NEW YORK – Two weeks ago, after Andy Pettitte went down and Sergio Mitre was ineffective in his start, the Yankees gave the ball to Dustin Moseley not knowing what to expect.
All they had to go on was his previous starting experience as recent as last July, his minor league success this season and two relief efforts.
Sunday night, forced to move up his start one day early due to back spasms by AJ Burnet, continued his good string of performances that even the Yankees could not expect him, pitching them to a 7-2 victory over the Red Sox on Sunday night to extend their AL East lead over their rivals to seven games.
For Moseley, who at 28 has had injuries set him back for most of his career, having this stage in a game on national television, and to pitch well was something he never could expect.
“I would go home every night in spring training and dream of something like this,” Moseley said after pitching one of the best games of his career, throwing 6 1/3 innings of outstanding ball, limiting the Red Sox to only two runs and six hits.
On paper, the matchup of Moseley against Boston hurler Josh Beckett would appear to be a mismatch.
The mismatch was what it was, on paper.
On the field where it counts, it was a mismatch in favor of the Yankees.
Beckett, roughed up by the Yankees for the fourth time this season, was unable to make it out of the fifth inning for the third time this year.
In the second inning, the Yankees scored the game’s first run when on Bill Hall, rather than holding the ball on a grounder with the speedy Brett Gardner running toward first, made a bad throw, allowing Lance Berkman (who doubled) to score from third.
Derek Jeter would then single to center after Gardner stole second to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
The lead was enough for Moseley early on as he only allowed one hit through the first three innings, including making a fabulous play to begin the game when he barehanded a ground ball and nailed
Jacoby Ellsbury at first.
Moseley ran into trouble in the fourth inning when he loaded the bases after surrendering a single and two walks. The threat ended when he induced a groundout from Ryan Kalish to keep the game at 2-0 before a homerun to Bill Hall in the fifth for the first Boston run.
In the bottom half, the Yankees would blow the game open and knockout Beckett. Mark Teixeira crushed his 25th homerun of the year deep into the right field bleachers. After a walk to Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano reached on a hit-by-pitch, Berkman doubled inside the third base line, driving home Rodriguez.
Things got worse when after Gardner struck out, catcher Kevin Cash ill advisedly tried to double up Cano at third base, but his throw went into left field, scoring the run from third anyway. Jeter followed up with a two-run double into the gap in right center to extend the lead to 7-1, also passing Babe Ruth on the all-time hit list at 2,874. The blow sent Beckett to the shower.
“You give up seven runs, who else are you gonna blame?” Beckett said of his 4 2/3 inning, 11 hit, 7 run outing, and the defensive miscues that led to runs. “It’s nobody else’s fault in here.
The numbers this season for Beckett against the Yankees have been ugly. In four starts, he is 0-3 with an 11.30 ERA, allowing 33 hits and 24 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings.
“It’s hard for our guys to catch ball when they are hit that hard,” said Beckett. “I just threw too many balls over the fat part of the plate.”
While Beckett stumbled again, Moseley flourished. Armed with the sizable lead, he took the game home. Throwing strikes with his two-seam fastball and working quickly on the mound, the Red Sox were unable to line him up and get good swings against him.
The big stage of The Rivalry was not too big for him.
Moseley took the game into the seventh inning before surrendering a double and an infield single brought Joe Girardi to the mound to take the ball from his right-hander, who left to a standing ovation from the 49,096 at Yankee Stadium.
“You can’t dream anything better.” Moseley said about the ovation.
“It is something I’ll remember for the rest of my career.”
“He attacked the zone,” Girardi said. “We told him (Saturday) to be prepared to pitch, and I wasn’t concerned about him handling (the situation).
With Joba Chamberlain in the game, an infield single by Mike Lowell made it 7-2. A two walk to Marco Scutaro loaded the bases for David Ortiz. Girardi went to lefty Boone Logan, who has been a revelation as of late, and got him to groundout to end the inning.
Logan pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings. With two outs in the ninth and five-run lead, Mariano Rivera, throwing only one pitch, got the final out of the game.
The Yankees have now won 15 of their last 20 against the Red Sox.
While Moseley came through, Berkman turned the boos he had been hearing from Yankees fans into cheers, going 3-for-4 after starting out a miserable 2-for-22 and then injuring Rodriguez in batting practice Saturday afternoon with a line drive.
“As long as we win, if doesn’t matter if I hit .150,” Berkman said. “But you want to feel like you’re contributing. You don’t want to feel like you’re an albatross.
“You kind of have to reestablish your credibility with a new team, with a new set of fans. And the only way you can do that is by getting some hits.”
Sunday night, both players found ways to help in victory.
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