As I told you guys before, I was at The Stadium Friday night for the Sabathia game. By the time I got home, it was after 1:00AM, so I didn’t have time to write anything. This afternoon, I was running around with the lady, so I decided to just do a double post that included today’s game as well. I hope you’ll forgive me. Let’s get to it.
Game 1: Red Sox 4, Yankees 2
Sabathia was plagued by the bad inning again on Friday night, and it ruined an otherwise pretty outstanding outing. The Red Sox had one hit before the sixth inning, but it would all unravel for CC there. Jonny Gomes led off the frame with a solo homer to tie things up at 1. Sabathia struck out Dustin Pedroia and allowed an infield single (against the shift) to David Ortiz. Sabathia admitted that the hit angered him, because it was very weakly hit and would have been an out if the shift hadn’t been on. He also said the hit rattled him a bit, which ended up costing him everything. Mike Napoli then singled to center, and Grady Sizemore, CC’s former Indians teammate, crushed a 3-run homer to basically end the game. Sabathia missed location on his slider by about 2 feet, and you can’t do that to major league hitters. Sabathia’s final line for the night was 7 innings, 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 9. Take out that sixth inning, and he was lights out. Unfortunately, he just gets another loss.
The Yankees offense was pretty non-existent in this one. Alfonso Soriano hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second to gibe the Yankees a 1-0 lead, and then the Yankees didn’t get a run across until Kelly Johnson‘s RBI single in the 7th. They had a man on for Brian McCann in the 8th, but the big guy struck out, and the game was over.
Game 2: Yankees 7, Red Sox 4:
The Yankees offense finally took center stage in this one. The Red Sox put John Lackey on the mound, and the Yankees smacked him around like the horrible person he is. Lackey allowed a 2-run homer to Carlos Beltran in the bottom of the 1st, and solo jacks to Soriano and McCann in the bottom of the 4th. McCann’s first Yankees home run went deep into the second deck in right, where I hope he hits a lot more balls this season. Speaking of McCann, he came up with a man on in the 6th and smacked one over the right-center field fence for a 2-run homer. If McCann and Beltran get it going, it’s going to be a long season for the rest of this division. It was great to see. Johnson’s solo homer in the bottom of the 8th would tack onto the lead. With the Yankees bullpen in turmoil, that was a key insurance run, and I’ve so far been very happy witht the job Johnson is doing.
The pitching was solid in this game too. Hiroki Kuroda went 6.1 innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks with 5 Ks. The 4 runs seems like a lot, but 2 of them came off of Matt Thornton after Kuroda had already left the game, so it’s not so bad. Also, the two runs scored on a ball that would have been an inning ending ground out by Mike Carp if not for the shift being on. I really don’t like when teams shift with men on base, and I really hope the Yankees stop doing that. Thankfully, Carp got himself thrown out stealing to end the inning, and nothing more came from the rally. Other than Carp’s shift aided single, the bullpen was brilliant once again. Thornton, Dellin Betances, Adam Warren and Shawn Kelley combined to pitch the last 2.2 innings, and they did a great job.
The Yangervis Solarte MVP Watch took another step forward in this one. Solarte had been struggling for a few games, but he chipped in 2 more hits today. Maybe he wasn’t done after all.
The Yankees will try to avoid the split on Sunday night, so hopefully Ivan Nova doesn’t stink up the joint like he has been.
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