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CC Sabathia is 17-3 with a 2.40 ERA this season, when facing anyone but the Red Sox. Against Boston? Well, after the 5-2 win in Fenway park, making it 3-13 in the Red Sox’s favor this year (that bad, huh?). Until this win, Sabathia was 0-4 against Boston this year, with a terrible 7.40 ERA.
With this win, the Yankees (81-52) are now 0.5 a game behind Boston (82-52) in the AL East and are riding a 3 game winning streak.
Good hitting from Robinson Cano and Eric Chavez and solid relief from Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera (35th save of the season) helped CC get the win in a tough night. The Red Sox got 13 hits to the Yankees’ 9, but were an awful 2-13 with runners in scoring positions. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out three times with the chance to bring in some runs. 16 Men were left on base when it was all said and done, with the Yankees leaving seven, hitting 3-8 with RISP. That was the difference I guess.
Alex Rodriguez, suffering from a sore left thumb and too much interest in his gambling life, sat out this one. He’ll probably miss the entire series, with a final battle for the AL East happening on September 23-25. Derek Jeter was back in the lineup, but went 0-5. He hasn’t had a hit in nearly a week, since the 5-12 loss against the Orioles.
As with every Yankee – Red Sox match up, tempers weren’t exactly cool, with four players getting hit by pitches. When John Lackey faced Francisco Cervelli in the seventh inning, he clocked him in the back, to clear the dug outs and get the Yankees’ pitching coach ejected. Yankees manager Joe Girardi also got thrown out in the ninth, after Mariano Rivera hit Saltalamacchia.
Next up in the series – Josh Beckett, 3-0 this year against the Yankees with a 1.00 ERA. Phil Hughes, pitching last in the 22-9 win against the A’s, not finishing the third inning didn’t do very well against Boston last time – Managed only 2.1 innings, allowing 7 runs and 3 walks with a 21.00 ERA.
One response to “Sabathia Finally Manages to Win (Yankees vs Red Sox)”
Phil Hughes was looking fairly sharp then suddenly a moth flies into one of his eyes and the Yankees again unravel against the Boston Red Sox. ppYep a moth. ppBrings back memories of a Yankees playoff loss in Cleveland when small bugs flew around reliever Joba Chamberlain against the Indians in 2007. ppJacoby Ellsbury hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the sixth inning and Beckett improved to 4-0 against New York sending the Yankees to their 11th loss in 14 games against the Red Sox this season with a 9-5 defeat on Wednesday night. ppNew York had just scored four runs against Beckett in the sixth to grab a 5-4 lead. ppThen in the bottom of the sixth inning Phil Hughes 4-5 retired the first batter. Three runs against the Yankees after one moth. ppA couple of mistakes that basically cost us Hughes said. I made some mistakes that cost us the game. ppThe Red Sox who lost the series opener 5-2 on Tuesday night extended their AL East lead over the Yankees to 1 1 2 games and improved their record to 11-3 this season against their division rivals. ppDavid Ortiz and Varitek also hit two-run homers for Boston. ppThe Yankees four runs in the sixth off Beckett 12-5 were the same amount they managed in his other 32 innings against them this season.