Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition - Getting Up Off Deck

Mets battle back to salvage weekend

FLUSHING – Sometimes in our insulated baseball world called New York, it feels as if we are playing more than just a baseball season.

Many times, it seems if we are playing 162 one-game seasons with each night feeling as if it were Game 7 of the World Series.

The scrutiny around all of these games creates an incredible amount of pressure where losing is damn near unacceptable and losing more than three in a row can constitute a “crisis”.

For the Mets, they have played what amounts to three seasons in one. The up-and-down nature of their year has turned into nothing but one long roller coaster destined to end either with a spectacular thrill or a head first dive with far reaching franchise ramifications.

After losing a hard fought first game on Friday, the Mets recovered to win the final two games to win the season’s opening round of the Subway Series. The win pulled them one game under .500 as they attempt to battle their way out of the current logjam that is the National League East.

While the Yankees may be further out in their division to the Tampa Bay Rays (six games) than the Mets are to the Philadelphia Phillies (three and a half games), it is the team wearing orange and blue that seems to be one bad streak away from disaster.

For now, they will take it day-by-day.

When they were 4-8, there were already proclamations that the season was over.

A stunning run where they won nine of their next ten games vaulted them into first place. Happy days were back at Citi Field.

They went to Citizens Bank Park against their rivals from Philadelphia looking to send a message, but it was the Phillies sending it. They rocked Johan Santana for 10 runs in a nationally televised Sunday night game.

Two weeks ago, they were four games over, but a stretch of losing 10 of their next 13 brought another twist to their already whirlwind season.

The offense could not hit. Jose Reyes was in a severe funk. Jason Bay had a sudden power outage, aided in part to the dimensions of his new ballpark. Add in David Wright striking out nearly once every three at-bats and not getting the “big hit” and it all mixed in to make him replace Alex Rodriguez as the most scrutinized baseball player currently playing in New York.

Over the course of five days, the Mets have only two reliable pitchers. When Santana and Mike Pelfrey pitch, he gives the team their best chance to win. After that, all they can do is hope and pray. John Maine has become a mental patient. Oliver Perez is even worse, and with no fifth starter after Jon Niese’s injury, they have to dig into their minor leagues to someone, anyone who can go a few innings without “pulling a Perez or Maine”.

Yet somehow, after all of this carnage, the blame for this was going on to manager Jerry Manuel, who would have been on the firing block particularly if the Yankees swept them this weekend.

Are you serious?

Certainly, it cannot be his fault for Wright’s strikeout rate or Bay’s loss of power (before his two-homerun output on Sunday) and Reyes’ inability to get on base. Did you think he expected to have Rod Barajas to lead the team in homeruns?

Mind you that is before only having 40 percent of a rotation that one could consider “reliable” before crossing ones fingers in hopes that his overworked bullpen can get at most the final nine outs of the ballgame.

This is a team before the season had its flaws and holes not fixed during the winter. Anyone who thought Maine or Perez would be reasonable contributors considering their injury history (Maine) or complete ineptness (Perez) was doomed to failure.

A change in manager is not going to make Wright hit better. He cannot make up for Luis Castillo’s dead corpse at second base or make Bay hit more homeruns. The idea of “lighting a fire” is silly on its own merit and suggests that someone else in the dugout will flip a proverbial “switch”.

None of that is going to happen.

This weekend, it was Pelfrey and Santana who led them.

This weekend, it was Bay and Wright that provided the offensive punch previous missing for most of the season.

This weekend, it was a tired bullpen, overworked from many bad starts by the remaining three pitchers finding enough strength to get those final few outs when the Yankees attempted to rally from sizeable deficits.

This weekend, they made a stand.

For now, this is the team they are going to have for better or worse.

In the down National League, barring a complete collapse, they will be in contention for a playoff spot all season as the other contenders (whoever they may be) all are no better than the Mets are.

They will wait for the return of Carlos Beltran and see if he can be the same player he was prior to injury.

Perhaps they can swing a deal for a top-flight starting pitcher they did not get this past off-season.

Going wire-to-wire to the playoffs will not happen for this team. Instead, they will face a daily grind, with each game bringing drama.

Whether they play meaningful games in September is still to be determined. For now, they have put out another mini brush fire.

Right up until the next one starts back up.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Mets State of Mind

Sabathia hammered, comeback falls short in ninth

FLUSHING – For as awful as the Yankees played for the first seven innings, it was almost amazing that they still had a chance to steal the game at the end.

However, there they were, trailing by five runs at the beginning of the ninth inning in what looked to be a ho-hum loss and suddenly having a chance with the go-ahead run at the plate.

It was Alex Rodriguez with a chance to give the Yankees the lead facing Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in battle to see who would break first.

In the end, it was the Mets Rodriguez winning battle, striking out the Yankees Rodriguez with a curveball that he swung over to win the eight-pitch battle and giving the Mets a 6-4 victory in front a 41.422 at Citi Field to win the first round of the Subway Series.

Prior to the ninth inning, the Yankees string of bad play continued from the previous day. Unfortunately, for the second day in a row, they were unable to pull
off another miracle.

They were put in the hole early by their ace CC Sabathia, who in a battle with cross town ace Johan Santana, allowed the Mets offense to get started early and often.

After battling out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning to escape without giving up a run, Sabathia was not so lucky in the next frame. Rod Barajas led off with a double, but then Jeff Francoeur and Santana struck out. Jose Reyes lifted a bloop single to left center, but Barajas could not score when Kevin Russo’s throw came to the plate. The ball skipped off catcher Francisco Cervelli’s glove, allowing Reyes to move to second.

After getting two strikes on Alex Cora, a close 1-2 pitch was called a ball. With the count now 2-2, Cora would single to right center to drive home two runs to give the Mets the lead.

Jason Bay would then follow with a two-run blast over the wall in left to increase the margin to 4-0. For Bay, it was his only his second homerun of the season and first since April 27.

Having that cushion was more than enough for Santana, who if you eliminate his 10-run outing against the Phillies, would sport a 2.25 ERA for the season. The Yankees early threat came in the third when after two singles by Sabathia and Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner (0-for-4 and 0-for-13 in the series) hit in to double play and Mark Teixeira fouled out to end the inning.

Bay continued his hot hitting by crushing another Sabathia pitch over the right center field wall to make it 5-0. It was Bay’s sixth hit in his last six plate appearances going back to Saturday when he went 4-for-4 in the Mets 5-3 win.

After an Ike Davis single, David Wright would double him home to make the lead a half-dozen, a lead Santana would take into the seventh before the Yankees finally got their first run of the game when Cervelli hit an RBI single off the top of the left field wall.

The ball hit the top of the orange line, which is to delineate between a ball in play, or out of the park. Umpires initially ruled it in play and Cervelli, thinking it was a homerun, trotted out of the batter’s box before pointing to the wall to alert that the ball should have been out. After review, the play on the field stood and only one run was on the board.

In the eighth, the Yankees threatened again. With Santana still in the game, he walked Marcus Thames to start the inning. Jeter reached on a fielder’s choice and Gardner lined out to Wright. Teixeira would then single to center and Rodriguez worked a walk to load the bases. That would signal the end of Santana’s night and Pedro Feliciano was brought into to put out the sudden fire, which he would do by getting Robinson Cano to pop out to end the inning.

The Yankees would stage their rally in the ninth with the help of another leadoff walk, this time to Nick Swisher. Cervelli would then single to right and after Russo reached on a fielder’s choice, pinch hitter Juan Miranda’s RBI single made it 6-2.

Francisco Rodriguez came in to clean up the mess, but Jeter (3-for-5) would take his hanging curveball and hit it off the wall for a double to trim the lead to 6-3. An RBI groundout by Gardner got the Yankees to within two. Teixeira would then reach on a high infield chop to give Rodriguez a chance to win the game with one swing before striking out.

It was the Yankees second straight series loss, and they have lost five of their last six overall as they fell to six games behind the Rays in the AL East.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Phil loses battle

Hughes struggles putting Mets away

FLUSHING – The clock began to tick on Phil Hughes in the sixth inning.

Two men were out and Angel Pagan was on third base for the Mets leading 3-1 in a game that was more than in reach for a Yankees comeback despite their offensive futility against starter Mike Pelfrey.

For the young Yankee right-hander, the season began with him almost toying with the rest of the league. As late as his last start on Monday against the Red Sox he stood at 5-0 with an ERA of 1.38.

However, it was in that start when Hughes showed some chinks in his previously invincible armor.
Given a five run cushion after one-inning, he allowed Boston to work a number of tough at-bats before finally reaching base.

Finally, by the fifth inning, he got two outs on three pitches and with a 5-2 lead, was well on his way to another victory. Instead, he gave up the lead on a single, double and homerun to trim the margin to 6-5, raise his pitch count over 100 and effectively ending his night.

The last thing a pitcher needs to do to make the jump to elite greatness is to have the ability to minimize damage and not allow a team to harm you by scoring runs with two outs.

Allowing the other team to extend an inning begins a cycle of events that all lead to an eventual bad result.

It forces the pitcher to throw more pitches, the equivalent of taking away bullets from a gun. The more you throw in these spots, the less likely you will be pitching later in a game. In addition, the two-out, run-scoring hit is the most back-breaking for a team knowing all they needed was one more out before going back into the dugout.

Saturday at Citi Field, Hughes started strong in the first inning by getting the first two hitters. Then a double by Jason Bay and walk to rookie Ike Davis gave the Mets a chance. David Wright and Angel Pagan would make him pay with back-to-back run-scoring singles to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

For Hughes, it was an inning that could have seen him throw 11 pitches (before Bay’s double) to get three outs and instead, saw him throw 25.

Fast forward two innings and again, Hughes retires Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo for the first two outs. Having Bay down in the count 1-2, he gives up a single to keep the inning going.

Another walk to Davis followed and with Wright up again, he came through again with another two-out run-scoring hit to make it 3-0 turning what could have been another potential 11 pitch inning (before the Bay single) into a 21-pitch affair, leaving him with close to 60 pitches to get the game’s first nine outs.

In the sixth, Hughes pitch count stood at 91, but the score was manageable only down two. The Yankees had just scraped to get a run off Mike Pelfrey in the previous inning and holding them scoreless would give the team momentum.

Angel Pagan worked a nine-pitch at-bat for a double. Then Hughes got Rod Barajas to groundout and Jeff Francoeur to strike out, leaving him needing to get one more out to leave the game with a quality start.

A low pitch count inning could have brought him back for the seventh if it was not for Pagan winning that long battle. Now it was on him to empty the tank.

Alex Cora would pinch hit for Pelfrey and Hughes quickly jumped ahead 0-2. A ball and two fouls extended the count and then the light hitting second baseman grounded a single to right to score Pagan and give the Mets a three-run margin again.

It was pitch number 117 on the night and would be his last. Joe Girardi came to the mound and took the ball from his starter. Hughes threw an astounding 75 percent of his pitches for strikes (88-for-117), but many of them were hittable strikes.

What could have been a strong seven or eight inning outing shrank to only 5 2/3 grinding innings and his highest pitch count total of the year.

In the end, it was his first loss of the season. More than that, it was a learning experience. Knowing that when has a team down in an inning, he cannot let them up and give them extra life.

Consider it just another step in his maturation progress.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Bay-side high

Bay’s four hits help pace Mets past Hughes, Yanks

FLUSHING – Nothing is worse for a pitcher than giving up a run when men are in scoring position and there are two outs.

Just ask Phil Hughes.

Four times during the game, Hughes had a chance to escape an inning without giving up a run.

All four times, the Mets got a key two-out run scoring hit to swing momentum.

Those key hits, along with a combination of strong pitching by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey and three innings of solid relief paced the Orange and Blue to a 5-3 victory in the second game of the weekend series in front of 41,343 at Citi Field.

The Yankees had their chances, but continued their struggles with runners in scoring position for the second straight day going 1-for-12, stranding seven runners on base after the seventh inning.

Scoring those runs would have taken Hughes off the hook, but instead the results gave the Yankee right-hander his first loss of the season (5-1) as the team lost for the fourth time in the last five games.

After the Yankees did not score after mounting a two-out rally in the first, Hughes was on the verge of cruising to a 1-2-3 inning of his own. He got the first two outs before Jason Bay doubled and Ike Davis walked. With the struggling David Wright up and a 2-2, Hughes cutter came toward the middle of the plate and Wright sliced it to center for an RBI single to give the Mets the early lead. Angel Pagan would then follow with a shallow single to left to score Davis from second to increase the lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the third, Hughes once again got the first two outs but then gave up another single and walk to Bay and Davis. Wright came up with his second run-scoring hit of the day when another single to center to give the Mets a three-run lead.

With the lead, Pelfrey went to work, shutting down the Yankees for five shutout innings. In the sixth, the offense mounted a rally of their own after the first two were out.

Robinson Cano singled and Nick Swisher would follow with a double. Francisco Cervelli would then reach on an infield single off the glove of Pelfrey to score Cano and put the Yankees on the board.

At 3-1, Hughes once again was an out away for keeping the score within reach. Pagan led off with a double, but after he got Rod Barajas to ground out and struck out Jeff Francoeur, Alex Cora would deliver a single through the hole on the right side of the infield to give the Mets a 4-1 cushion and end Hughes’ night.

The 117 pitch out was Hughes’ longest of the season, giving up four runs (all earned), eight hits, walking three and striking out seven to increase his ERA to 2.72.

Pelfrey countered with six strong innings, giving up a run on six hits, walking two and striking out five over 108 pitches.

To begin the seventh, the Yankees got the first two men on for the heart of the order against reliever Jenrry Mejia. However, Brett Gardner grounded out and Mark Teixeira struck out on a nasty sinking fastball. With two outs, Alex Rodriguez would ground out to third ending the threat and allowing the Mets to counter by coming through with another two-out RBI shit, this time again by Pagan, who would double to left scoring Bay to make it 5-1.

The Yankees mounted their best comeback attempt in the eighth when with lefty Pedro Feliciano in the game; they would load the bases with no one out.

Cano had singled to center and Nick Swisher reached on a hit batsmen. Cervelli would then single to right to bring the tying run to the plate.

Pinch hitter Juan Miranda struck out, but Kevin Russo worked a walk after being down 0-2 to score a run. This brought Francisco Rodriguez came out of the bullpen for a five-out save, only the second time he has done that this season.

Derek Jeter would reach on a fielder’s choice to score another run to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Gardner would ground out sharply to third, ending the threat.

Rodriguez worked himself into trouble in the ninth. After Teixeira struck out again, Rodriguez would single to left. Cano then grounded out to the mound and Swisher singled to right to put the tying runs aboard with Cervelli representing the go-ahead run. However, the Mets Rodriguez struck him out on a breaking ball to end the game.

With the series even, the rubber match will pit both teams’ aces. CC Sabathia starts for the Yankees and Johan Santana starts for the Mets.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Javy finds himself

Vazquez effort surprises all

FLUSHING – No matter what takes place the rest of the weekend in the Subway Series, the Yankees can already claim their weekend a success.

They won the game last night, a tough 2-1 hang-on decision over the Mets at Citi Field. However, the biggest story came from the performance of the pitcher on the mound.

Here was Javier Vazquez, a pitcher in search of building back his confidence torn apart by an atrocious beginning to his season where his ERA soared near ten and a fan base and (drive by) media already calling him a bust, unable to handle the pressure that comes with being a Yankee.

It got so bad the team looked out for his “best interest” by nothing pitching him in Fenway Park two weeks ago. Instead, he would start In Detroit and threw seven strong innings, giving up only two runs in a Yankee loss.

On Monday, the team called for him to come out of the bullpen because no one else was available and he struck out Kevin Youkilis and became the winning pitcher when the offense rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth against Jonathan Papelbon.

Now here he was on the mound starting at Citi Field in New York’s showcase series where all of the eyes would be on him. Failure here against a struggling Mets offense, a low-middle class National League offense and he might of wanted to book his flight for Siberia.

Vazquez would respond.

For six innings, he was nearly unhittable and the hit that he gave up was a shallow bloop to center by Angel Pagan.

He was so good he probably could have gone the distance, buy on a bunt attempt in the seventh inning in which the Yankees had finally broke through to take a 2-0 lead, it was Vazquez finding out that his night would end.

He squared to bunt and fouled it off. On the next pitch, he got the bunt down to move the runner over. On the way back to the dugout, he shook his hand and removed his batting glove, what he found was a finger that was bleeding and in need of healing.

Night over.

It took away from his magnificent performance. From the outset, Vazquez pitched like a man in control, having belief in everything he was doing on the mound.

Effective pitching comes from confidence and mental stability, two things the Yankees enigmatic right-hander did not have during the month of April.

He had no conviction in any of his pitches. The decreased velocity in his fastball clearly altered his mindset. With that, the crispness of his other pitches suffered.

Perhaps that break several weeks ago was the best thing for him. A chance to clear his mind and get back to the things that made him among the decade’s most consistent pitchers as opposed to the man we have seen as dispirited, lost and at other times, confused.

Two strikeouts in the first inning Friday night set the tone. Two more in the second served notice that was here and ready for this stage. All of the prior stuff about not being able to pitch under the “bright lights” was going for nothing.

You waited for that patch in the game where “Bad Javy” would appear, knowing it is always around the corner where his game crashes oh so suddenly.

His only hiccup was that he walked light-hitting Alex Cora twice, certainly not the man in the scouting report you expect to beat you. However, for the first four innings, no Mets player reached base beside him.

Pagan finally singled with one out in the fifth to take away any possibilities that this could be an historic and shocking night. Any possible trouble ended one pitch later when Rod Barajas quickly grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The sixth saw the Mets once again go quietly. Despite not touching more than 91 MPH on the radar gun, it was his placement of the fastball that made him effective and having hitters swing-and-miss. His curveball and slider had bite to it. When he wanted to throw his changeup, he would have hitters far out in front.

His last pitch to Jose Reyes of the night was a pop up to short that Derek Jeter caught. It was only his 69th pitch of the evening as the Mets went up to the plate swinging quickly and returning to the bench just as fast.

The final line was impressive. Six innings and one hit with six strikeouts. Even though he would not return because of the bruise on the finger, he could leave with only positive thoughts knowing that he is indeed capable of this performance.

For the Yankees, this was like a gift from the heavens.

For Vazquez, it was his way of saying he still has plenty of game left in that right arm of his.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition - Starring role

Yanks get six strong from Vazquez, hold on to beat Mets

FLUSHING – Maybe this is the start of good things to come from Javier Vazquez.

The Yankees would like to say it is more a continuation of his past performance.

All of it, except the ending.

For the third straight outing, Vazquez delivered a solid performance, earning his third consecutive victory as the Yankees need one big hit and then had to hang on for a close 2-1 decision over the Mets in front of 41,382 at Citi Field.

Vazquez, the pitcher much maligned in New York for his poor outings this season and skipped two weeks ago to avoid facing the Red Sox at Fenway Park, appears to have turned the corner, hurling six shutout innings allowing only one scratch hit before a bruise to his pitching hand on a bunt attempt.

Replays showed that injury took place on the attempt before he effectively laid the bunt down. On the return to the dugout, he shook his hand slightly in pain. Upon removing the glove, Manager Joe Girardi and the training staff noticed blood coming from his right finger profusely and immediately removed him from the game.

Taking him out was an incredibly tough decision considering the way he was pitching during the game, dominating Mets hitters to where when Jose Reyes popped up to Derek Jeter with to end the sixth inning, he had only thrown 69 pitches for the evening.

They would need all of those scoreless on this night against Hisanori Takahashi, making his first career major league start.

Takahashi held the Yankees scoreless through the first two before mounting a threat in third when they got the first two men on with no outs. Vazquez’s first sacrifice of the game was followed by Jeter striking out and Brett Gardner grounding out to end the inning.

Another scoring chance went by the very next inning when with runners on second and third and one out, Nick Swisher struck out and Francisco Cervelli flied out to center to keep the game scoreless.

Takahashi threw six scoreless innings of his own, giving up only five hits, walking only one and striking out five over 101 pitches.

Finally, the Yankees broke through in the seventh with some generous Mets fielding. With call-up Elmer Dessens in the game, Swisher singled to center and then Cervelli’s slow groundball fielded by Cora sailed past Reyes into left field allowing runners to move to second and third.

This brought up Kevin Russo, a native of West Babylon, making his first major league start. He got his first hit back in the third, but in the seventh, he would drive in his first runs when he took a 1-0 hanging slider and drove it down the line into the corner for a two-run double to give the Yankees the first runs of the game.

The Mets tried to mount a comeback in the bottom half when Cora singled to left and Ike Davis reached on a throwing error to first by Cervelli. Girardi removed reliever Damaso Marte and brought in Joba Chamberlain, who would strike out David Wright looking and Pagan to half-swing at a slider in the dirt to end the threat.

Chamberlain would deal 1 2/3 scoreless on the night, striking out three and handing the ball off the Mariano Rivera for what was to be a simple save and Yankees win.

Rivera made it look that way when he got Reyes to fly out and Cora to ground back to the mound.

Jason Bay would then double deep off the top of the wall in left and Davis would double into the right center gap to score him to pull the Mets within a run and brought Wright back to the plate with a chance to tie the game.

Swinging at the first pitch, Wright would hit a routine grounder to Cano to end the game and give the Yankees the first game of the weekend series.

Saturday matches up a pair of young, powerful right-handers as Phil Hughes goes for the Yankees and Mike Pelfrey pitches for the Mets.

Yankee Talk: Rivalry Edition – Long Road Ahead for Sawx

Comeback win by Boston shows heart, but face a struggle

NEW YORK – This was not how the season was to go for the Boston Red Sox.

Going into the year, they built their team on pitching and defense, knowing that their offense would not be the same as it was in previous seasons.

What they did not expect was everything to turn out they it has so far.

Last night, Boston escaped Yankee Stadium with 7-6 victory, rallying from a 5-0 deficit for the second night in a row to take the lead, finally hang on in the ninth when closer Jonathan Papelbon, who gave up a two-run ninth inning lead the previous night when the Yankees scored four runs on two two-run blasts. He blew Randy Winn away with a fastball to give the Red Sox an inspiring win, showing that they have still have a beating pulse inside.

With 20 wins and 20 losses after 40 games this season, the Red Sox look at the standings and see not only the Yankees, but the Tampa Bay Rays growing sizeable leads in the AL East. Both teams right now have the makeup and talent to win nearly 100 games this season.

If that is the case, where does that leave the Red Sox? The team started the season high on quality starting pitching and bullpen depth, but coming up low on season performance.

Surely, they will turn their season around at some point and play good baseball, the question is “When?” And if they do not by a certain point, when do they wave the proverbial “white flag” on their season.

The Yankees will not see the Red Sox against until the first week of August. As they part company for the next ten weeks, the only question that exists is whether Boston will be so far behind that the final ten games of the season will have any meaning at all, or will “The Rivalry” as we know it be reduced to nothing more than overhyped exhibitions.

Actually, the way the last 18 games have played out, the long standing blood feud has been remarkably one-sided.

Last year the Yankees lost the first eight games to the Red Sox. Since then they have won 14 of the last 18 and many of them have not been that close.

The standings may only show a 5 1/2 game difference between the two teams, but in reality, it is much, much more. While the Yankees have their own touch stretch of games currently playing out right now through the end of next week, Boston has 17 games against teams that were in the playoffs last season. To be at .500 after 40 games with 23 of those games at Fenway Park only presents trouble.

Meanwhile the Yankees have played 17 home games so far and have a set of 16 games against the Indians (four), Orioles (six), Blue Jays (three) and Astros (three). Outside of the Blue Jays, the utter incompetence of these teams should serve as a fine elixir for even this depleted Yankee team and allow them to fatten up their record.

Mix in the two and you have a situation the puts Boston far, far out of the race.

Outside of Dustin Pedroia and JD Drew, each position on the field is a question mark.

Victor Martinez cannot effectively catch the pitching staff and has been an open invitation to steal, further putting pressure on the pitchers.

Marco Scutaro can work a count when he comes to the plate, but is in no way the offensive defensive force the Red Sox expected. With two more errors last night, he has not been an upgrade over any previous shortstop they have had in the past not named Edgar Renteria or Julio Lugo.

Once regarded as recently as last year as one the league’s best fielding third basemen, Adrian Beltre suddenly can’t catch anything, giving credence to the thought that he cannot play in Boston.

Jacoby Ellsbury has not been in the lineup due to injury along with Mike Cameron. JD Drew has his moments where he performs to all of his talent and others where he is on the missing person’s list. Right now, he is blistering hot in May, carrying the club on offense, but it is only a matter of time before past history catches up with him.

The much greater concern is the pitching staff that many projected to be the best and deepest in baseball when the season began.

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have held up their end, pitching well.

Newcomer John Lackey has been more than bad. But it has been Daisuke Matzusaka and Josh Beckett that have been downright horrific in the early going.

Add in an inconsistent bullpen and it is a team that has many leaky holes that cannot be covered up instantly without another opening up.

If Beckett is not pitching to his usual self, the Red Sox have zero chance. Add in shaky performances from anyone else, and the team will be kaput by the trade deadline.

Luckily for them it is still early and there are enough games to attempt to make up the already lost ground.

Yankee Talk: Rivalry Edition – Lead and win washed out

Joba gives up lead, Thames drop leads to Sawx comeback


NEW YORK – The Yankees lined everything up properly for the first seven innings.

On a damp, cold night, they held a decisive four-run advantage only to see it disintegrate completely and unable this time to stage another miracle comeback.

Give the Red Sox credit for not laying down and seeing their season fall further into the abyss, rallying from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Yankees 7-6 and salvage a split of the two game series in front of what did not appear to be 47,734 at Yankee Stadium.

The game began 59 minutes after its initial start due to consistent rain. When the game started, many in the crowd either chose not to attend, or utilized the different sections of the ballpark to warm up and watch the game there instead.

Josh Beckett, pounded by the Yankees in his first two outings this season saw an early repeat of his season long struggles. Juan Miranda’s single with the bases loaded opened the scoring. Randy Winn would follow with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0.

In the fourth, Miranda (called up by the Yankees last week) crushed a Beckett fastball into the bullpen in right-center to extend the lead to three. The lead would grow to 5-0 when Robinson Cano doubled home two more runs with a double to the gap in right.

After the play, Red Sox Pitching Coach John Farrell came to the mound and signaled to the bullpen without having a pitcher warmed up. Beckett was never in any apparent pain during the game, but reports later came he suffered from a case of back stiffness.

Beckett gave up five runs (three earned) and five hits over 4 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out six over 101 laborious pitches. His season ERA against the Yankees over 14 2/3 innings is 10.77.

With a five-run lead, that was more than enough for CC Sabathia. Despite a high pitch count in the first three innings, he would settle in, not allowing a run for the first five innings before Kevin Youkilis homered to left to put the Red Sox on the board.

At 5-1, the Yankees had a prime chance to put Boston away in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out against reliever Manny Delcarmen, Brett Gardner hit a hard ground ball to the drawn in infield for the second out and Mark Teixeira popped out to Adrian Beltre in foul territory to end the inning and the threat.

Totaling 20 pitches over the sixth and seventh, Sabathia was in line for his fifth win of the season, his first since May 3. 112 pitches over the seven innings was exactly what the Yankees needed considering their depleted bullpen, giving up one run and four hits, walking three and striking out five.

Joba Chamberlain came into start the eighth. On Sunday, he was the losing pitcher putting the first three runners on base before Mariano Rivera came and allowed the runs to score in the Twins 6-3 win. Here, the inning started with a throwing error by Alex Rodriguez on a ground ball hit by Marco Scutaro that pulled Teixeira off the bag.

Dustin Pedroia would then single to left and then JD Drew would double down the left field line, scoring Scutaro to make it 5-2. Youkilis would then bloop a single into shallow right, scoring bother Pedroia and Drew to trim the lead to just one.

No one warmed up, so it was up to Chamberlain to get out the inning himself. Victor Martinez would swing on 3-0 and grounded out for the first out, but then David Ortiz nearly gave the Red Sox the lead when he drove a pitch off the wall in right center to tie the game. The wind, howling most of the game prevented a go-ahead homerun. Ortiz, not aware of this, slowly trotted out of the box and would be tagged out attempted to make second base.

Rivera started the ninth. After Mike Lowell grounded out, Darnell McDonald singled to center. Scutaro came up and lifted a shallow fly into right. Cano drifted back out while outfielder Marcus Thames came in, as Cano moved off the play, Thames saw the ball fall through him to the ground allowing both runners on.

Pedroia then grounded out, and with Randy Winn playing shallow in left, Jeremy Hermida laced a double over his head that went to the wall, scoring two runs and giving the Red Sox a 7-5 lead.

With the lead, it Jonathan Papelbon would get a second chance to make up for his blown save the previous day.

Rodriguez would reach to lead off the inning when his ground ball when through the glove of Scutaro at short. He would take second on defensive indifference and then scored when Cano would hammer a double inside third down the line to bring the Yankees within a run.

Francisco Cervelli would bunt Cano over to third and Thames worked a walk. Miranda hit a ball hard that with Ramiro Pena (pinch runner) running, Papelbon would snare near the mound to hold the runner at third while Pena moved to second.

It was up to Winn, who would work a lengthy at bat up to 3-2 before Papelbon blew a fastball by him on his 28th pitch of the night to end the game.

For the Yankees, it was their second late game blowup in the last three games.

Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays visit Yankee Stadium for a two game series.

Yankee Talk: Rivalry Edition – Comeback easy as pie

Win shows game is never over with Yanks


NEW YORK – Besides Fenway Park, the toughest final three outs to get in all of baseball is at the ballpark located at 161st and River Avenue.

No team in sports is harder to close out than the New York Yankees.

So even as they went into the bottom of the ninth on Monday against the Red Sox trailing by two runs, there was that inherent belief that the game was not truly over.

Jonathan Papelbon is among the best closers in the league, and even the Yankees have found him difficult to hit despite having once-in-a-while success.

However, as we have seen with this Yankee team, the game is never truly over until you get all 27 outs, and in Yankee Stadium, you can leave nothing to chance.

Just ask the Red Sox.

Monday night brought another chapter of The Rivalry and when it was over, the YES Network had another episode of ‘’Yankees Classics” that they can show at any time when programming gets a little slow in the winter.

The Yankees, once leading this game 5-0 after the first inning with Phil Hughes on the mound, gave the lead back as the Red Sox mounted a furious rally, taking the lead in the eighth inning on a go-ahead homerun by Kevin Youkilis and a second blast of the night by Victor Martinez to lead 9-7.

For the second day in a row, the Yankees blew a late lead and the reeling Red Sox were on the verge of one of their most inspiring wins of their season.

The ball was now in the hands of Papelbon, the rock of the Boston bullpen to get the final three outs.

In the larger scheme, the Yankees with all of their injuries did not need the game as much as the Red Sox. Hovering around .500 with a tough schedule upcoming, they need all the wins they can get.

Brett Gardner led off the inning. His job was simple.

Get on base.

After taking a strike, he worked the count in his favor to 3-1. Looking for the walk, he took another strike, and on 3-2, lifted a fly ball to left field that outfielder Darnell McDonald tried to make a diving catch on and missed. The ball trickled away, allowing Gardner to go to second with a leadoff double.

The team had life and now they had a chance, and that is all you can ask for.

A term I came up with during the season is “clean loss”. Simply put, it is a metric determines how many losses you have had where you have not had the tying run come to the plate with six outs to go in a game.

By this measure, the Yankees have only had four games that you can consider a “clean loss” of the 13 they have lost this season. The other nine times, they have given themselves a chance to either tie or win the game.

As we have said, they have been the toughest “out” in baseball.

Mark Teixeira came up, on 1-1 pitch, got a good swing on a fastball, and drove it near the warning track before JD Drew made the catch for the first out.

Warning signs were in the air. The ball hit by Teixeira was right on the nose and if not for a little lift, it would have been a tied game.

In stepped Alex Rodriguez, who three seasons ago in Fenway Park, took a Papelbon fastball over the bullpen in right-center in the ninth inning to help the Yankees save their year when they were 13 games out.

Now he was up again. In those days, he may have been a nervous player in these situations, but the postseason from last year changed all of that. He comes to the plate these days, and the crowd expects something special to happen.

Rodriguez sat dead red. Papelbon had yet to show the lineup anything beside a fastball. His splitter was nowhere to be found so as long as the ball was in a certain area, the Yankee slugger would jump on it.

He did.

Swinging at the first pitch, Rodriguez hammered a 94 MPH fastball deep to left-center, over the wall for a game-tying blast.

The Stadium shook, as it never has this season. It shook the way it did last October when he hit several memorable blasts.

Just when The Rivalry had lost some of its touch, it is these moments letting you know the emotion and intensity of this feud not found in any professional sport.

Robinson Cano flew out to deep center for the second out and the Red Sox needed one more out to send the game into extra innings and give their resurgent offense a chance to regain the lead against a compromised Yankee bullpen.

Papelbon’s 0-1 pitch drilled Francisco Cervelli in the back of the arm, sending him to the ground. It was clear the catcher did not like what happened, but with no backup to him, and with the way he has come through this season, there was no way he was going to come out with the game in its climax stage.

Marcus Thames would come up. Had it not been for injuries to Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada, he would not even be in the lineup Monday. However, with all the injuries, his playing time has increased and he has been productive.

Many remember Thames from his first ever Yankee at-bat eight years ago, when he took the first pitch he ever saw and crushed it for a homerun off future Hall of Fame great Randy Johnson.

If there was one pitch he could take out, it would be a fastball. In the previous inning, he looked hideous attempting to swing at a few sliders from young Daniel Bard.

Now, he had one plan. He was going to sit dead red on a fastball and attempt not to miss it. If Papelbon threw anything else, he would take it.

The Red Sox closer came with a fastball down the middle.

Thames saw, took his hack and gave it a ride.

It was a no-doubter the moment it left his bat. The Yankee players in the dugout jumped out and immediately ran on the field in celebration, waiting for Thames, the hero of the night, to come around third, throw up his helmet and mob him at the plate celebrating another Yankees comeback victory.

They were five up early, two down late and then pulling the game out in dramatic fashion. Only thing left was the obligatory pie in the face given only to players who win the game with a walk-off.

Thames was the man tonight as others have been in the past.

It was a great win for the Yankees and a crushing defeat for the Red Sox.

Papelbon was now the latest victim of the “comeback magic”.

Even he was unable to get those final three outs.

The toughest to get anywhere.

Yankee Talk: Rivalry Edition – Pie out of the sky

Yanks blast two homers off Pap, comeback to beat Sawx in ninth



NEW YORK – The night started great, saw turbulence in the middle, looked bleak, and ended with a pie in the face.

All in a nights work.

When it comes to the Yankees, do not leave for the exit right away when they are down to their final three out no matter who the opponent is. Most fans know this and last night was another reason why.

Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees got their first ninth inning comeback win of the season, rallying from two runs down to score four off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon to a shocking 11-9 victory in front of 48,271 at Yankee Stadium.

With Papelbon in the game, Boston was in search of a miraculous comeback victory of their own coming from a first inning five-run deficit to take the lead 9-7.

Instead, it was a victory made for a future edition of Yankees Classics.

Brett Gardner led off the Yankees ninth with a double on a ball that missed the outstretched glove of outfielder Darnell McDonald. After Mark Teixeira flew out deep to the track in right, Alex Rodriguez would step in a crushed a first pitch fastball from Papelbon and drove it over the wall in left center to tie the game.

After Francisco Cervelli took a fastball off the arm that sent him to the dirt, Marcus Thames, like Rodriguez, took a first pitch fastball and hammered it down the line in left for a game-winning walk-off that earned him a pie in the face, the first any Yankee has received this season.

After the first inning, it did not appear as if the game would get to that point. The Yankees offense stepped on the throat of Boston starter Daisuke Matzusaka, who threw 25 pitches before recording his first out. The six five hitters reached base on two singles by Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner. A walk to Teixeira loaded the bases before Rodriguez would drive in his first two runs of the game with a single to right-center.

Robinson Cano would then produce a run-scoring single and Cervelli doubled home a run before Cano was tagged out trying to score the Yankees sixth run that they would later get in the inning when Thames scored Cervelli from third on a sacrifice fly.

The margin should have been more than overwhelming for Phil Hughes, who came into the game sporting a .134 ERA and a 5-0 record. However, lengthy at bats by Red Sox hitters allowed them to piece by piece, claw their way back into the game.

Adrian Beltre would drive in Boston’s first run with a single to right in the second. Teixeira would answer by doubling home Gardner on a deep drive to right center. David Ortiz would hit a homerun into the second deck in right to cut the lead to 6-2 in the fourth.

With Hughes’ pitch count rising, he got the first two outs on three pitches to begin the fifth and appeared to have a quick inning. Marco Scutaro would work a seven-pitch at-bat before lining a single to center and then Dustin Pedroia would battle to a ten-pitch sequence before hitting a double down the line in left.

JD Drew would then see a cutter from Hughes and was able to hook it inside the right field foul line for a three run shot that cut the margin to 6-5.

Hughes only went five innings, giving up five runs (the most of the season), six hits, walking one and striking out three in 104 pitches.

The Yankees increased the margin back to 7-5 when Thames’ RBI double scored Cervelli. However, with limited bullpen options, Boone Logan would start the sixth inning and immediately surrender a homerun to Victor Martinez.

Chan Ho Park would make his return to the team after missing six weeks with a hamstring injury, and after pitching a scoreless seventh, the Red Sox would strike.

Drew started the eighth with single to right and Youkilis followed with a homerun to give the Red Sox an 8-7 lead.

Martinez would then homer increase the lead to two and Boston had the chance to pull out an inspiring win if only they could have got the final six outs.

Daniel Bard pitched a dominant eighth, putting the ball in Papelbon’s hands with a lead if need be.

The Red Sox had a chance to take on more runs in the ninth, and with first and third with two outs, Manager Joe Girardi summoned Javier Vazquez from the bullpen who was to be the long man between now and Wednesday in the event a pitcher got hurt or had a poor start early in the game.

Vazquez came and struck out Youkilis to end the inning, setting up the bottom of the ninth heroics and earning him his first victory of the season.

The Yankees have now won 14 of the last 17 games played between the teams, included the last eight at Yankee Stadium.

CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett will be the mound opponents on Tuesday night.

Yankee Talk: To Mo Is Human

Rivera blown save a stunner to all

NEW YORK – When you see greatness and near perfection on a ridiculously consistent basis over nearly 14 years, you are in utter disbelief when it does not happen.

When Mariano Rivera comes into a game to the tune of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, you start the car, put on the shoes and get the jackets (assuming its a little cold) in expectation that the game will be over. Another Yankees victory clearly in hand now.

Why?

Because for all of these years, it is what he has done.

He has done it at such at rate for so long that it is freakish. Even at the old age of 40, he still gets the job done as a fresh and clean as he did when he first started doing the job.

On occasion, he will have a hiccup. A moment or two to let all of us know that in fact he is not perfect. That he cannot save them all.

In a unique way, it is Rivera letting all of us know that he is in fact, human.
Despite near robotic like efficiency, these things happen from time to time.

Even to great ones like Rivera.

So as he came into the game with the bases loaded in the eighth inning on Sunday with the Yankees leading the Twins 3-1 and two outs, there was a sense of assurance when Joe Girardi came to the mound to remove Joba Chamberlain and insert Rivera that there was nothing to worry about. Like usual, he will simply get the final out, close out the ninth and send us all home happy.

Besides, no evidence over the last 12 games drew a different conclusion. The Yankees were 12-0 over the Twins. Better put, the Twins were 0-12 against the Yankees.

Minnesota had lost games in all conceivable fashions and this looked to be just another in a long line of defeats. Even facing a Yankees pitcher not even in the rotation, they still found themselves four outs away from being swept out of the Bronx again, adding another loss to an outrageous 3-25 record in both versions of Yankee Stadium dating back to 2002.

As the inning was playing out, you got the feeling that if the Twins were really going to do this, it would take something cataclysmic in order to do it. A clean victory would almost be too easy. They would need to do it in shocking, spectacular fashion.

In came Rivera to face future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, a man who at his age, no longer plays full-time, but can still take one out of the park if the ball happens to hang in the middle of the plate.

Obvious Rivera knew this and pitched to him carefully. The count began at 1-0, got to 2-0 and suddenly reached 3-0 as the crowd started to worry a little bit.

A “take-all-the-way” strike to make it 3-1. Then, a foul ball off the foot made it 3-2. The crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of the out because, that is what he does.

Thome would foul off another and then on the next pitch, the cutter that would paint the outside corner was just high for ball four.

He walked him.

It was the first time Rivera would walk home a run in over five years. To all watching, it was a stunning development.

However, not all was lost. Just getting Jason Kubel out would preserve the now one-run margin.
The first pitch missed inside and when Rivera threw his 1-0 pitch, he and everyone else was in amazement.

Kubel cheated on the patented cutter and got a good swing on it, driving it deep and out of the park for a grand slam to give the Twins the lead.

The Minnesota bench was as ecstatic as they were in shock. The Yankees bench had a look of disbelief. Neither side could have thought what just took place was possible.

It was the first time Rivera allowed a grand slam since July 2002 when Bill Selby (no longer in the major leagues) hit one off him for the Cleveland Indians at (then called) Jacobs Field.

This type of thing just does not happen. Certainly not to Rivera, who had saved his last 51 games at home dating back to August 13, 2007.

You have to go back to 1995 and Geronimo Berroa to find the last time he gave up a grand slam at home.

The same crowd that clapped in hope of the final out now looked on incredulously, just not believing what they had seen just moments ago.

Though the Yankees would bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, they could not complete the comeback.

The Twins finally got their victory in the most improbable of fashion.

For the Yankees, it was just another loss and no reason to be overly concerned. They know that these kinds of things happen from time to time even the greats as Rivera cannot close them all.

They will continue to have faith in him because he has done the job all those many times before.

When the ninth inning comes with a chance to close the game out, Rivera will be right back on the mound.

The result is likely to be different than it was on Sunday.

Time now for another edition of Yankee Random Thoughts

Nick Johnson (we will refer to him now as Mr. DL) is on the verge of seeing himself miss the next three months of the season if the cortisone shot he takes coming up does not go well.

This cannot really come as a surprise as Mr. DL finds the most unique of ways to come up hurt. It is as if wearing the Yankee uniform for him automatically results in trip to “The List”.

Seeing this happen makes one wonder why the Yankees and Johnny Damon could not find a way to reach an agreement no matter how far apart they may or may not have been.

Certainly, Cashman could not seriously believe that Johnson would play more games than Damon would no matter what the difference in cost between the two players came out to be.

No evidence was in his favor suggesting such a thing would happen. Johnson is always wrong step away from finding himself out indefinitely. The man is human brittle.

So now, the Yankees will have to survive his loss for however long it will be. Perhaps the only good thing that will come out of this is that we no longer have to take hearing Miley Cyrus when he comes to the plate.

The month of May has not been kind to El Capitan.

Jeter is hitting only .166 (11-for-66) and compounded with not having Mr. DL at the plate to draw walks and get on base, it has slightly slowed down the Yankees offense train.

Even the best hitters go though slumps, otherwise every .300 hitter would get three hits every ten at-bats. Up-and-downs are a part of the game and this is why no one is ever to take a small sample and think it is gospel.

Jeter could just as easily hit .400 next month as he is hitting .166 this month.

In the end, it will all even out.

Despite his hot start, you did not expect Robinson Cano to hit .400 with 40 homeruns, were you?
After hitting eight bombs to start the year, Cano’s performance has leveled off as well. No longer hitting the Ted Williams style .400, a market correction has him, like Jeter, has seen the average dip this month, hitting only .196 (11-for-56).

He had three hits this weekend, so perhaps he may be coming out of it, and the Yankees sure could use it this week against Boston and Tampa Bay.

When I saw the game on Thursday and noticed that the bottom three in the lineup consisted of Juan Miranda, Randy Winn and Greg Golson, I probably should have turned off the TV.

For as bad a start to the season as Tex has had, he is tied for fourth in the American League in RBI’s.
Talk about productive hitting even when you are not hitting.

Brett Gardner hit another homerun on Friday against the Twins, this time just into the first row of the right field bleachers.

Was the wind blowing out?

Francisco "Cisco" Cervelli continues to hit.

At some point, this cannot be a fluke. Maybe he really CAN hit!

The backup catcher is hitting an astronomical .395 in 56 at-bats. With runners in scoring position, he is 10-for-13.

Surely, there is not any way possible he will continue to hit .769 in those situations, but right now with the other guys not hitting their stride yet, the Yankees will take all the contributions they can.

Andy Pettitte did not like having to skip a turn in the rotation last week as the team held him out trying to protect his long-term health after having to come out of the game last Wednesday against Baltimore with elbow inflammation.

Pitching on Saturday against the Twins, he showed no ill effects of the injury, giving up only two hits in 6 1/3 shutout innings to improve to 5-0.

His next few starts are against the Rays, Twins and Indians, predominantly lefty swinging teams that Pettitte can pitch to at his advantage.

We may even see him at the All Star Game.

Javier Vazquez is going to get the kiddy treatment from here on out. Positive reinforcement is in order to help get him through this tough time he has had this season.

Wednesday in Detroit was the start of “The Long Road Back” as he pitched seven good innings (really, six), giving up only two runs.

However, the Yankees, not convinced, would not dare pitch him against the Red Sox on Monday or against Tampa Bay later during the week.

Thank goodness for the winning, because this strategy of not allowing a veteran pitcher like Vazquez to pitch his way out of this is crazy. He has been one of baseball’s most consistent pitchers over the last ten years and now we have concluded that he is so mentally weak right now that he cannot pitch against the AL East?

Instead, the Yankees will look to have him start in Citi Field on Friday against the Mets (and even that is up in the air), a team with offensive impotency and a cavernous ballpark always converted deep fly balls normally hit out the park into nothing more than long outs.

Projecting this further, if the team was sinister enough, they could have him pitch against the Mets, hold him out to pitch against the Indians the next week, followed by the inept Orioles twice and the Astros.

On second thought, this may not be such a bad idea.

Phil Hughes does not need skipping. He has been the best pitcher in
the American League so far.

He just oozes confidence on the mound and his seven-inning shutout masterpiece in Detroit on Wednesday continued to put him on an ascending level.

At 5-0 with the league low 1.38 ERA and opponents hitting a paltry .165 against him, he takes the mound with all the belief that he will shut down the opposition no matter who it is.

No longer fearful, he simply attacks. There is no backing down from him.

I treat every Hughes start now as if it were an event.

If he continues, he may be the starting pitcher in baseball biggest summer event.

Yankee Talk: Rivalry Edition – Can’t win them all

Burnett battered, Yanks fail to sweep Sawx

BOSTON – Fenway Park and AJ Burnett have not been on the best of terms since he has become a Yankee.

Once an unhittable, dominant force against the Red Sox in this park during his time with the Blue Jays, things have changed dramatically.

Burnett, after a great beginning to his season saw it all come to a halt, bombed by Boston again and having to walk off the mound with his head down as the Red Sox were able to salvage the final game of the three game series 9-3 in front of 37, 618 at Fenway Park to avoid a sweep.

He has been typically in command for his first five starts of the season while going 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA. However, in the third, things disintegrated quickly in the third.

In the inning prior, the Red Sox scored the games' first run when the inning should have been over.

Burnett induced Jeremy Hermida into a routine fly ball to left. Marcus Thames camped under the ball and then had it bounce off his glove for an error, allowing J.D Drew to score.

Problems arose for Burnett in the third after walking Marco Scutaro to lead off the inning and then giving up a double to Dustin Pedroia. After getting Victor Martinez to ground back to the mound, he walked Kevin Youkilis to load the bases.

Drew hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Scutaro to make it 2-0. Yet Burnett was never able to get that final out of the inning. David Ortiz would drill a ground-rule double to right, driving in two to up the margin to four. Adrian Beltre would then double to left-center to drive in two more and Hermida’s RBI single left inflated the Red Sox lead to 6-0.

With the bullpen soaking up 4 1/3 innings due to the rain delay forcing CC Sabathia to give only 4 2/3 innings the day before, Burnett was now in need of taking one for the team despite not having his best stuff on a night where his fastball seemed to move toward the middle of the plate.

The lead was more than enough for Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who brought stability to a Boston starting staff given much hype before the season but performing way below expectations.

He held the Yankees hitless through the first three innings before Nick Swisher hit a homerun over the Green Monster in left to make it 5-1. Alex Rodriguez then followed with a home run of his own, just barely clearing the top of the big wall.

For Rodriguez (1-for-3), it was his first homerun in 61 at-bats and third of the season.

Youkilis responded with a run-scoring double and when Hermida connected on a high fastball deposited into the bullpen in right, the Red Sox had put a hurt on the Yankee right-hander. Joe Girardi came to the mound and it marked the end of his night.

In 4 1/3, Burnett gave up nine hits and eight runs, walking three and striking out four in 97 tedious pitches.

The nine runs given up were a season high for any Yankee starter this season and marked the first opposing pitcher since 1952 to allow eight earned runs on three different occasions at Fenway Park.

Since joining the Yankees, in five starts in Boston, Burnett’s ERA is a horrifying 12.68.

The offense, bombs away on Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz in the two previous games could not muster much against Lester. After the fourth inning Rodriguez homerun, no Yankee hitter reached second base.

In seven innings, Lester stifled the Yankees, giving up only four hits and two runs, while walking two and striking out seven over 102 pitches. The bottom of the lineup, a force over the first two games of the series, went a combined 1-for-14. He also did not allow a hit over the final eight batters he faced.

Recent call-up Romulo Sanchez pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees, walking one and striking out three. Manny Delcarmen and Tim Wakefield finished the game for the Red Sox, as the last two innings resembled spring training in Tampa.

The loss drops the Yankees to 21-9, with still a six game advantage over the Red Sox in the standings. Tomorrow night, the team travels to Detroit to begin a four-game series with the Tigers.

Because of the re-shuffling with the pitching staff due to moving Javier Vazquez out of the rotation for this series and Andy Pettitte’s elbow inflammation, Sergio Mitre will get the start on Monday night.