NESN Claims '11 Sox Better than '27 Yanks

Last week, NESN.com writer Eric Ortiz wrapped this late Christmas gift for Sox fans everywhere: the chance to vote on the nickname for new first baseman Adrian Gonzalez! (As you know, all great sports nicknames are artificially manufactured online then put to a fan vote before the player actually plays a game for that team...).


But this wasn't the mortal sin committed by Ortiz as he attempts, rather successfully, to ignore baseball before the year 2004.


No, Ortiz decided to spit on Red Sox and baseball history just a bit more by claiming, "There will never be another Ted Williams, but Adrian Gonzalez is close."


Sox fans everywhere should be crying, OUTRAGE! BLASPHEMY! SACRILEGE!


This week, Ortiz was at it again.


Clearly trying to irk Yanks fans everywhere, the title of his latest post reads, "2011 Red Sox Will Challenge 1927 Yankees for Title of Greatest Team in Major League History."


OUTRAGE! BLASPHEMY! SACRILEGE!


I need to hand this one to Ortiz: his ploy to prod the already frustrated Yankees fan base worked wonders, at least in the case of this Cranky Yankee Fan. Once I finished cleaning my room from tossing every movable object around in pure outrage and shock, I looked up the numbers from that '27 Yankees team:

• 110-44 record.
• Swept the Pirates in the World Series.
• Four pitchers with 18 or more wins.
• Team ERA of 3.20 and WHIP of 1.30.
• Team BA of .307.
• Murders' Row lineup that featured (in order of plate appearances): Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Tony Lazzeri, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, Joe Dugan, and Pat Collins.

In his ode to awful ideas, Ortiz essentially equates Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis to Combs, Gehrig, Ruth and Lazzeri. 

By the way, those Yankee stat lines, in case you (or Ortiz) wanted to look at -- oh I don't know -- actual performance?

Combs: .356/.414/.511, 6 HR, 64 RBI, 15 SB

Gehrig: .373/.474/.765, 47 HR, 175 RBI

Ruth: .356/.486/.772, 60 HR, 164 RBI

Lazzeri:  .309/.383/.482, 18 HR, 102 RBI, 22 SB

If we toss in Meusel for good measure, that adds a none-too-pedestrian .337/.393/.510, 8 HR, 103 RBI, 24 SB.

I almost hate myself for needing to point this out. By arguing against this NESN blogger's homer hogwash, I almost dignify the idea that the 2011 Red Sox would compete with the 1927 Yankees for alleged "best team ever". But this had to be said -- it's too ridiculous a claim (ESPECIALLY before they've even won the World Series...OR EVEN REPORTED TO CAMP!).

The Ortiz blog on NESN.com is called "Instant Opinion."

I think it should be re-named "Instant Coffee." As in, crap.

And now, the Rundown...please save me from this insanity, Other Red Sox/Yankees News. Sigh...

• The Yankees remain ahead of the Sox in ticket demand, according to this article by the Boston Herald.
• The always-entertaining and informative Yankee U blog subscribes to the credo of Axl Rose: Patience.
• MLB.com offers a list of league 2011 Resolutions, and equates Burnett to Beckett.

Red Sox Out-Yankee the Yankees

Quick - name this baseball team:


It trades for big names to extend them with big money, signs high profile position players to record contracts, trots out All Stars at most positions, has a soft-spoken, unimposing GM who gets the job done every season, and a fan base that's become so used to winning, anything short of a pennant or title is considered failure.


Ladies and gentlemen, your Boston Red Sox.


Okay, okay...so I've written about the similarities between the Sox and Yanks before. This is nothing new. I'm just trying to knock Sox fans down from their high after they acquired both Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, the top two acquisitions thus far and the top two not named Cliff Lee.


But the new-age, new-roster Red Sox are making it increasingly difficult for a Yanks fan to earn an honest living in Boston! No more widespread misery and doubt -- just absurd spending and talent. As one friend and diehard Sox fan told me, "Money argument aside, we are f***ing STACKED!"


There goes the neighborhood for this pinstripe-clad citizen...


Let's bring the money argument back in -- has this changed the rivalry? Eh, not really. The teams will still play an obscene number of times. ESPN will still run the game previews, analysis and highlights through their overworked hype machine. And the fan bases will be at each others' throats just the same.


But this might change the rivalry to a third party -- finally pushing them over the edge. This is sure starting to look less like the battle between good and evil and more like Alien vs. Predator.


No matter who wins -- most of humanity loses.


(Oh...and if you're wondering, the idea of the Sox essentially cementing themselves as no different than their most hated rival makes me 5% happy, 95% want to hide...)