N.Y. Yankees: The Red Sox Are Coming

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

A.L. EAST

Red Sox      25-9

Yankees    24-10

SHOWDOWN-II

The two best teams in baseball convene again this week in the Bronx.

When the Yankees and Red Sox last met up in Boston, a fight broke out.

Imagine that ...

Tyler Austin didn't appreciate getting plunked in the ribs by Sox reliever Joe Kelly, and so he charged the mound, after which all hell broke loose.  Cooler heads eventually prevailed, but not before Red Sox manager Alex Cora shooed away Yankees coach Phil Nevin and effectively told him go back inside his (third base) box.

The Red Sox wound up taking two out of three.  I spent the weekend in Boston right after that series.
At some point, I listened as a pair of WEEI Radio personalities described the Yankees as being asleep, and Aaron Boone as lacking a pulse.  The show hosts were obviously feeling good about themselves this particular day.  And why not?  The Sox were in the midst of a spectacular 17-2 start.  However, they've gone just 8-7 since.

Not coincidentally, that series dropped the Yankees to 6-7 on the young season.  But now it is the Yankees looking to turn the tables.  They have gone 19-2 since these teams last met and have closed to within one game of the first place Red Sox.

Now it's the Bombers turn to host.

Game One

Yankees Strike First Blood

Red Sox  2

Yankees  3

FINAL

The two best teams in baseball are now tied for first place of the American League East.  Only difference being the Yankees have now won 16 of their last 17 games - a rate of success not achieved by a Yankees team since 1953 per announcer Michael Kay.  The Red Sox on the other hand are now 8-8 in their last 16 games.

But make no mistake, this game was the usual tightly contested affair.

Starting pitchers Luis Severino and Drew Pomeranz essentially cancelled each other out with respective six inning efforts in which each allowed a pair of earned runs.  Severino surrendered six hits, walked none and fanned eleven batters.  Pomeranz allowed just four hits and two walks, and struck out six.  Both pitchers walked off with no decisions.

Giancarlo Stanton staked Severino to a 2-0 lead with solo home runs off Pomeranz in the second and fourth innings.  Undeterred, Boston struck back with Andrew Benintendi's 2-out RBI hit in the fourth, and Mookie Betts 2-out RBI triple in the seventh.

Aaron Judge, who played an exceptional right field, then delivered what proved to be the game winning hit in the home seventh off newly reviled Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly (but the run and loss was charged to Heath Hembree).

Aroldis Chapman closed out the ninth inning, picking up his eighth save of the season.