Butterfield: Sox should win it all

Brian Butterfield, the Toronto third base coach and Orono native whose Blue Jays went 5-14 against the Boston Red Sox and 7-11 against the New York Yankees, said he is picking the Red Sox to win the best-of-seven America League Championship Series against the Yankees.

Butterfield, who picked the Sox over the Yanks a year ago, said the series will go the full seven games.

New York won the seventh game 6-5 in 11 innings last season after rallying from a 5-2 deficit with three eighth-inning runs.

“In a seven-game series, the possibility of facing [Curt] Schilling and [Pedro] Martinez twice [each] favors the Red Sox. The Yankees don’t have anyone to match up pitching-wise,” said Butterfield. “I like the Red Sox’s bullpen to hold on to leads late and I like their lineup better, from one through nine.”

He said the Yankees’ top-of-the-order trio of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield is tremendous, but he prefers the power and consistency of the Red Sox lineup.

The offseason acquisitions of Schilling and closer Keith Foulke “are two of the big things that will put them over the edge.”

“Going into the season, with all the guys the Yankees picked up, there were a lot of question marks pertaining to their durability and that has shown up. But they were good enough to hold on anyway,” said Butterfield.

Orlando Hernandez, who was the Yankees’ best starting pitcher over the second half of the season, hasn’t pitched in the playoffs due to a tired shoulder and Butterfield said he noticed it when El Duque pitched against the Jays on the next-to-last day of the season.

“All he was throwing against us was off-speed pitches. His arm must have been hurting. He just kept flipping it up there,” Butterfield said.

Butterfield said he also likes the Red Sox’s interchangeable parts.

“They have a lot of pieces. They can bring [first baseman Doug] Mientkiewicz off the bench. He’s a great defender. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a better No. 2 receiver than [Doug] Mirabelli. He handles the pitching staff well, he throws out runners and if he guesses right when he’s hitting, he’ll hit the ball eight miles,” said Butterfield, who feels former Gold Glove shortstop Orlando Cabrera is a “definite upgrade defensively” over the popular Nomar Garciaparra, who was traded to the Chicago Cubs.

He doesn’t think the fact the Red Sox haven’t won a World Series since 1918 and that the Yankees have won 26 championships since then, and that they have eliminated the Sox in the postseason twice over the previous five years, will factor into the equation.

“Mentally, some of the core guys with the Red Sox haven’t experienced that, like a Schilling and a Cabrera. And guys like [catcher Jason] Varitek are very tough mentally. They’re real confident right now. There isn’t a problem with the Yankee stigma,” said Butterfield. “I think they wanted to play the Yankees. They think they can beat them.”

The Red Sox went 11-8 against the Yankees during the regular season.

Butterfield also predicted that the Red Sox will beat the National League champ in the World Series.

“They feel like it’s their year,” said Butterfield.