NEW YORK – The first five games of the 2009 installment of The Rivalry for the Yankees and the Red Sox has been like a boxing match that took place in Las Vegas this past weekend.
Boston is playing the role of Manny Pacquiao.
New York is playing the role of Ricky Hatton.
The Yankees have been knocked down repeatedly. Sometimes being knocked senseless and even may have had the ten count administered.
For the fifth time this season, the Red Sox (17-10) took down their archrivals 7-3, sweeping series in both Fenway Park and the new Yankee Stadium, and in the process exposed every conceivable flaw that this current Yankee team possesses.
The starting pitching, while having its occasional moments of brilliance, still shows leaks.
The offense, unable to string together enough hits, and still failing to deliver with runners in scoring position.
The bullpen, as it has all season, showed once again to be the team’s biggest weakness without a doubt.
Anyone clamoring for the return of Brian Bruney or the shifting of Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen will have to wait.
Chamberlain electrified the crowd through his 5 2/3 innings of work, striking out a career high 12.
However, his beginning should get more attention than his ending when he was removed by Joe Girardi, who was serenaded by a stadium full chorus of boos for making the move.
He served what appeared to be batting practice to the first five Red Sox hitters. Lacking velocity and command, he would give up successive singles to Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. David Ortiz continued to find his stroke by driving home Ellsbury on a single to center field.
Chamberlain was throwing an array off-speed pitches and had yet to harness his fastball. On a 2-1 count to Jason Bay, he would use it and Bay would deposit it into the left field seats for a three-run homer. Mike Lowell would then follow with a single.
Certifying himself as a Yankee killer, Bay is 10 for 20 with three homeruns and an on base percentage of .652.
After that point, Chamberlain became a different pitcher. His velocity on the fastball rose, and mixing in his slider, curveball and changeup, he would overpower the Boston lineup from the second inning on. 12 of the remaining 20 hitters he would face struck out, including nine of them looking.
For Josh Beckett, four runs would be enough to carry the day. After struggling his last two starts, the big right-hander grinded through the game not having his best stuff.
In the third inning, he gave up a three-run homer to Johnny Damon that cut the lead to 4-3. After that, he would hold the Yankees scoreless through the final three innings. He was aided by a great defensive relay on a double into the right field corner by Melky Cabrera in the bottom of the fourth inning.
On the play, the ball went into the corner and Cabrera on his way to second base made the decision to go for a triple with one out. J.D Drew found the cutoff man, and Pedroia made a great relay throw to third base to gun down Cabrera for the second out of the inning. This would come back to haunt the team on the very next at bat, Ramiro Pena’s ground ball went under the glove of first baseman Jeff Bailey and trickled into right field, which would have scored Cabrera had he not attempted to take third. Jose Molina would strike out to end the inning.
With the rain pouring in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Yankees mounted their greatest threat of the night. Trailing 4-3, Nick Swisher walked with one out and Cabrera would hit a ground-rule double into left field that one-hopped into the seats. The play was eerily reminiscent of Tony Clark’s double that bounced into the first row at Fenway Park in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
Beckett was on the ropes. The problem was that the two hitters he was going to faced were Pena and Molina, glorified AAA hitters at best. Pena would strike out on a pitch seven inches out of the zone after being up 2-0 in the count. Molina (playing for Jorge Posada, who was placed on the DL with a hamstring injury) once again though would ground out to end the threat for the second time with a runner in scoring position.
For the series, the Yankees batted just .150 with men in scoring position.
In his six innings, Beckett gave up just those three runs, 10 hits, walking one and striking out five on 108 pitches.
Boston added insurance in the top of the eighth against the struggling bullpen. They loaded the bases with one out against Jonathan Albaladejo with Jason Varitek at the plate. With two strikes, his breaking pitch found too much of the plate and he hit a sac fly to center. This was followed up by an RBI single that Nick Green punched into shallow right.
Game over.
In the ninth, recent call up Mark Melancon came on and walked the bases loaded and had to be removed when he reached a 2-0 count against Lowell. David Robertson came in and struck out Lowell, got Drew to fly out to shallow left, but walked Jeff Bailey on a close 3-2 pitch to give Boston their seventh run.
The bullpen in its 3 1/3 innings were awful giving up three runs (one earned) and five walks utilizing six relievers.
Tomorrow night, AJ Burnett takes the ball for the Yanks as they host the Tampa Bay Rays, facing Andy Sonnanstine.
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