BOSTON – Try as they may, the results are ending up the same.
Perhaps this is all scripted like a movie or Vince McMahon is choreographing this as he does his wrestling matches, whatever it is, the Red Sox are continuing to come out victorious.
For the Yankees, the donut is still on the board and the script continues to have the same ending. They are now 0-7 against Boston, dropping a 6-5 decision at Fenway Park that can only have them wondering what exactly they have to do to finally get a win on the board.
Or, has it come to a point where the Red Sox are officially in the Yankees heads despite their own bull-headed denials?
Beating a team seven times in a row without dropping a defeat will do that to you, but it also makes it difficult when your starting pitcher again puts you at a significant disadvantage early in a game and is unable to escape the third inning.
The Yankees did not know what they were going to get from Chien-Ming Wang going into Wednesday night’s start.
They probably did not expect him to last as long as A.J Burnett did.
Looking to make strides coming off his performance against the Texas Rangers at home and pitching in a place that has been his personal place of horrors, Wang’s struggles continued in Boston, lasting the same 2 2/3 innings that Burnett threw on Tuesday.
While Wang had increased velocity on his pitches, throwing as hard as 95 MPH, he rarely had control of where the ball was going. This led to an elongated 69-pitch effort that saw him give up four runs, six hits and three walks before Joe Girardi had seen enough and took the ball.
Wang may be a two-time 19 game winner and former staff ace, but it is clear that being given “on the job” rehabilitation at the Major League level is not something that should have ever been attempted.
His problems began right at the start when with one out; he walked J.D Drew and Kevin Youkilis. Needing to get a double play, he induced a groundball off the bat of Jason Bay that unfortunately found a hole through the left side of the infield that scored Drew to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
A walk to David Ortiz later in the inning followed to load the bases, but on his 29th pitch, Wang was able to get Mark Kotsay to groundout to second to end the frame.
In the second inning, Jorge Posada led off the inning with his ninth homerun of the season to tie the score 1-1. Boston would get the run back in the bottom half when Nick Green reached on an infield single and then score when catcher George Kottaras doubled to the right centerfield gap to make it 2-1. It would become 3-1 Boston when Dustin Pedroia's fly ball to right field near Pesky’s Pole mysteriously eluded the glove of right fielder Nick Swisher and bounced into the seats for a ground rule double. Mike Lowell would then homer on the first pitch of the third inning.
Phil Hughes would replace Wang with two outs in the inning and struck out Kottaras to end a potential threat after balking Green to second.
Melky Cabrera got the Yankees within 4-2 in the fourth inning when he singled home Hideki Matsui for their second run. However, this was quickly answered in the bottom half when Kevin Youkilis homered to the Red Sox bullpen in right center off Hughes to give Boston a 6-2 lead.
Hughes remained in the game through the bottom of the seventh, going 3 2/3 innings, yielding two runs (Youkilis’ homer) and two hits, while striking out five. His performance, as long as Wang continues to pitch poorly, will continue to leave the question open as to whether Hughes should be back in the starting rotation.
Robinson Cano made the score 6-3 in the fifth on a run scoring groundout. In the seventh, with starter Tim Wakefield gone and Ramon Ramirez in, the Yankees would rally to cut the deficit to one as Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back home runs to make it 6-5.
Teixeira was on fire, going 4-5 on the night with that home run, two doubles and a single.
Wakefield pitched six innings, only giving up three runs and eight hits, striking out two.
After Posada singled with two outs in the seventh, Ramirez was lifted for Hideki Okajima, who finished off the inning by striking out his fellow countryman Hideki Matsui.
He would remain in the game in the eighth inning and walked Nick Swisher to lead off. Swisher was replaced by Brett Gardner. After Cabrera sacrificed him over to second, Okajima proceed to strike out both Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon to end the threat.
Jonathan Papelbon came on to close the game in the ninth. He was able to get Teixeira to ground out to Dustin Pedroia for the first out. Alex Rodriguez worked a walk and Ramiro Pena came into the game to pinch run. Pena stole second with Robinson Cano at the plate needing just a single to tie the game.
Cano would work the count to 2-2 before striking out on a high fastball out of the zone for the second out. Posada got the count to 3-2 before lifting a fly ball to left fielder Jason Bay, who made the catch in front of the Green Monster to seal another Red Sox victory.
Boston (35-24) is now in first place by a game over the Yankees (34-25) despite their 7-0 season series lead. They will attempt to go for the sweep tomorrow night when CC Sabathia starts for the Yanks, and Brad Penny gets the ball for the Red Sox.
By all accounts, if the Yankees cannot win tomorrow night, it is anyone's guess when they will beat their rivals.
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