Sox Sweep As Yanks Limp Out of Fenway

(Adam Hunger of REUTERS and Charles Krupa of the AP)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	7	2
BOS	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	X		4	7	1

The Yankees were outplayed and outclassed for three games this weekend at Fenway Park, there is no getting around that. This was an embarrassing three days for the Yanks.

Andy Pettitte was on the mound for the Yankees last night as they attempted to avoid the sweep. Pettitte was OK, but did not give the Yankees the pitching performance they needed. In six innings he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, walked four, and struck out six. Pettitte threw 116 pitches on the night, 65 for strikes, and like they usually do, it was the walks that killed Andy tonight. Especially in the three-run fifth.

He walked Jason Varitek to start the inning, and then two batters later walked Jacoby Ellsbury. Walking two of the three batters before you have to face the heart of this Red Sox lineup is never smart. Pettitte did get Dustin Pedroia to flyout for the second out of the inning and was almost out of the inning unscathed, but David Ortiz lined a shot off the Green Monster in left for an RBI double. Ortiz's double came on a 1-2 pitch that should have been nowhere near the plate, but Pettitte left it over the outer half and Ortiz went with it the other way. Then after an intentional walk to Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew hit a ground-rule double for another run. And for the final embarrassing blow, with Jason Bay hitting Ellsbury stole home on a sleeping Pettitte and Jorge Posada.

The first run Pettitte allowed on the night was unearned and was made possible by some shotty defense at third base by Angel Berroa. Nick Green led off the inning with a routine grounder to third that Berroa misplayed, then after Ellsbury grounded into a force and stole second Pedroia was up. He hit another grounder to Berroa, this time appearing distracted by Ellsbury on second and threw one in the dirt that Mark Teixeira couldn't scoop for a throwing error. So instead of what could easily have been a 1-2-3 inning, the Sox had two out and one out for the heart of the order. Ortiz drove in the Sox run with a sac fly.

The offense could not get anything done tonight against Justin Masterson and anybody the Red Sox called on from their pen. It looked like the only thing the offense was concerned about was getting out of Boston as quickly as they could. The lone Yankee run came in the third, Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera led off with back-to-back singles, Berroa sacrificed them over with a bunt, and Brett Gardner drove in the run with a sac fly. They had a couple other opportunities to score but the big hit never came, the best of which was probably the top of the sixth when they had two on and one out, and knocked Masterson out of the game but Hunter Jones, who had previously pitched one inning in the big leagues, came in a retired Matsui and Cabrera to end the inning. Michael Bowden and Takashi Saito pitched the final two innings for Boston, both handling the Yankees fairly easily.

At least we got to see our first glimpse of Mark Melancon in a Major League game, and he looked pretty sharp. His fastball was sitting at about 94-95 and he had a pretty good breaking ball as well. In two innings he allowed no runs on a one hit, walked one and struck out one. He got into some trouble in his second inning of work allowing a leadoff single to Youkilis and then walking Jonathan Van Every, but was able to retire the next three batters in order to get out of the inning. Melancon threw 22 pitches, 12 for strikes.

Before the series began I said that if the Yankees lost the series, or even got swept, that it wouldn't be the end of the world. I still stand by that. But as I said, it was an embarrassing weekend and the Yankees need to fix their bullpen right now. This team just cannot hold a lead right now, and they're going to need to figure it out or they could be in for a long season. What hurts even more is that this was a series that the Yankees could have, and should have, won at least two games. Up 4-2 in with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the first game, and up 6-0 in the fourth of game two, and nothing.

Tonight's start against Detroit now becomes a big one for CC Sabathia, who has not yet been the CC Sabathia we all expected. It's time for him to be our ace and our stopper.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Gardner, CF	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	.220
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.299
Teixeira, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.218
Swisher, LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.286
Cano, 2B	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	.373
Posada, C	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.283
Matsui, DH	4	1	2	0	0	0	2	.280
Cabrera, M, RF	4	0	2	0	0	1	4	.303
Berroa, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
a-Damon, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.311
Totals	33	1	7	1	1	7	11
a-Flied out for Berroa in the 9th.
BATTING TB: Jeter; Cano 2; Matsui 2; Cabrera, M 2. RBI: Gardner (4). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Teixeira; Cabrera, M 2; Damon. S: Berroa. SF: Gardner. Team RISP: 0-for-6. Team LOB: 8. FIELDING E: Berroa 2 (2, fielding, throw). DP: (Cano-Teixeira). Pickoffs: Pettitte 2 (Pedroia at 1st base, Green, N at 1st base).

RED SOX OFFENSE

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (L, 2-1)	6.0	6	4	3	4	6	0	2.96
Melancon	2.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.00

RED SOX PITCHING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: David Ortiz (1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Jacoby Ellsbury (1-for-3, 2 SB, 2 R) and Justin Masterson (W, 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

The Yanks now head to Detroit to take on the first place Tigers. CC Sabathia will get the start for the Yankees, with Justin Verlander going for Detroit. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game can be seen on YES, and heard on WCBS880.