Yankees find Peace of Mind against Boston

Red Sox 6 8 1
Yankees 13 18 0

WP: Chamberlain (8-2)
LP: Smoltz (2-5)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: It's too hard to pick just one guy, so I'm just giving it to the entire lineup. They pounded out 18 hits and four home runs on their way to scoring 13 runs.

PLAY OF THE GAME: The Jeterian play by Robbie Cano in the top of the eighth inning on a ground ball to short right-center field by David Ortiz.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: I'm going out on a limb here, but I think the turning point was the 8-run 4th inning. After Casey Kotchman homered in the top of the 4th to give Boston a 3-1 lead, the Yankees scored 8 runs on 8 hits, including 2 home runs.

GAME NOTES:

• The Yankees pitching staff allowed 12 walks. That is horrible. 7 of them were from Joba, and he only pitched 5 innings.
  
• While Joba did not pitch well, I'm not worried. He's been pitching very well lately, but he isn't going to dominate every time out.
  
• Now, the Yankees are 3.5 games ahead of the Red Sox and because the Rays were idle, Tampa Bay falls to 6 games behind.
• In case you had turned the game off by that point, Dustin Pedroia was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the 8th. He decided to be dramatic about it, despite the fact he's shorter than me (and I'm pretty short) by barking at Mark Melancon. So, with Beckett and Burnett on the mound tomorrow, don't be surprised if there are some fireworks.
  
• Now that they finally got the first win against the Red Sox out of the way, the Yankees can just worry about beating up on them all time.
  

TOMORROW:
Round 2
Red Sox at Yankees
Beckett vs. Burnett

SEE YA!

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