A few weekends ago the struggling Boston Red Sox came into Yankee Stadium and stole two out of three thanks to late-inning heroics from Pedro Ciriaco and former-Yankee Alfredo Aceves. After a new bout of controversies concerning rumored reports that Red Sox players want manager Bobby Valentine removed from his position, the Sox make another trip to the high-flying Yankees after they just took three out of four against the Texas Rangers. If the deck wasn't stacked against Boston enough, their slugger David Ortiz was still on the DL with his Achilles injury.
The Sox, coming up north to the Stadium after getting slapped around at Camden Yards by the Orioles, were slapped around again to start the first game with three solo homers off of Franklin Morales with Swisher in the 1st, and then Granderson and Russell Martin adding two more in the 2nd. To their credit, the Red Sox battled back and put up a crooked number in the 3rd to take a 4-3 lead. Some sloppy defense with Phil Hughes, making the start, lead to Boston's first run, and then a 3-run homer from Dustin Pedroia accounted for the 4th run of the inning. It was the Captain's task to get the Yanks back and he single-handily took care of it with a solo home run in the 5th. With the homer, Derek Jeter became the 10th Yankee with 10 or more homers on the squad. It was also Jeter's 250th homer of his hall of fame career. Jayson Nix put the Yankees ahead 5-4 with a RBI hit in the 6th, and then in the 7th Nick Swisher, filling in for Mark Teixeira the entire weekend at first base as he nurses a sore wrist again, capped off the night with one more solo homerun to make it 6-4 Yankees. Rafael Soriano worked the 9th inning and earned his 30th save of the season while securing Phil Hughes' 12th win for the 7 innings he gave against Boston.
In what would've been a match-up of lefties with CC Sabathia vs. Jon Lester, fans instead were treated to Lester and David Phelps due to Sabathia's injury. Boston got on the board in the 1st with Adrian Gonzalez going opposite field with his power over the left field wall with Carl Crawford on that gave Boston the early 2-0 lead. Curtis Granderson cut into the lead at 2-1 with a solo jack off of Lester in the 4th, but from there Lester and the rest of the Boston pitching would be stingy. Jon Lester would put in a rare good start this season, going 7 innings and only giving up the one run to Granderson. Nick Punto added a RBI double to score Pedro Ciriaco in the 5th that made with 3-1 Boston, and in the 9th Scott Podsednik came across the plate on a wild pitch from Cody Eppley which put Boston comfortably ahead 4-1 against the slumbering Yankee bats, that seemed to have taken the afternoon off. Overall Phelps was decent and took the ball into the 7th inning, but he had no run support. Alfredo Aceves put the Yankees down in the 9th and tied the weekend series at a game a piece to the delight of ESPN executives looking for a more enticing rubbermatch for their Sunday Night Baseball program that continues to milk four-hour games from this rivalry.
Seeing what Jon Lester was able to do, Josh Beckett must have also pondered memories of being a top-pitcher as he gunned against the red-hot Hiroki Kuroda. Jeter removed any hopes of Beckett also shutting down the Bombers in the 1st with a booming leadoff double, and he would later score on a 2-out base hit from Curtis Granderson. Derek Jeter doubled again in the 3rd, part of a 3-hit night, and scored on a wild pitch from Beckett while he was facing Robinson Cano. As Kuroda kept the Red Sox at bay, his countryman Ichiro decided to get into the action with the long ball off of Beckett; a solo shot to the second deck in right in the 4th inning, and then another solo job in the 6th deeper to the lower deck in right that made the crowd chant for an Ichiro curtain call. Kuroda's only blemish was giving up a solo homer of his own to Adrian Gonzalez in the top of the 7th that made it 4-1 Yankees, but he never lost his groove and finished the 7th and pitched the entire 8th inning with no further runs surrendered. Manager Joe Girardi didn't let Kuroda go out for the 9th to achieve consecutive complete games, instead he went with Soriano to save it. Carl Crawford started the inning with a lead off single, but that was erased on a double play grounder from Dustin Pedroia. Soriano struck out Adrian Gonzalez to end the game and served justice for the Yanks losing out to Boston weeks ago. It was the 31st save of the season for Soriano and the 12th win of the season for Kuroda who continues to throw quality innings against tough ballclubs.
With the Japanese wing of the Yankees, Kuroda and Ichiro, going strong, the 72-49 Yankees head out to the Midwest with stops in Chicago and Cleveland...
The Sox, coming up north to the Stadium after getting slapped around at Camden Yards by the Orioles, were slapped around again to start the first game with three solo homers off of Franklin Morales with Swisher in the 1st, and then Granderson and Russell Martin adding two more in the 2nd. To their credit, the Red Sox battled back and put up a crooked number in the 3rd to take a 4-3 lead. Some sloppy defense with Phil Hughes, making the start, lead to Boston's first run, and then a 3-run homer from Dustin Pedroia accounted for the 4th run of the inning. It was the Captain's task to get the Yanks back and he single-handily took care of it with a solo home run in the 5th. With the homer, Derek Jeter became the 10th Yankee with 10 or more homers on the squad. It was also Jeter's 250th homer of his hall of fame career. Jayson Nix put the Yankees ahead 5-4 with a RBI hit in the 6th, and then in the 7th Nick Swisher, filling in for Mark Teixeira the entire weekend at first base as he nurses a sore wrist again, capped off the night with one more solo homerun to make it 6-4 Yankees. Rafael Soriano worked the 9th inning and earned his 30th save of the season while securing Phil Hughes' 12th win for the 7 innings he gave against Boston.
In what would've been a match-up of lefties with CC Sabathia vs. Jon Lester, fans instead were treated to Lester and David Phelps due to Sabathia's injury. Boston got on the board in the 1st with Adrian Gonzalez going opposite field with his power over the left field wall with Carl Crawford on that gave Boston the early 2-0 lead. Curtis Granderson cut into the lead at 2-1 with a solo jack off of Lester in the 4th, but from there Lester and the rest of the Boston pitching would be stingy. Jon Lester would put in a rare good start this season, going 7 innings and only giving up the one run to Granderson. Nick Punto added a RBI double to score Pedro Ciriaco in the 5th that made with 3-1 Boston, and in the 9th Scott Podsednik came across the plate on a wild pitch from Cody Eppley which put Boston comfortably ahead 4-1 against the slumbering Yankee bats, that seemed to have taken the afternoon off. Overall Phelps was decent and took the ball into the 7th inning, but he had no run support. Alfredo Aceves put the Yankees down in the 9th and tied the weekend series at a game a piece to the delight of ESPN executives looking for a more enticing rubbermatch for their Sunday Night Baseball program that continues to milk four-hour games from this rivalry.
Seeing what Jon Lester was able to do, Josh Beckett must have also pondered memories of being a top-pitcher as he gunned against the red-hot Hiroki Kuroda. Jeter removed any hopes of Beckett also shutting down the Bombers in the 1st with a booming leadoff double, and he would later score on a 2-out base hit from Curtis Granderson. Derek Jeter doubled again in the 3rd, part of a 3-hit night, and scored on a wild pitch from Beckett while he was facing Robinson Cano. As Kuroda kept the Red Sox at bay, his countryman Ichiro decided to get into the action with the long ball off of Beckett; a solo shot to the second deck in right in the 4th inning, and then another solo job in the 6th deeper to the lower deck in right that made the crowd chant for an Ichiro curtain call. Kuroda's only blemish was giving up a solo homer of his own to Adrian Gonzalez in the top of the 7th that made it 4-1 Yankees, but he never lost his groove and finished the 7th and pitched the entire 8th inning with no further runs surrendered. Manager Joe Girardi didn't let Kuroda go out for the 9th to achieve consecutive complete games, instead he went with Soriano to save it. Carl Crawford started the inning with a lead off single, but that was erased on a double play grounder from Dustin Pedroia. Soriano struck out Adrian Gonzalez to end the game and served justice for the Yanks losing out to Boston weeks ago. It was the 31st save of the season for Soriano and the 12th win of the season for Kuroda who continues to throw quality innings against tough ballclubs.
With the Japanese wing of the Yankees, Kuroda and Ichiro, going strong, the 72-49 Yankees head out to the Midwest with stops in Chicago and Cleveland...
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