Yankees Lose Round One, 7-3

Red Sox fans let out a sigh of relief. Nagging concerns about a possible sweep by the Yankees in this series vanished last night, along with any MVP hopes Alex Rodriguez may have had. For the Yankees, this series has been looked at as pivotal to getting back into the playoff hunt, and the first game was considered a true "big game". The pitching match ups seemed to favor the Yankees. Andy Pettitte is a true "big game" pitcher, and he was facing Tim Wakefield, fresh off of the DL, who has not fared well in recent outings against the Yankees.

What New York needed was for their big players to step up. And the Yankees have no bigger player than A-Rod, arguably the most talented player in our lifetime. Unfortunately, A-Rod folded like an empty beach chair on a windy day. If you missed the game, here are the A-Rod highlights:

First inning: With the Yankees leading 1-0 on a Johnny Damon home run, A-Rod struck out looking to end the inning.

Second inning: With two outs and the Sox' 8th and 9th batters coming up. Both Jeff Bailey and Kevin Cash hit soft grounders right to A-Rod, who was playing deep. A-Rod could not handle either ball cleanly in time to make a play. The next batter, Jacoby Ellsbury, singled to drive in the Sox' first run.

Third inning: With one out and Bobby Abreu on first base, A-Rod hits n easy ground ball to short for an inning ending double play.

Fourth inning: With two outs and a runner on first, Dustin Pedroia hits a soft ground ball to third. A-Rod fields it cleanly then throws a side arm lob to first that pulls Jason Giambi well off the bag towards home plate. Giambi catches the ball and manages to quickly swipe Pedroia with his glove in time for the out - saving A-Rod from being charged with an error.

Fifth inning: With two outs, one run already in, the Sox leading 4-2, and runners at 2nd and 3rd, Jeff Bailey hits a ground ball down the line to third. The ball hops off the bag, A-Rod grabs it, fumbles for a fatal second taking it out of his glove, fires a futile throw to first which bounces once and arrives too late. The throw allows Coco Crisp, who had just reached third as A-Rod threw to first, to race home. Bailey was safe at first and Giambi held the ball and watched Coco score unchallenged. Had A-Rod held the ball, he would have at least held Coco on third, or possibly trapped him in a run-down. Had he made a quicker throw, he could have ended the inning. Giambi also had a shot at Coco at the plate, but held the ball.

Fifth inning: With one out, Derek Jeter on second and Bobby Abreu on first, and the score now 6-3, A-Rod flied out to center field, missing an opportunity to tie the game with a big swing.

Seventh inning: With one out, and bases loaded, thanks to a single and two walks from Manny Delcarmen, A-Rod came up to face Justin Masterson. A-Rod proceeded to hit a grounder to short for another inning ending double play.

Eighth inning: With one out, Dustin Pedroia hits a ground ball to third, and A-Rod throws hit out at first (wow). Later, with runners on first and second and two outs, Jason Bay hits a ground ball to third, A-Rod bobbles it, recovers, makes a bad throw to first, and the runners are safe. A-Rod is charged with an error. No runs score as Jed Lowrie lines out to second.

Ninth inning: Dustin Pedroia hits another ball to A-Rod, this time lining out to him cleanly to end the inning (wow).

Ninth inning: With a runner on first and two outs, the Yankees are down to their final chance. A-Rod steps up to the plate, and Jonathan Papelbon feeds him a steady diet of 95 mph fastballs. With the count 2-2, A-Rod swings and misses at the 5th pitch to end the game.

Don't get me wrong, a love A-Rod, I really do (insert sounds of suppressed laughter). He is truly a great player (insert sounds of chuckling), but when the game is on the line, he just never seems to come through. His post season stats are weak, and in important games, he disappears. Yankee fans seemed to notice as they showered him with boos all night. Personally, I think that is very classless. To boo your own players during an important battle is incredibly counter-productive.

But, you can certainly see their point. He made the last out in three innings, went 0-5, hit into 2 double plays, left 7 men on base, committed an error, and failed to make critical defensive plays when they were needed most.

Perfect day for the Sox to win. With the Rays and Twins both losing last night, the Sox gained ground on everyone. They now stand 3 1/2 behind the Rays for the Division lead, and extended their Wild Card lead to 2 1/2 games over the Twins, and 6 games over the Yankees.

Interesting match up tonight in the Bronx. Paul Byrd is no serious threat to the Yankees. They have had their way with Byrd in the past, but Byrd has been known to step up in big games, which would be nice to see tonight. Meanwhile, the Yankees counter with Sidney Ponson, who got roughed up in his last outing against the Blue Jays, and also got roughed up the last time he faced the Red Sox. This one, on paper, does not look like a classic pitcher's duel. Don't be surprised if this one comes down to the bullpens.

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Yankees Suffer Amnesia - Forget How To Lose

Well, winning 8 games in a row since the All Star Break is a nice way to get yourself back into the playoff mix. The Yankees have been kind to the Red Sox fans the past couple of years by starting off the season slow, sluggish, and appearing to be done for. They give Sox fans a chance to boast, thump their chest, and proclaim how the mighty Yankees have fallen and they are now the king of the roost. Then, the All Star Break comes around and the Yankees begin their attack. Remember how that 20+ game lead last year melted like butter left out in the sun?

So, what can you say about yesterday's game, a 10-3 loss at home? Well, it looked like it was going to be a Red Sox day when Big Papi drove in his first run since returning from the DL in the first inning. After 1 inning the Sox had a 2-0 lead, and it looked like Andy Pettitte was going to have an early day. But, Pettitte is no 20 year old rookie. He just took a deep breath, adjusted his approach a bit, and went back to work shutting down the Sox until JD Drew's solo home run in the 6th inning. The Sox offense, since the break, has looked no more potent than the lowly Devil Rays (Oh wait, that was just a habit. Change that to the Royals and let's keep going...). Since the break, the offense has only scored 4 runs once, and less than 4 in every other outing. They just cannot get a rally going! Part of that may be the slump of Jacoby Ellsbury who does a great job of clogging the bases, but overall, they get a hit here and a hit there only. In other words, "here a hit, there a hit", but never, "everywhere a hit, hit".

So what went well? Not much. The Yankees were held in check for a spell, but continually put pressure on Tim Wakefield until he finally started to crumble in the 6th. Justin Masterson came in and threw some very nifty pitches with impressive movement on them. However, the Yankees fouled those off and waited for the ones that weren't as tricky to hit. Masterson faced 3 batters, gave up 3 hits, and took a seat.

So, yesterday we discussed whether or not Joba Chamberlain intentionally threw at Kevin Youkilis. I think we got part of the answer yesterday, specifically in the 8th inning. With two outs, and runners on 1st and 3rd, Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate. If a team is going to throw at an opposing player in retaliation, and to send a message that they will not be pushed around, they will try to pick a premier player on the other team, right? Okay, A-Rod fits that criteria. They'll also tend to do it late in the game, especially if the score is out of control. Check. With runners on 1st and 3rd, a smart move might have been to walk A-Rod to take the bat out of their best hitter's hands and create a force play at any base situation. Well, if you are going to put him on base intentionally....

So, with one ball and no strikes, Craig Hansen threw a 98 mph fastball right at A-Rod's arm (wisely not going right for the head like Joba did). A-Rod got nailed in the arm and hopped around in pain. Clearly an intentional pitch. So, what does a team do when their best player just got intentionally nailed by a 98 mph pitch in a game where all they are trying to do is play good, solid baseball? They get pissed off, the batter throws a few choice words out to the pitcher and begins marching out to extract his pound of flesh. The bench empties and the bullpen pitchers come running in to help. If no punches are thrown, there is at least some serious posturing, swearing, and shoving. Remember the situation with the Rays? Coco gets hit - fight ensues. You get the idea.

What happened yesterday? A-Rod winced in pain, shook it off, and took first base. The guys in the dugout never even flinched, and the guys in the bullpen remained seated. Two possible reasons for that. One is that the Yankees can't stand A-Rod and are glad someone plunked him with a pitch and wish they were allowed to do the same. I know, that could be the real reason. But, the second reason would be that they knew their guy was wrong throwing at Youk, and by allowing A-Rod to get drilled without even a nasty look is conceding that they were owed that one. And before you go commenting that a third reason might be that the Yankees are good sports and simply won't stoop to that level, don't embarrass yourself, that reason just would not fit.

Hansen did a fantastic job of plunking A-Rod (many pitchers completely botch the revenge pitch), but rather than firing him up, and got his knees rattling. Hansen went on to walk in a run, and then gave up a double to let the game get completely out of hand. So, if you need a pitcher to deliver a message, you can let Hansen do it, just pull him from the game after that.

The Red Sox ace of 2008, Jon Lester, takes the mound today to end the losing streak. A task Lester is definitely up for. The Yankees counter with beach brawler, Sidney Ponson. Ponson has a tough time at Fenway with a 2-4 record and a 7.16 ERA. Time to put a W on the board and get the ship pointed in the right direction again!

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)