Yankees vs. Red Sox

Share

Opening Day, 1923

Share

Moose Gets No Decision

Mike Mussina came up with another big performance today, two earned runs in seven innings, but came away with no decision. As of this post, the game was tied 2-2 in the ninth inning. Jason Giambi tied things up in the bottom of the seventh with a two out, 2-run home run against reliever Hideki Okajima.

Share

The Daily Yankeeland - 8/28

The Yankees will try to salvage the finale of the three game series this afternoon when Mike Mussina faces Jon Lester. Yankees aren't going anywhere but downward, but they owe it to Mussina to show up today.

Hank says things will change!

Ken Davidoff thinks Joe Girardi needs to loosen up.

Pavano is on waivers and available. Yankees couldn't possibly be that lucky to get someone worthwhile back for him.

Like the rest of us, Joel Sherman says it's time to look towards '09.

Too little, too late for A-Rod.

Girardi defends the middle of the lineup.

Viedo of the fan ejected for trying to blow off God Bless America.

Share

Bananas for a Split

Pardon the bad pun. We're back after a little R & R, which in this case stands for lazy & listless. Okay, so they aren't "R" words, but who cares. Just needed a little time away from the blogosphere. But boy do we have a lot to talk about now.

Let's start off with the Yankees-Red Sox games of the last 2 days. A remarkable set of games that enabled the Yankees to split the 4-game series. And it was a HUGE split after losing those first two.

We'll work our way backwards starting with last night. Yankees got jump started in the 2nd inning when Alex Rodriguez took Sox starter Tim Wakefield deep for a 1-0 Yankees lead. It was home run number 536, tying Mickey Mantle for 13th place on the all-time home run list. The fans went crazy, even Madonna, who shall be known as Mad-Rod from this day forward.

The Red Sox countered with 3 off Joba Chamberlain in the 5th inning. The little gnat Dustin Pedroia delivering a 2-run single to put Boston ahead. We don't often (as in never) agree with Joe Morgan, but he hit the nail on the head last night. With the game tied 1-1, two and two out, Chamberlain had a full count against Jacoby Ellsbury. He twice shook off Jose Molina, who wanted him to throw a fastball. Instead Chamberlain threw a breaking pitch for ball four and one of the hottest hitters in baseball, Pedroia, had an ideal hitting situation. Chamberlain is way too inexperienced to be shaking off a veteran like Molina. That last part is our theory not Morgan's, but we'd bet he'd agree.

The teams exchanged runs, which put the Yankees down 4-2 entering the 7th inning. A-Rod led off with a single and one out later, Jorge Posada singled off reliever Javier Lopez. That brought up Robinson Cano, who hit ripped one to right. The ball kicked around a bit allowing both runners to score and Cano to pull into third with a game tying triple.

We take issue a bit here with Joe Girardi here for not having Melky Cabrera try to squeeze home Cano. Melky's swung the bat better the last few games, but he's still nowhere close to firing on all cylinders. Melky put the ball on the ground and Cano, running on contact, was easily out at the plate. Molina then struck out to end the inning.

Mariano Rivera walked the tight rope in Saturday's save- more on that later- but was back on target last night. He did have to face Manny Ramirez in the 9th with two out and the go ahead run on 3rd base, but Manny never took the bat off his shoulder, looking at three straight called strikes. Mo mowed them down in the 10th and then it was the Yankees turn to face the Sox closer.

Jon Papelbon has been good, but not as good as last year. Cano took him back up the middle for a lead off single and Melky laid down a perfect sac bunt. Papelbon blew fastballs easily past Wilson Betemit for the 2nd out, but then got into a battle with rookie Brett Gardner. The kid finally hit one back up the middle, just off the glove of a diving Julio Lugo and past Pedroia, who was backing up on the play. Cano raced home with the winning run and the Yankees had themselves a mighty fine win.


Back to Saturday's chaos. A magnificent performance from Mike Mussina, who was screwed out of an All-Star selection, but more on that later. He was great once again, throwing six shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, one walk, and striking out 5.


The Yankees had scored in the 2nd on an RBI single by Melky Cabrera and a sac fly in the 6th by Brett Gardner (not a bad weekend for him). Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth pitched a stellar inning each, which brought things to the 9th and Mariano Rivera. And that's when things got a little crazy.

J.D. Drew started the 9th with a single back up the middle. Rivera then hit Manny Ramirez, and just that quickly, Boston had the tying men on base. Mike Lowell poked a single to right to cut the lead in half, with pinch-runner Brandon Moss stopping at 2nd base. Mo then hit Kevin Youkilis, which nearly caused us to spit our shrimp francese across the restaurant (made sure to get a seat with a view of the bar TV), to load the bases with no one out.

"Moose doesn't deserve not to win this" played over and over in our minds. But then Mo went back to being Mo. Coco Crisp took a weak hack and struck out. Jason Varitek, AL All-Star, yeah we'll get back to that later too, popped up to first. So it came down to Julio Lugo and he was no match for "The Great Ree-Vare-uh", as John Miller likes to say. Strike 3, ball game over, Yankees win...yeah, you know the drill.

Share

Yankees and Sox Fans Have Their Day in Court

The endless nonsense between Yankees and Red Sox fans continues. Murder, mayhem, and this bit of news that we had to laugh at. A judge in Gloucester, Mass ordered a Red Sox fan to pay a Yankes fan over $25,000 after the Yankees fan punched the Red Sox fan in the mouth. You read that correctly.

The two combatants were watching a game in a bar in Carlsbad, CA two years (Maybe we need fan only bars.) when first an argument, and then a fight, broke out. Imagine that.

Red Sox fan David Sanborn, not to be confused with the jazz great, got punched in the mouth by Yankees fan Mario Melendez, breaking some of Sanborn's teeth and Melendez's hand.

Melendez is a professional bongo player- you can get paid for that?- and because he lost time and wages due to the injury, he took Doug Llewelyn's advice and took Sanborn to court. A jury awarded Melendez $15,297 and $10,000 in punitive damages after they agreed that Melendez had thrown the punch in self defense.

There was no truth to the rumor that Melendez wanted to play bongos in the nude with Matthew McConaughey.

Source: WCVB in Boston

Share

Lighten Up Francis

Back in early March a Yankees fan was attacked by a group of Red Sox fans in Cambridge, Mass. The Yankee fan was hospitalized after he made the mistake of wearing a Yankees hat into a Cambridge bar.

Now comes word that a Yankees fan living in New Hampshire has killed one Red Sox fan and injured another after hitting them with her car. Just as in the first case, alcohol played a factor.

Here's the thing...the Yankees and Red Sox do NOT hate each other. You seem them talking before games. There's no bad blood. Terry Francona had the utmost respect for Joe Torre and feels the same way towards Joe Girardi, and vice-versa.

It's bad enough when fights break out at the ball parks, but now fans are making this into the Bloods and Cripps. It's fine to hate, to curse, to boo the opponent and the other towns fans. But when you step it up and begin reacting violently it has nothing to do with baseball. Grow up people.

Share

But It's Only April

Seriously, it's not even tax date yet and we've already got a Yankees-Red Sox series. We're not ready for this. Of greater concern, we don't think the Yankees are either. To make matters worse, 2 of the 3 games are nationally televised. So we have to put up with Joe Buck's bullshit on Saturday and the not-so entertaining Miller-Morgan show on Sunday.

There's also a story out this morning that some moron Red Sox fan, working as a construction worker on the new Yankee Stadium, buried a Red Sox shirt while cement was being poured. It was his way of creating a new jinx. Burying Red Sox, sounds like a good idea.

Things get underway this evening with Chien-Ming Wang going up against rookie Clay Buchholz. Saturday's probably a good day to do something else- Mike Mussina vs. Josh Beckett. Sunday finishes the 3-game series off with Phil Hughes against Dice-K. Have we made it perfectly clear how much we hate Fenway and its neanderthal inhabitants?

The Red Sox, like the Yankees, are off to a bit of a slow start. They have an identical 5-5 record and just placed Mike Lowell on the DL with a sprained thumb. There's also no Curt Schilling (HALLELUJAH) for 4-6 months.

David Ortiz is just 3-36 with 1 HR and 3 RBI. Manny Ramirez drove in 5 runs in the 2-game series with the A's in Japan, but has driven in just 3 since. But J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis, Julio Lugo, and Jason Varitek are all off to good starts.

Dice-K pitched poorly in Japan, but has been lights out in his 2 starts back in the states. Josh Beckett suffered through back troubles in spring training and had a poor outing his in his first start off the DL last weekend. This will be just the second start of the season for Buchholz.


Red Sox vs. Wang

Sean Casey 1-10
Alex Cora 5-18 1 HR 4 RBI
Coco Crisp 6-23
J.D. Drew 1-11
Jacoby Ellsbury 1-1 1 RBI
Julio Lugo 6-31 1 RBI
David Ortiz 15-30 2 HR 10 RBI 6 BB
Manny Ramirez 13-22 2 HR 5 RBI
Jason Varitek 1-16
Kevin Youkilis 7-21 3 RBI 8 BB

This is Clay Buchholz's first appearance against the Yankees.

Share

The Great Escape

Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling locked in a great pitching duel. The game is close until a Yankees home run gives them the lead. Then it's up to the Yankees sure thing, Mariano Rivera, to close things out. But Mo is shaky. No this wasn't the 7th game of the 2001 World Series again. It was last night's white knuckler with the Boston Red Sox that the Yankees pulled out 4-3. The victory moved them back to within 4.5 of the AL East lead, and more importantly, kept them 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers for the Wild Card.

Clemens, with the aid of 2 cortisone shots, had a good fastball and a nasty slider to go with Mr. Splittee. Schilling, a mile or two slower than Clemens with his fastball, threw a low 70s curve ball to keep hitters off balance. Clemens departed after 6 in a 1-1 tie and it was still that score when the Yankees came to bat in the 8th.

Schilling (8-8) struck out Melky Cabrera to start the inning, but Doug Mientkiewicz stroked his 2nd single of the game and pinch-hitter Jason Giambi peppered the green monster with a shot that nearly cleared the top of the wall. Mientkiewicz raced to 3rd and Giambi moved into 2nd on the throw. With the infield in Johnny Damon hit a broken bat bouncer to 2nd that froze Mientkiewicz and was the 2nd out of the inning. That left it up to the Captain. Derek Jeter came into the game hitting better than .400 with runners in scoring position and 2 out, and he added to it. He ripped a hanging 2-2 slider from Schilling into the seats atop the green monster for a 3-run HR and a 4-1 Yankees lead. But the game was far from over.

Mike Lowell cut the lead in half with a solo home run off of Joba Chamberlain. It was the first home run and earned run allowed by Chamberlain (2-0), who was in his 2nd inning of work. Then came the 9th, which was not for the feint of heart.

Rivera walked Jason Varitek to start the inning, but retired Eric Hinske and Coco Crisp on ground outs, with Varitek moving around to 3rd. All seemed right. But then Julio Lugo hit a high fastball to the monster for a run scoring double. Rivera hit Jacoby Ellsbury with a pitch and then lost a long battle with Dustin Pedroia, walking the rookie to load the bases. For David Ortiz. With both Yankees and Red Sox fans holding their breath, Ortiz popped up to an awaiting Jeter to end the game. And we could all breath again.

...

Roger Clemens allowed just 2 hits in his 6 innings of work, and 1 unearned run that reached when Johnny Damon dropped a fly ball.

The Yankees won the season series with the Red Sox, 10-8. They won 10 of the last 15 played.

photos courtesy of AP

Share

A Definition of Ugly

We've seen the scenario against the Red Sox before. Josh Beckett or Curt Schilling or some other tough thrower on the mound and the game turns into a blow out. That was the case yesterday as the Red Sox bounced back from Friday night's bad loss to whip the Yankees 10-1.

Even when things went bad yesterday for the Sox it turned out good. Kevin Youkillis had to leave the game after being hit on the left wrist by a Chien-Ming Wang (ironically it happened moments after FOX showed Joba Chamberlain throwing 2 pitches over Youkillis' head back on August 30) pitch, but his replacement Jacoby Ellsbury drove in 3 runs.

Wang and Beckett, both entered the game with 18 wins and Cy Young aspirations, but only Beckett rose to the occasion. The Red Sox lead 2-1 entering the 6th, having taken the lead an inning earlier. Wang quickly got into trouble as Eric Hinske doubled and Coco Crisp singled to put runners on the corners with no one out. Wang got Julio Lugo on a shallow fly to center, but Crisp stole 2nd to force the Yankees to move the infield in. Dustin Pedroia complied by hitting a grounder to Robinson Cano, who came home with it. Hinske, who's built more like a linebacker than a baseball player, ran over Jorge Posada, but Posada held onto the ball for the 2nd out. (After the game he would go to a nearby hospital to be checked for a concussion - all tests came back negative.)

Wang was 1 out from escaping the inning, but after Pedroia stole 2nd, Ellsbury singled to left for 1 run and David Ortiz doubled in the gap in right-center for a 5-1 Red Sox lead. It also marked the end of the day for Wang, who saw his ERA rise to 3.82. The Yankees bullpen was then torched for 4 runs in the 7th and 1 more in the 8th, and Beckett had his 19th win.

...

Russ Ohlendorf gave up his first runs as a major leaguer, including Hinske's 1st home run since August 2nd.

It took a while, but FOX finally spoke about Kevin Youkillis' habit of diving into the plate, ala Derek Jeter. Youkillis may think the Yankees are throwing at him, but he's been hit by 15 pitches this season. X-Rays were negative on his wrist, leaving him with a bruise and questionable for tonight's game.

Mike Lowell drove in his career high 106th RBI. And the Yankees had Ed Yarnall.

Derek Jeter's 10th home run of the season was his 193rd career HR, moving him ahead of good friend Tino Martinez on the all-time list.

Chien-Ming Wang was up in the zone all day and recorded on 6 of 17 outs by ground out.

Share

Today's Lineup (9/15)

Chien-Ming Wang vs. Josh Beckett


Yankees

J. Damon lf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Posada c
H. Matsui dh
J. Giambi 1b
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf

Red Sox
D. Pedroia 2b
K. Youkilis 1b
D. Ortiz dh
M. Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
J. Varitek c
E. Hinske lf
C. Crisp cf
J. Lugo ss

Share

Friday Night Lights

That loud clicking sound you heard last night was not a mass chorus of flamenco dancers performing. Those were TV sets that were shut off when the Yankees fell behind Boston 5-1 and then 7-2. The Yankees were sloppy, non-clutch, and ugly. And then the 8th inning came and the Yankees had themselves an 8-7 lead that they would not relinquish. A stunned Fenway Park crowd watched as Mariano Rivera struck out rookie Jacoby Ellsbury to seal the Yankees improbable win.

With a pair of Jason Giambi errors and some shoddy pitching by Andy Pettitte and the bullpen having put them in the hole, the Yankees knew if they were going to come back it was against going to have to be against the Red Sox dynamite tandem of Hideki Okajima and Jon Papelbon. And apparently that's what the Bombers were waiting for.

Okajima had not allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter all season. Then Giambi and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back jacks to start the 8th. When Melky Cabrera walked and Johnny Damon, who had 4 hits, followed with a double, the Yankees suddenly had the timing run at the plate. Terry Francona immediately went to his closer for a 6-out save (can anyone understand while Michael Kay kept questioning Francona's urgency to win the game?).

But Derek Jeter, who had a shaky night in the field and at the plate, singled to right to cut the lead to 7-5, with Damon holding at 3rd. Bobby Abreu absolutely crushed a pitch off the wall in dead center for a game tying 2-run double. Suddenly the invinceable were very human. Alex Rodriguez capped the inning with his 135th RBI, a single to right to give the Yankees their first lead of the night. It was just the 3rd blown save by Papelbon (1-3) this season.

The Red Sox put base runners on 1st in both the 8th and 9th innings, but Jorge Posada gunned down pinch-runner Coco Crisp trying to steal 2nd to end the 8th and Mariano dominated his inning for his 27th save.

Leading 2-1 in the 4th, the Red Sox looked to add to it. With runners on the corner with one out, Pettitte picked Ellbsury off of 1st. But Giambi, who had already committed a run scoring error, hesitated on his throw to 2nd and Ellsbury had himself a stolen base. Dustin Pedroia made the Yankees pay with a lined single to center for a 4-1 lead. Back-to-back singles by David Ortiz and Mike Lowell produced a 5th run, before Pettitte finally got out further trouble. Having thrown 101 pitches his night was done after the 4th.

The Yankees had opportunities against Daisuke Matsuzaka all evening, but couldn't capitalize. Even when they scored they came out disappointed. Posade lead off the 4th with a double and scored when Hideki Matsui tripled off of his fellow country men. But Matsui was stranded at 3rd. Dice-K, working very deliberately, went 3-2 on a lot of Yankees, but only allowed only 4 hits. His 5 walks helped contribute to a long evening that fell 2 minutes shy of the longest 9-inning game in MLB history.

The Sox added 2 more runs in the 7th thanks in part to another error by Giambi. Ortiz should have been doubled off of 1st on Lowell's fly to right, but Giambi dropped Abreu's throw and did an embarrassing belly flop in the process.

....

It was Andy Pettitte's shortest outing since his 1 2-3 inning debacle against the A's in July. He remains at 199 wins.

Brian Bruney (3-1) picked up the win after throwing 1.1 scoreless innings when the Yankees desperately needed it. Joe Torre rewarded him with the scorecard and game ball.

Share

Yankees Weekend in Beantown

Sorry for the late entry today. Catching up on all we missed while out of town. Last night's loss was a tough one. Ian Kennedy threw a masterful 7 innings of 1-hit ball (on a ball that Melky probably should have caught) , only to see Chris Britton lose it to the Jays in the 9th 2-1.

We won't get into a long diatribe here, but enough with saving your closer on the road. Going by the book sometimes is as dumb as it gets. Also have to be concerned about the lack of hitting the last 2 nights, though props to A.J. Burnett for one helluva performance.

Here's the pitching for this weekend's series and there are some good ones.

Friday - Andy Pettitte (13-8, 3.78) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-12, 4.44)
Dice-K 2-1 against the Yankees, but a 6.98 ERA

Saturday - Chien-Ming Wang (18-6, 3.69) vs. Josh Beckett (18-6, 3.27)
Cy Young Square off?

Sunday - Roger Clemens (6-6. 5.45) vs. Curt Schilling (8-7, 3.93)
Will the Rocket's arm hold up? For that matter, will Schitbag's?


And here are tonight's starting lineups

Yankees

D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Posada c
H. Matsui lf
J. Giambi 1b
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf

Red Sox
J. Lugo ss
D. Pedroia 2b
D. Ortiz dh
M. Lowell 3b
K. Youkilis 1b
J.D. Drew rf
J. Varitek c
B. Kielty lf
J. Ellsbury cf

Share

Suh-Weep, Don'tcha Know

Robinson Cano hit a pair of opposite field home runs and Chien-Ming Wang dominated the Boston Red Sox for 7 innings as the Yankees completed a 3-game sweep with a 5-0 win this afternoon. One day after Roger Clemens threw 5 1-3 innings of no-hit ball, Wang tossed 6 innings of no-hit ball in front of a packed Yankee Stadium crowd. Mike Lowell finally broke it up with a single back up the middle. It came one batter after Derek Jeter committed his 16th error of the season on a ball hit by Kevin Youkillis. That would be the only true jam got into all day, despite walking 4 batters.

Meanwhile, Cano showed big time power, hitting a Curt Schilling deliver over the 399-ft. sign in left-center in the 3rd and repeating the feat in the 5th. His 2nd blast landed on the netting in front of the Yankees retired numbers, and was his career high, 16th HR of the season.

While Schilling seemed to be getting by on guts and guile all afternoon, Wang innings. When and his hard biting sinker dazzled the Red Sox. Twice he walked batters to start an inning, but got out of it easily, once with the help of a double play. He struck out David Ortiz twice, ending the 1st and 6th innings. Jeter's error and the Sox 1st hit of the day got him in trouble, but Wang relied on his friend, "the ground ball" to get him out of it.

J.D. Drew hit a bouncer to 3rd that Alex Rodriguez fielded, made a tag at Youkillis going by, and then fired to 1st to get Drew. But 3rd Base umpire Mark Carlson ruled Youkillis safe, saying that A-Rod missed the tag. Youkillis clearly ran out of the base path, on to the infield grass, sending Joe Torre out out to argue. The umpires finally gathered in an impromptu conference. The result - Youkillis was called out, sending him into a rage and resulting in Terry Francona's ejection from the ball game. Wang then struck out his final batter, Jason Varitek, to end the inning.

After Joba Chamberlain threw a scoreless 8th, that included a Dustin Pedroia double and no strikeouts, the Yankees busted the game open in the bottom of the inning against Hideki Okijima. Derek Jeter singled with 1 away, his 4th hit in 4 trips to the plate. Bobby Abreu ripped one up the alley in right-center for a double, with Jeter scoring all the way from 1st.

After an intentional walk to A-Rod, the 2 runners pulled off a double steal and both scored as Varitek's throw sailed into left field. With a 5-0 lead, Torre decided to leave Chamberlain in the game to finish, but that's when things got even more interesting.

After retiring David Ortiz on a fly out to start the 9th, Chamberlain buzzed a pair of 98 mph fastballs up high and tight on Youkillis. The 2nd one prompted home plate umpire Angel Hernandez to toss Chamberlain from the game. Torre was beside himself and nearly went ballistic. He was still fired up after the game, vehemently protesting Hernandez's decision and the thought processes that lead up to it.

Edwar Ramirez had to come out of the pen, and despite walking Youkillis (charged to Chamberlain) and throwing a pair of wild pitches, he escaped from the 9th unscathed. The Yankees had themselves a sweep that pulled them to within 5 games of Boston in the AL East, and maybe, just maybe, sent a message for the future via a pair of Joba Chamberlain fastballs.

...

As you would expect, Youkillis felt that Chamberlain was throwing at him considering how good the kid's control is. And as you would expect, Chamberlain denied it, complimented the type of player Youkillis is and was upset that he had let the team down by having to use another reliever. Perhaps Youkillis yelled "HA" as he ran past A-Rod. Nah.

Chien-Ming Wang has allowed just 15 hits and 4 earned runs in his last 21 innings pitched. It resulted in 3 wins, 2 against the Tigers and today's victory.

In addition to setting a career high in home runs, Robinson Cano is now just 2 RBI shy of the 78 he drove in last year.

With his 4-4 performance, Derek Jeter went 7-11 (with a walk) in the series. And that came after starting 0-2 in the 1st game.
Alex Rodriguez had his 1st non-successful series against the Sox this season, going 2-9 with 2 walks. Of course he didn't see many good pitches either.

This was the 1st game that Joba Chamberlain entered a 2nd inning without having 2 days off prior to it.




The latest in rally caps?







photos courtesy of AP

Share

This Afternoon's Lineups (8/30)

Curt "Schitbag" Schilling vs. Chien-Ming Wang...The Wanger!


Red Sox

D. Pedroia 2b
C. Crisp cf
D. Ortiz dh
K. Youkilis 1b
M. Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
J. Varitek c
E. Hinske lf
A. Cora ss

Yankees
J. Damon lf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
H. Matsui dh
J. Posada c
J. Giambi 1b
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf

Share

Rocket's Red Snare

Roger Clemens uncharacteristically walked 5 batters, but threw 5 1-3 innings of no-hit ball as the Yankees held on for a 4-3 over the Boston Red Sox last night. Sox starter Josh Beckett was tagged for a career high 13 hits, but managed to escape trouble himself as the Yankees left 16 men on base.

The Yankees lead 3-1 in the 7th, when Alex Rodriguez went yard against Beckett for his 44th home run of the year. The extra run proved to be the difference, because Kyle Farnsworth returned to his 8th inning role and failed as usual. Kevin Youkillis belted a 1-out, 2-run HR to cut the lead to just a single run. Farnsworth struck out J.D. Drew for the 2nd out, but after he walked Jason Varitek, Joe Torre went to Mariano Rivera for a 4-out save. Mo dominated for the 2nd straight night, retiring all 4 batters he faced, and had 3 assists. With David Ortiz looming in the on-deck circle, Rivera recorded the final out by showing his athleticism. Dustin Pedroia hit a dribbler to the 3rd Base side of the mound, but Rivera was on it like a cat and fired a hard cutter, what else?, which handcuffed Andy Phillips. But Phillips did a great job to hold on to the ball and the Yankees had themselves a win.

The victory pulled the Yankees to within 6 games of Boston in the AL East and more importantly, put them into a virtual tie with Seattle for the wild-card lead. The Mariners lost earlier in the day to the Angels, who completed a 3 game sweep of their divisional rivals.

The game was scoreless in the 2nd, when the Yankees put 2 aboard with 2 outs. Jorge Posada singled, for the 1st of his 3 hits, and Robinson Cano drew a walk. Melky Cabrera battled Beckett until he hit a sharp grounder through the middle for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead. Cano raced to 3rd on the play and Cabrera moved up to 2nd when Beckett delivered a wild pitch to Johnny Damon. Damon, who had the game winning 2-run HR on Tuesday, came through against his former teammates again, singling through the left side for a 3-0 lead.

Clemens battled all night, and although he walked those 5 batters and hit another (Pedroia), he didn't allow a hit until Ortiz hit a mammoth upper deck home run with one out in the 6th. Ortiz has now hit a minimum of 25 HRs for 5 straight years. Clemens issued a 2-out walk to Youkillis and Drew singled through the ride side, but the Rocket came back to retire Varitek on a ground out to Cano.

...

The victory clinched the 3rd straight series win for the Yankees over the Red Sox.

The victory was #354 lifetime for Roger Clemens. He recorded 2 strikeouts, giving 4,666, 2nd only to Nolan Ryan.

A-Rod's home run was his 508th, tying him with Frank Thomas for 20th all time.



photos courtesy of AP

Share

The Bronx is Burning, Again

Johnny Damon hit a clutch 2-run home run against his former teammates, and Mr. August, Andy Pettitte, was brilliant in defeating the Boston Red Sox 5-3 last night at Yankee Stadium. Jason Varitek's home run in the top of the 7th had tied the game 3-3 and left Pettitte smashing his glove in the dugout at inning's end.

But Andy Phillips lead off the bottom of the inning with a single of Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Melky Cabrera successfully sacrificed him to 2nd. Damon jumped on Dice-K's (13-11) first pitch and sent it just over the fence in the right field short porch for his 9th HR of the season. The crowd went crazy and amped it up even more when Joba Chamberlain got up in the Yankees pen.

Chamberlain's first Yankees-Sox experience was a memorable one. After walking Kevin Youkillis on a 3-2 pitch, Chamberlain got David Ortiz to pop out on a high fastball. He struck out Eric Hinske on 3 straight pitches before Mike Lowell hit a soft liner to center for a single. But Joba the Great came right back and fooled J.D. Drew for an inning ending strikeout.

Mariano Rivera was even more outstanding in the 9th, blowing away Varitek and Coco Crisp, before getting Julio Lugo on a soft liner to Robinson Cano for the game's final out and his 21st save.

The Yankees staked Pettitte to a quick 2-0 lead when they jumped on Dice-K in the 1st inning. The Bombers loaded the bases on a single by Damon, a walk to Bobby Abreu, and Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch in the small of the back. Hideki Matsui grounded into a force out to score one run and Jorge Posada delivered another with an RBI double. Matsuzaka escaped further trouble when Cano's drive to deep right-center settled into the glove of Crisp for the final out of the inning.

Boston got 1 run back in the 2nd on Manny Ramirez's 20th home run of the season. It was Ramirez's 13th straight season with at least 20 home runs. He would have to leave the game later with back spasms. David Ortiz's sac fly tied the game up in the 3rd, but the Captain brought some excitement back in the 5th.
Derek Jeter, hampered by injuries, was muddled in a 1-18 slide when he drove a Dice-K delivery to right for his 9th home run, and 1st since August 1st. Then it was up to the former idiot, Damon, and the guns, Joba and Mo, to finish things off.

...
The Yankees pulled to within a game of the Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card chase. The M's jumped on the Angels Ervin Santana for 5 runs in the 1st inning, but ex-Yankee Jeff Weaver helped pay them back for the misery he caused. The Angels came back for a 10-6 win.

Andy Pettitte earned his 198th career victory, and finished August 6-0, 2.36.

Joba Chamberlain has now thrown 10 scoreless innings over 8 appearance. He's allowed just 4 hits, walked 3, and struck out 17.


Derek Jeter's home run was the 192nd of his career, tying him with Tino Martinez on the all-time Yankees list. It so happened the Bam-Tino was in attendance.

photos courtesy of AP

Share

Yankees and Red Sox start a HUGE 3 game series at the Stadium tonight. Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-10, 3.76) vs. Andy Pettitte (11-7, 3.69).

As expected, the Yankees have sent Sean Henn back down, and Chris Britton finally makes his return to the majors.

Here are tonight's starting lineups:

Red Sox

D. Pedroia 2b
K. Youkilis 1b
D. Ortiz dh
M. Ramirez lf
M. Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
J. Varitek c
C. Crisp cf
J. Lugo ss

Yankees
J. Damon lf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
H. Matsui dh
J. Posada c
R. Cano 2b
A. Phillips 1b
M. Cabrera cf

Share

Sweet Dreams

I hate going to bed mad on a Sunday night. This usually happens after watching the Giants stumble and fumble their way through an NFL contest with the Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, take your pick. But occasionally it also occurs when the Yankees are playing in one of their nationally televised contests on ESPN.

Last night's game was shaping up to be one of those aggrevation fests. The Yankees had blown the 4-0 lead they had built up against Josh "aren't I wonderful" Beckett. Bobby Abreu had misplayed yet another David Ortiz ball in right and Andy Pettitte was suddenly rendered ineffective by back spasms.

But something odd happened, the Yankees got up off the mat, or in this case grass, and rallied against the Sox top 2 relievers. Alex Rodriguez belted his 20th HR of the season off of Jonathan Papelbon to give the Yankees the lead in the 9th and Mariano Rivera looked like vintage Mo, slamming the door shut on a 6-5 win.

The victory game the Yankees a series win, the 2nd straight one they have taken from the Sox. The two teams don't meet again until August.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead into the 5th, adding 3 runs with some help from a Mike Lowell error. But the wheels came off in the bottom of half of the inning. The Red Sox loaded the bases on consecutive singles by Jason Varitek, Wily Mo Pena, and Coco Crisp. Pettitte struck out Julio Lugo, but Boston's 2-foot- 6 inch 2ndBaseman Dustin Pedroia ripped one of the green monster in left center, clearing the bases.

Down one, David Ortiz hit a humpback liner to right that Bobby Abreu at first thought he could catch. Instead the ball skipped past (which isn't easy to do with Abreu's ever growing girth) for a game tying triple. Two batters later Kevin Youkillis delivered a sac fly off of Luis Vizcaino to give the Sox their first lead of the night.

After stranding a runner at 3rd in the 7th, the Yankees finally had success against Japanese import Hideki Okajima. The Yankees' Hideki, Matsui, lined a single to right off of his former Pacific Rim teammate. Then Robinson Cano followed with a deep drive to center that ricocheted back past Coco Crisp for an RBI triple. The game was tied 5-5, the go-ahead run on 3rd and no one out. And the Yankees did nothing.

Josh Phelps struck out, Melky Cabrera grounded weakly to third, and Johnny Damon bounced out to Youkillis at 1st to keep the game tied.

The Red Sox put two on with two out against Brian Bruney in the 8th and Pedroia hit a gapper to right-center. Somehow Abreu didn't misplay and it made a fine running catch to end the threat.

Papelbon, with ESPN focusing in on his Wes Craven thought up grimace, retired the 1st two batters in the 9th, before A-Rod yelled "HAH" with his bat, giving the Yankees the lead.

Mo got Ortiz on a dangerous liner to Abreu to start the bottom of the 9th. After striking out Manny Ramirez, he nailed Youkillis on the forearm to bring the winning run to the plate in the person of the red hot Lowell. But Mo k'ed him, giving the Yankees the series win.

Share

Tonight's Lineups (6/3)

Yankees

Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Josh Phelps 1B
Melky Cabrera CF

Red Sox

Julio Lugo SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Manny Ramirez LF
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Mike Lowell 3B
Jason Varitek C
Wily Mo Pena RF
Coco Crisp CF

Andy Pettitte vs. Josh Beckett

Share