That's the most horrible thing I've ever seen.
Just as Saturday’s game favored the Yankees on paper, Sunday’s game favored the Red Sox on paper. Boston was putting on the mound, who is in the middle of an excellent season and has demolished the Yankees this year. The Bombers were countering with junk baller extraordinaire Freddy Garcia, who has had a fantastic year so far for the Yankees, but had been awful against Boston heading into the game. On paper this had the makings of an easy Boston victory. Instead, it was a nail biter from start to finish.
Neither pitcher gave his team length, but was effective over a short period of time. Garcia gave the Yankees just five innings of work, but allowed only a single run on five hits and three walks with just one strike out. Garcia’s most important inning was the second, when the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs. At that moment, it looked like the teams were going to play this one to the script and Boston was about to get ahead of the Yankees early. Instead, Garcia limited the damage to a run on a single. He would pitch into and out of trouble the rest of his brief start, but that was the only damage he allowed.
Beckett, meanwhile, gave a vintage performance. He was dominant, allowing just one run on six hits and two walks with five strike outs, but, as is his norm, he didn’t give Boston length, leaving after just six innings and he … took … forever … between … pitches. (Beckett worked so slowly that the ESPN announcing crew was openly asking whether or not MLB would begin to force him to speed up at some point in the near future.) For a time it looked like Beckett wasn’t going to allow a single run. had a loud out to with a runner on second, while hit one to deep center, just in front of the 420 feet sign, but that was it. Then, after was gunned out in the fifth stretching a single into a double Eduardo Nunez lifted a high fly ball over the Monster to tie the game.
The bullpens were in charge from the seventh inning onwards and Boston’s flinched first. started the sixth inning and after getting two quick outs he gave up a booming homer to , one of his three hits, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. (For those scoring at home, yes, the Yankees got two homers in this game from Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner.) The Yankees would threaten further in the inning, loading the bases with on the mound. , however, would ground out to end the threat.
pitched a perfect seventh for the Yankees. took over in the eighth and got and to strike out. Things got a little tight when made it all the way to third base on wild curveballs that got past Martin after reaching on a single, but popped out to end the threat. The Yankees turned things over to with a one run lead in the bottom of the ninth. Mo proceeded to blow the save. Marco Scutaro led off with a double off the Monster, on a hit that may have been a homer in another ball park before moved Scutaro to third on a sacrifice bunt. Dustin Pedroia got Scutaro home on a sac fly before grounded out to end the inning. The Red Sox lit up in the tenth to walk off with the win.
Speaking as a fan, this was a crushing loss. The Yankees were two outs away from stealing their second close victory in Beantown and heading into an off day with sole possession of first place. Instead, the Red Sox rallied late and came away with an uplifting victory of their own against the greatest relief pitcher of all time. There are, however, a few silver linings to this story. The biggest is that the Yankees have done all this without . There is no doubt that the team is better when he’s healthy. He’ll be back soon to give the offense a boost. Furthermore, while the Yankees often looked helpless against the Sox earlier this season, this time the Bombers came two outs away from a series win, indicating that they can hang with their rivals. Finally, the Yankees are just one game out. The season is far from over.
Monday is an off day for the Pinstripes. The Angels come into town on Tuesday for a three game set. gets the ball for the Halos, while is now scheduled to start in place of Phil Hughes.
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Not much confidence in Colon or Garcia facing the Sox in the playoffs. At this point I’d prefer to keep the 6 man rotation going so we don’t lose an option for the playoffs.
I hear you although both pitched adequately this weekend. The Yankees didn’t lose because of anything Colon/Garcia did or didn’t do. They lost because Sabathia sucked (again) against the Red Sox and the team’s offense went MIA last night.
They didn’t kill us, that’s for sure, but Colon couldn’t even get to 5 innings and Garcia was lucky he did. I just hope if it comes to using Garcia in the playoffs it’ll be against Cleveland
Length is preferrable to shorter outings, to be sure. But in neither case did Colon’s/Garcia’s lack of length impact the team. Our bullpen did the job very well and as long as Soriano is going to be healthy and effective, the Yankees only need to worry about how the sixth inning plays out. Thus far it seems like Cory Wade/Boone Logan can get those three outs while Soriano/Robertson get the six outs to Mo.
Nothing sucks more than:
1. Wasting over four hours of my life for such a dissapointing end;
2. Watching Mo blow a save to these d-bags; or
3. Seeing the horrendous RISP-fail monster rear its ugly head.
It was only one inning (and it was in relief) but Hughes didn’t look good last night. To reiterate from several threads last week: the starting rotation competition shouldn’t be declared over just because Burnett pitched poorly and Hughes/Nova pitched well. All three are pitchers with warts. Right now, Nova looks to be the best option but, certainly, Hughes/Burnett will never be confused for mainstays of consistency. Burnett/Hughes/Nova should all continue to justify their existence in a three-for-two competition.
Not only did Mo blow the save, but it seemed to happen in exactly 4 seconds. My question now that Posada and his 13 million seem to have been relegated to the bench, when is it Jesus time?
Under the circumstances, Colon and Garcia pitched well. The Yankees want to keep both on strict 100 pitch counts. That will prevent either of them from giving the team length against an offense like Boston’s, but both were effective in their outings, particularly Freddy.
Hughes looked awful. I’ll be curious to see how they manage this moving forward.
It would’ve been nice for Cano and Tex to show up. Especially Cano, he was 1 for 11 this series…
At least Cano has done damage vs. Boston before. Other than Teixeira’s 3-HR game vs. Boston in May 2010, I can’t think of too many other instances where he’s done anything vs. Boston.
I could be wrong but I just can’t think of too many good games from Teixeira, especially at Fenway.
Yeah, Tex was not on, but don’t forget the dive-snag he made: defense really matters. Freddy is ready, but they will hit it, and he needs good support.
Mike, I appreciate your silver linings. If Alex were there at third, Mo would have gotten Scutaro dead. Nunie gave, and he took away, but the lesson was probably learned, like the bunts rolling down the line. Don’t think he played much third in the past. He has the makings for a superb sub.