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View from AL

By Mike Peters (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-27 07:57

The grass is new-mown. The bleachers are painted. The short but tedious grind of spring training is over, and the American League looks ahead to a shiny new season with an eternal question: Can anybody stop the fat-payroll Yankees? (And if so, will it be the Texas Rangers - who bushwacked the Bronx Bombers in the 2010 playoffs to sneak into the World Series?)

You read it here first: Put your money on the Boston Red Sox. Not just because I say so - I say it every year - but:

1. God loves the Red Sox. (It's true - check your Bible, Book of Samuel Adams, Chapter 1 Verse 2004.)

2. The Red Sox got a lot better in the offseason. They snagged Adrian Gonzalez from the undeserving San Diego Padres. And they not only hung on to Carl Crawford, they signed him for seven years.

That's enough to make some prognosticators pick the Sox to win the division and march to the Series, despite a starting pitching staff with question marks. Jon Lester looks like the Rock of Gibraltar, and Clay Buchholz is the second-most consistent. John Lackey was a disappointment after signing as a free agent, and one-time wunderkind Josh Beckett lately looks like a pitch man for a third-rate hospital. But Daisuke Matsuzaka has looked eerily good in spring training, and with Tim Wakefield apparently able to throw the knuckleball for a century, the Sox could be sitting pretty.

Of course, the Yankees can't be ignored. (Trust me, I've tried.) They struck out in their quest for free-agent megastar Cliff Lee, who wound up back with his old team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Then Mr Reliable, Andy Pettitte, announced his retirement, and the Yanks were looking at three certain starters: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes. They grabbed Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia (aka The Wing and The Prayer), and that might be enough if the Red Sox falter. After all, still lurking in the Yanks bullpen is Mariano Rivera - described for Sox fans in the Book of Revelation: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him ..."

More mortal competition will come from the Minnesota Twins, who will look great for 162 games (they've got Carlos Pavano - whoopee!) before the Yankees crush them (again) in the playoffs. The Rangers, who surprised by winning the AL West rather easily on the broad shoulders of Lee, won't coast to the finish line this year but seem likely to win the division. American League MVP Josh Hamilton looks better than ever, and new hire Brandon Webb would like to get his old form back and make Texas fans forget about that Lee guy. It could happen.

Mike Peters is a China Daily copy editor who hopes the late Ted Williams' body can be revived from cryogenic storage for a 99-home-run season in Boston. He can be contacted at mike.peters.cd@gmail.com.

(China Daily 03/27/2011 page8)