Yankees Continue Dominant Play: Steam Roll Red Sox 20-11
August 22, 2009 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
A nation is crumbling by the very foundation.
After starting the 2009 season 8-0, the Red Sox are clearly losing ground on the Yankees day by day.
Before Aug. 4, the Red Sox were only a half game behind the Yankees in the A.L. East race.
Then it all began.
The Yankees went to Toronto and swept the Blue Jays in a short series. The Red Sox went down to Tampa Bay and were beaten into the ground by the Rays in two games. The lead was now two and a half.
Aug. 6 rolls around. The Red Sox limp into Yankee Stadium for four games. The Yankees out-hit, out-pitched and out-thought the Red Sox in every possible way and swept the four game series. They even had the Red Sox scoreless for 32 innings and outscored Boston 25-8 in the series.
The lead was at six and a half games now.
Since then, the Yankees have not slipped up and continue to win every series they play in, leaving the Red Sox no other choice but to try and stay within a reasonable distance of the Yankees.
Entering Friday night’s game in Fenway Park, the lead remained at six and a half.
But from the first pitch on, it was all Yankees. The Yankees even lost Johnny Damon in the game to a bruised knee from fouling a ball off his right knee and that still didn’t even slow the Yankees offense down.
Brady Penny took the mound for the Red Sox and he wasn’t just bad tonight, he was amazingly horrible. Once an All Star, Penny was treated like a journeyman scrub who didn’t deserve a job in the big leagues.
Penny surrendered 10 hits and eight runs in four innings and he is now 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA on the season.
Penny was thought to be the No. 4 or No. 5 pitcher in Boston and possibly traded at the deadline because of Boston’s “surplus” of pitching. With injuries to Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield and the releasing of John Smoltz, Penny is the number three starter in the rotation, but hardly looks the part.
On the other side, Andy Pettitte didn’t have his sharpest stuff in Boston. Because of Fenway’s constructure, pitching leads can easily be lost if an offense gets rolling and the Green Monster in left fields is a target for hitters to play wall ball off of.
But, Pettitte did not panic. He got through five innings, allowed seven hits and five runs, walked two and struck out four. But because the offense exploded all over Boston’s pitching, Pettitte’s lead was safe and was not getting lost on this night.
Pettitte finally broke into the double-digits for wins as he is 10-6 now. After pitching masterful games and getting no decisions, Pettitte finally got a win he deserved.
Now back to Boston’s dreaded night. After Penny left, it was no better for rookie Michael Bowden. He came in with runners on first and third and Hideki Matsui took a fastball anf drilled it into the Red Sox bullpen which made the score 9-1 at that point.
The Yankees put in Brian Bruney in the sixth inning to let him work out his control issues, but Boston’s offense is not the time for that and neither was Fenway Park.
In the sixth inning, Bruney walked the bases loaded, but only escaped because of a double play to limit the damage.
In the seventh inning, Bruney looked shaky again, only getting through one out, so Joe Girardi brought in Damaso Marte, who was returning off the disabled list and pitching for the first time since April.
Marte was impressive, facing two batters and getting them both out, one of which was a strikeout. If Marte can find his form, he’ll only be another strong weapon out of the bullpen.
By the top of the ninth inning, it was 16-7 Yankees. Most of the Boston fans left and all that were left were the Yankee faithful who traveled 200 miles up to enemy territory to see a win.
The Red Sox brought in Ramon Ramirez, who was no better. With two runners on, Matsui stepped up to the plate again and sent another bomb into the Boston night and out of the park, his second three-run home run of the game. Matsui now had seven RBI in the game. The Yankees just tacked on another run and they were up 20-7.
This was looking like a football score more than a baseball one.
The Yankees had Sergio Mitre in to finish the contest, but Mitre did all he could to allow Boston to claw back in the ninth.
Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell both hit home runs off Mitre in a four-run ninth inning for Boston. Luckily, the game was well out of reach and Mitre found a way to get three outs and end any chance of a Red Sox comeback and the final score was 20-11 Yankees.
Friday night’s game is exactly why the Yankees will never, ever put the ball in Mitre’s hand in an important situation as he was clearly in for mop-up duty. This also might be a sign that Mitre’s out of the rotation as well.
The Yankees improve to 77-45 on the year and 36-27 on the road, while the Red Sox drop to 69-52 on their season and 38-19 at home.
The Yankees also increase their lead in the A.L. East to seven and a half games over the Red Sox.
This is the fifth win in a row the Yankees collected over Boston and it doesn’t look any better for the Red Sox when they will send rookie Junichi Tazawa up on the mound Saturday afternoon to face A.J. Burnett.
The Yankees offense was just incredible tonight. And just to show you, here’s how they all did, minus Johnny Damon who left after one at bat with the knee bruise:
Derek Jeter: 3-for-6, double, two RBI, and three runs, Eric Hinske: 2-for-4, two doubles, RBI, and two runs, Mark Teixeira: 3-for-5, double, three RBI, and three runs, Alex Rodriguez: 4-for-4, triple, RBI, two runs, Hideki Matsui: 2-for-7, two home runs, seven RBI, and two runs, Jorge Posada: 2-for-5, double, two RBI, and two runs, Robinson Cano: 1-for-6, double, RBI, and two runs, Nick Swisher: 2-for-6, double, RBI, and one run, and Melky Cabrera: 4-for-6, double, two RBI, and two runs.
Notice a pattern? Every batter not only had at least one hit, but they all had an extra-base hit and scored at least one run. That’s a complete offensive production from a lineup.
On the other side, Red Sox starters Victor Martinez, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew were all pulled after the fifth inning. Mike Lowell and David Ortiz were the only ones for Boston who had decent games on offense, driving in almost a third of the runs.
If Girardi didn’t put in erratic relievers to face the Red Sox hitters, Boston would have never gotten to 11 runs. But because Bruney’s control is still an issue and Mitre is a terrible pitcher, Boston had a slugging chance to score.
Not exactly a pitching coach’s dream tonight, but sometimes, you have to win these types of games.
Red Sox Nation is slowly crumbling by the cracks. Their hopes of October baseball now draw towards the A.L. Wild Card, which they have the lead over the Rangers by one game.
That nation is being taken over by a much stronger force known as Yankees Universe.
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