With the Orioles bumper-to-bumper behind the Yankees, the last trip of 2012 to Fenway Park against a watered down Red Sox was a great way to try to put some more room between themselves of those pesky birds of Baltimore. The Sox officially tossed in the towel for 2012 by trading away some of their biggest names to the Dodgers including Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford (injured anyways), and a real staple of the organization, Josh "Beer Belly" Beckett.
Still, its Yankees-Red Sox, and its Fenway Park, so it turned out to be not such a cakewalk as one would think. After splitting a four-game series in Camden and winning the final game in unlikely fashion, the Yankees were trying to turn the page of their doldrums and Hiroki Kuroda was the one of the mound to get things started. Not shipped out by the Sox was Beckett's fried chicken partner, Jon Lester, and the Yanks were primed to knock him out early. Lester had control issues early in the 1st, and after falling behind 1-0 from a Robinson Cano RBI ground out, the bases would eventually be loaded for Curtis Granderson. With a chance to put a crooked number up on the board early, Granderson would pop up and end the threat. Lester settled down and the Red Sox had their fun in the bottom of the 3rd. Two other "normal" Red Sox still left, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, hit RBI singles to turn the lead 2-1 Red Sox. Derek Jeter stepped up in the 6th with two runners on when the Captain slapped a double to the opposite field that stayed fair and went for a ground rule double. Of course, its still Yankees-Red Sox, and in the bottom of the frame Dustin Pedroia tied it up at 3 with a solo homerun over the green monster. Kuroda pitched into the 7th and needed to be lifted after one out. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th with one out and Yankee reliever David Robertson on the mound. The ever-annoying Pedro Ciriaco would single to get on base. The next hitter, Mike Aviles, hit a soft grounder in the hole at shortstop that Jeter wasn't able to make a play on. This placed the speedy Ciriaco at second base, and would end up costing the Yankees the game when Ellsbury followed with a RBI single into right that scored the game-winning run at 4-3.
Needing wins against a weak Red Sox squad in a tight division race, the pressure was on for rookie Yankee starter David Phelps to come through. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th when the Yankee hitters finally got to Aaron Cook. Curtis Granderson got it started with a solo homerun to right field, and soon after, Robinson Cano when yard with a 2-run shot over the green monster that made it 3-0. The Red Sox did get to Phelps for a run in the 4th, but the young starter was brilliant in a near-playoff importance type of game, especially in the 5th inning when he erased the threat of a lead-off triple by getting the next three outs without the run scoring. Phelps gave the Yankees 5.2 innings and would end up getting the win. Curtis Granderson added to the Yanks' lead in the 7th with his second homerun of the night, a 2-run shot to make it 5-1 and it seemed the game was over. Dustin Pedroia's pregnant wife helped the Bombers out by going into labor during the game, causing the able-bodied Pedroia to exit the game early to be with his wife.
Without Pedroia, the Sox kept fighting back against their New York rival and got two of those runs back in the bottom of the 7th. With a 5-3 score in the bottom of the 8th and runners on, Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to Rafael Soriano to get a four-out save. On a 3-2 count to Cody Ross, a low slider was called for strike three to the Yankees' benefit and fury spread across the Red Sox dugout which caused Ross, manager Bobby Valentine (plus two of his coaches), to get tossed from the game. The drama didn't end there; in the bottom of the 9th Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered and brought the game to 5-4. Then the very next hitter, Daniel Nava, took Soriano deep to the green monster and had the crowd in an uproar, but it wasn't hit quite well enough and the ball landed in Chris Dickerson's glove for the first out of the inning. Soriano kept his composure from there and was able to record the final two outs for the 5-4 win and his 37th save of the season. Even though the Yanks won, it was at a cost with their MVP Derek Jeter having to leave the game after re-injuring a bone bruise on his foot he's been (secretly) nursing.
It came down to a final showdown with Phil Hughes, the Yankees best starter at the moment (sadly), and lefty Felix Doubront, who has been tough on the Yanks this season. Jeter was able to make the lineup, but as a DH, and Pedroia was totally out of the picture playing daddy. With the thin Red Sox lineup even further weakened with the loss of Pedroia, Phil Hughes did what he should do in that situation and pounded the strike zone. It looked like the Sox weren't even interested in playing by swinging early in the count and giving Hughes one easy inning after another. Doubront was good in his own right, but a bases loaded situation in the 4th allowed Andruw Jones to sac fly in a run and give the Yankees all the offense they would need at 1-0. The injured Captain, Derek Jeter, added another run in the 7th by poking a bloop-single to center off of Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa. Hughes was dominating in 7.1 innings of work with 7 strike outs for the night. Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th to close it out, and made it less dramatic this time for save number 38 for the season. The 2-0 win let the Yankees keep pace with the Orioles who never lose a game anymore.
The 81-63 Yankees should be kicking themselves for letting the first game against Boston get away, next up is three games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who are also treading on the Yanks' AL East/Wild Card property.....
Still, its Yankees-Red Sox, and its Fenway Park, so it turned out to be not such a cakewalk as one would think. After splitting a four-game series in Camden and winning the final game in unlikely fashion, the Yankees were trying to turn the page of their doldrums and Hiroki Kuroda was the one of the mound to get things started. Not shipped out by the Sox was Beckett's fried chicken partner, Jon Lester, and the Yanks were primed to knock him out early. Lester had control issues early in the 1st, and after falling behind 1-0 from a Robinson Cano RBI ground out, the bases would eventually be loaded for Curtis Granderson. With a chance to put a crooked number up on the board early, Granderson would pop up and end the threat. Lester settled down and the Red Sox had their fun in the bottom of the 3rd. Two other "normal" Red Sox still left, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, hit RBI singles to turn the lead 2-1 Red Sox. Derek Jeter stepped up in the 6th with two runners on when the Captain slapped a double to the opposite field that stayed fair and went for a ground rule double. Of course, its still Yankees-Red Sox, and in the bottom of the frame Dustin Pedroia tied it up at 3 with a solo homerun over the green monster. Kuroda pitched into the 7th and needed to be lifted after one out. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th with one out and Yankee reliever David Robertson on the mound. The ever-annoying Pedro Ciriaco would single to get on base. The next hitter, Mike Aviles, hit a soft grounder in the hole at shortstop that Jeter wasn't able to make a play on. This placed the speedy Ciriaco at second base, and would end up costing the Yankees the game when Ellsbury followed with a RBI single into right that scored the game-winning run at 4-3.
Needing wins against a weak Red Sox squad in a tight division race, the pressure was on for rookie Yankee starter David Phelps to come through. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th when the Yankee hitters finally got to Aaron Cook. Curtis Granderson got it started with a solo homerun to right field, and soon after, Robinson Cano when yard with a 2-run shot over the green monster that made it 3-0. The Red Sox did get to Phelps for a run in the 4th, but the young starter was brilliant in a near-playoff importance type of game, especially in the 5th inning when he erased the threat of a lead-off triple by getting the next three outs without the run scoring. Phelps gave the Yankees 5.2 innings and would end up getting the win. Curtis Granderson added to the Yanks' lead in the 7th with his second homerun of the night, a 2-run shot to make it 5-1 and it seemed the game was over. Dustin Pedroia's pregnant wife helped the Bombers out by going into labor during the game, causing the able-bodied Pedroia to exit the game early to be with his wife.
Without Pedroia, the Sox kept fighting back against their New York rival and got two of those runs back in the bottom of the 7th. With a 5-3 score in the bottom of the 8th and runners on, Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to Rafael Soriano to get a four-out save. On a 3-2 count to Cody Ross, a low slider was called for strike three to the Yankees' benefit and fury spread across the Red Sox dugout which caused Ross, manager Bobby Valentine (plus two of his coaches), to get tossed from the game. The drama didn't end there; in the bottom of the 9th Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered and brought the game to 5-4. Then the very next hitter, Daniel Nava, took Soriano deep to the green monster and had the crowd in an uproar, but it wasn't hit quite well enough and the ball landed in Chris Dickerson's glove for the first out of the inning. Soriano kept his composure from there and was able to record the final two outs for the 5-4 win and his 37th save of the season. Even though the Yanks won, it was at a cost with their MVP Derek Jeter having to leave the game after re-injuring a bone bruise on his foot he's been (secretly) nursing.
It came down to a final showdown with Phil Hughes, the Yankees best starter at the moment (sadly), and lefty Felix Doubront, who has been tough on the Yanks this season. Jeter was able to make the lineup, but as a DH, and Pedroia was totally out of the picture playing daddy. With the thin Red Sox lineup even further weakened with the loss of Pedroia, Phil Hughes did what he should do in that situation and pounded the strike zone. It looked like the Sox weren't even interested in playing by swinging early in the count and giving Hughes one easy inning after another. Doubront was good in his own right, but a bases loaded situation in the 4th allowed Andruw Jones to sac fly in a run and give the Yankees all the offense they would need at 1-0. The injured Captain, Derek Jeter, added another run in the 7th by poking a bloop-single to center off of Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa. Hughes was dominating in 7.1 innings of work with 7 strike outs for the night. Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th to close it out, and made it less dramatic this time for save number 38 for the season. The 2-0 win let the Yankees keep pace with the Orioles who never lose a game anymore.
The 81-63 Yankees should be kicking themselves for letting the first game against Boston get away, next up is three games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who are also treading on the Yanks' AL East/Wild Card property.....
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