Courtesy of OrlandoSentinel.com

By Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent

The Red Sox had a golden opportunity. Coming into the week, the Red Sox narrowed the gap between them and AL East leading New York Yankees. Before the three-game series that starts tonight, the Sox had four against the struggling Kansas City Royals, while New York faced off against the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Sox could’ve put themselves in a position to overtake the division lead with a good series against the Yanks.

Instead, they lost the first two games of the Royals series—both games by at least three runs—and now sit six games behind New York.

While there is still mathematically a chance to catch them, it looks like Boston will have to settle for the Wild Card.

But perhaps more importantly then the standings, a good series for either team could provide a huge psychological boost of confidence heading into October,.

The Red Sox started off the year with a huge mental edge against the Yankees, winning all eight games in the first half of the season, taking home three brooms to sweep up what was left of Yankee trash.

But, tables turned after the All-Star break, and the Yankees won six of the seven contests between the two teams.

The Yankees are an astonishing 46-19 after the mid-summer classic. Riding such a hot pace throughout the second-half, a number of them being walk-offs, coupled with dominance against Boston, leaves New York already riding a very big wave of confidence going into the postseason.

If the Red Sox can come back from the dead, so to say, and win the series against the Yanks, they could steal some of that thunder.

In game one tonight, Jon Lester goes up against Joba Chamberlain. Both are young starters that their organizations place a lot of expectations on, but Lester has certainly been much more successful. Lester has been the Sox most consistent pitcher this year, even more-so than ace Josh Beckett. Chamberlain, on the other hand, was switched from set-up man to starter and has struggled to go deep into games. This season Chamberlain has even been given stretches off in order to keep him fresh and to work on getting him to pitch farther into games to also not wear out the bullpen.

Game two pits Dice-K against C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees seem to have the edge here, as C.C. has been more and more dominant as the season has gone on, whereas Dice-K spent most of the season injured. He did get the win in his last start, but Sabathia has been much more reliable and successful over the body of the season.

In the rubber match, the pitching matchup is Paul Byrd against Andy Pettite. Byrd was called on by the Red Sox after Brad Penny and John Smoltz were both let go by the club. While a smart veteran, one has to wonder how much he has left in the tank. Pettite has had a very successful season number wise, and almost threw a perfect game against the Baltimore Orioles. But, he has  also gotten himself into trouble this season. While his numbers look good, if you actually watch him in-game, Pettite has labored through a number of his starts, throwing a ton of pitches. If the Sox can get on him early in the game and shake him up, they could steal one from the Yanks here.

The Yankees have a very explosive offense that has also been very clutch this season. The most dangerous aspect of their lineup is that anyone could come up huge at any time. Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Jorge Posada get their stats. However, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher have also played a huge part in New York’s success this season, especially in the second half.

Ideally, the Red Sox need to win the first game. They have the clear advantage in pitching and need to take advantage of that.

The series will be hard fought, and if the Sox do not take care of business in the first game, where they have the advantage, the following games will only be that much tougher.

Sabathia could go into shutdown mode, especially with the playoffs on the horizon, and game two will be extremely difficult.

If the Red Sox enter the last game in an 0-2 hole, not only will they have not accomplished winning a series against the Yankees for the first time since June, but getting to Pettite will be even harder.

If Boston can at least head into game three tied at one game apiece, then there will certainly be a lot of pressure in the series finale. If the Sox can then get Pettite to work more than he has to, the pressure could get to him and certainly rattle him and have more of an effect on the outcome on the game.

These two teams hate each other. While the standings won’t change, winning the last series of the season is certainly on both team’s minds. This series is for pride, and winning it can go a long way into how successful October is for both teams, especially if they face each other then too.

Expect another classic.

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