Behind The Box Score

In baseball’s biggest rivalry the games are usually down to the wire, and show a great display of pitching and hitting. For the most recent series between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the aforementioned statement was false as all Boston could muster was eight runs the entire series, measily compared to New York’s 25. The pitching als wasn’t spectacular for the Red Sox, as the staff blew Friday’s game and gave up back to back bombs in last night’s matchup to go back to Boston with a big “L.”

Starting with the offensive attack, Mark Teixeira lead out the charge, going 2-4 with a HR and another RBI. Teixeira’s home run came at the right time, with the Yankees deadlocked 2-2, only two pitches removed from Johnny Damon’s HR to tie it. Daniel Bard hung a high curveball that Tex punished deep into the New York night. That would prove to be the game winner as the Yankees piled on two more runs in the inning to take a commanding 5-2 lead, a three run lead that Mariano Rivera would not give up, picking up his 32nd save on the season.

The starting pitching for each team was phenomenal as Andy Pettitte and Jon Lester duked it out. Pettitte threw seven scoreless innings, only allowing five hits but striking out four. Lester, who coming into the game was 2-0 in three decisions against the Yankees, also threw seven strong, allowing a run on five hits, striking out seven. For New York, just to get Lester out of the game with a lead was key, as the Bronx Bombers torched the bullpen for four runs in just one inning, a bullpen hurting from the loss of Justin Masterson, a lights out pitcher in the Cleveland pen who was dealt for Victor Martinez. Martinez on the other hand has been struggling as of late, only going 1-4 last night to drop his average to .286. Martinez did homer off of Phil Coke in the eighth which gave the Sox a temporary lead, but was quickly taken away with the superhero antics of Johnny Damon and Teixeira.

Now holding a 6.5 game lead of the Red Sox, the Yankees can relatively “cruise” into the playoffs if they can continue to play ball at their current level and use the advantages of Yankee Stadium. For Boston, they will need to step up as the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays are hot on their tail. Texas is a half game back and Tampa is only two and a half. Boston’s next series is with Texas, a team that took two out of three last time they played. With their best pitchers going down in New York, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buccholz, Texas could use their big bats to slid into the Wild Card slot. Tampa, a team that owns the Sox as of late could also make a big push. In baseball, anything is possible so it remains to be seen what the rest of the season holds for both teams.

For a city that never sleeps, the Yankee pitching put the Boston bats to rest early in the series and the results showed as the Bronx Bombers took all four games. So Sox fans, watch out the rest of the season. When you thought that you couldn’t beat Tampa but could always rely on New York, that is no longer the case as the Yankees just destroyed you. Hope for Victor to play like he did in Cleveland or the season may end early for the Ped Sox.