Red Sox Counter Punch In Battle Of The Bronx, 11-1

From the desk of:   BLAME CARLOS MAY

 

Battle For The A.L. East

1) - Boston      34-23

2) - Yankees   31-24

 

Series Tied 1-1

I - NYY 4; BOS 1

II - BOS 11; NYY 1

 

 

GAME THREE

 

Boston Red Sox

vs.

New York Yankees

From

The House That George Built

161 Street & River Avenue

BRONX

NEW YORK YANKEES - Fans Want Their AAAA Players Back.


All seemed well in the universe.  You felt order had been restored since the Red Sox and Yankees began battling it out for first place again.  For the Sox, no Jacoby Ellsbury Saturday night.  For the home team - the Yanks were starting to feel better, weren't they?  CC Sabathia looked back in form  during Game One's victory.  Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis returned, and other than Granderson, Jeter and ARod, the Bombers were starting to resemble their old selves.  So what happened?


With the Bombers one game out of first place, the enigmatic Phil Hughes climbed the hill in Bronx County yesterday opposed by Boston's Felix Doubront.  Both pitchers posted zeroes through the first three innings.


Then things went kablooey for Hughes.  The Red Sox broke the scoreless deadlock in the top of the fourth.  Playing in Ellsbury's place, Jackie Bradley Jr. led off by lining a pea over the head of Gardner in center for a double.  Right fielder Mike Carp drove him home with another double down the left field line.  After walking Big Papi to load the bases, Phil Hughes faced Mike Napoli with one out.  The Bosox first baseman then launched Hughes' sixth pitch into the right field seats, for an opposite field grand slam home run.  Napoli entered his at-bat ranked 6th in the A.L. in runs batted in.  To that point, it was Phil Hughes twelfth home run surrendered in fifty-eighth innings pitched this season.


Then what?  The roof of The House Where Sparky Once Spit caved in during the eighth and ninth innings.  Boston scored six more runs, and cranked out eighteen hits in all.  They Yankees were stymied by Boston starter Felix Doubront for six innings, who allowed six hits, one earned run, walked three, and struck out six.  The Yankees were then shut down by the Red Sox bullpen - three combined innings, no hits, no runs, and four strikeouts.


Boston hit four doubles and three home runs off Yankees pitching.  Joe Girardi left poor Adam Warren on the mound for the last three innings of the game to get pounded for six earned runs on eight hits.  Way to go Joe.


Break up the Red Sox.  With Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz serving-up quality games again, along with a refortified bullpen, and Big Papi wielding a peligroso Louisville - Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia, freakin' Daniel Nava, and the rest of the Sox and crushin'.  In the bullpen, Andrew Bailey and Koji Uehara are as responsible for the Sox turn around as anybody.




Mike.BTB