin millar
ADVANTAGE: YANKS.
johnny o hit a big time 2-run homer last night that won the game for the yanks. plus, he's always solid on defense. jebediah millar (what's with that half fu-man-chu, half amish beard he has going on?) has done absolutely nothing. most people thought this was a pretty even matchup, but some people actually gave an edge to the red sox.

SECOND BASE
miguel cairo vs. mark bellhorn
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
the only good thing bellhorn did was break up mike mussina's perfect game. now look at all his K's and the ball he dropped last night which allowed jeter to be safe at second. not good. cairo hasn't been stellar, but he's walked twice (which might equal his total for the entire regular season) and gotten on base when the yanks needed him to. most people either called this even or gave a slight edge to the sox.

THIRD BASE
alex rodriguez vs. bill mueller
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
duh.

SHORTSTOP
derek jeter vs. orlando cabrera
ADVANTAGE: EVEN
jeter hasn't exactly been great, but jeter being below average is equal to cabrera being his normal self.

LEFT FIELD
hideki matsui vs. manny ramirez
OFFENSIVE ADVANTAGE: matsui
DEFENSIVE ADVANTAGE: the ball
neither of these guys can run more than ten steps to catch a ball. you can usually tell when it's going to go horribly wrong. pretty much whenever you see the ball go into left field. on offense, matsui was a torrent in the first game, while manny has struggled.

CENTER FIELD
bernie williams vs. johnny damon
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
this is the most surprising one of all. i fully expected damon to rip the ball like he had been the past month or so. strangely, he has five K's in eight at bats. he had the "golden sombrero" in game one. that's four strikeouts for those of you who are uninitiated. meanwhile, bernie continues to be clutch.

RIGHT FIELD
gary sheffield vs. trot nixon
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
not surprising, really. although sheffield does worry me defensively sometimes.

STARTING PITCHING
mike mussina/jon lieber vs. curt schilling/pedro martinez
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
wha' happun'? i thought the red sox starters were supposed to be vastly superior to the yanks? oh well, it's not like yankees starters have allowed ONE hit TOTAL through the first six innings of both games. nope. not like that at all.

RELIEF PITCHING
tom gordon/tanyon sturtze vs. alan embree/mike timlin/tim wakefield/ramiro mendoza
ADVANTAGE: the hitter
both bullpens have been pretty shaky. i'm a little surprised about gordon, but otherwise not a shocker.

CLOSERS
mariano rivera vs. keith foulke
ADVANTAGE: YANKS
mariano has been, well, mariano. foulke has pitched well, but hasn't had a chance to close a game yet, so we'll see what happens.

MANAGING
joe torre vs. terry francona
ADVANTAGE: you're kidding, right?

look, this series is FAR from over. i admit that. i am scared of playing the sox in boston for three straight. but i enjoy seeing all the critics be horrendously wrong. me included.

hopefully we will sweep and then i won't have to worry about this for much longer.