To the Bronx...

I just realized I haven't posted since July 26th. I've been pretty much drowning in french fries and burgers since then so it's nice to enjoy a day off at the Stadium.

John and I will doing the reverse Benny trip tonight to see AJ Burnett take on Josh Beckett in what is sure to be a four and a half hour game. With Bad AJ showing up most of the time, and Beckett with his 5 plus ERA, this has all the makings of a 10-9 decision.

This is Yankees-Red Sox, so it still has a certain buzz about it. But the team I'm worried about is the Rays. Remember waaaaaaay back at the beginning of the season when I picked the Orioles to finish ahead of the Rays? Yeah, I should have put money on that; it would have been like buying BP stock on April 19. The Yanks are 27 games over .500, have a .624 winning percentage, and the best record in baseball, but are still only 1.5 games up in the standings. That means one bad series and the Yanks are looking up at the Rays. So the sooner the Yanks can get there bullpen going and Andy Pettitte back on the mound, the better.

I know I'll be doing some tweeting during the game, and John might be as well. So follow @jgeant and @jphealy. We'll see how many Boston "fans" get thrown out of the bleachers tonight.


SEE YA!

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Game 39....maybe?

It doesn't look good right now as it's been raining all day and looks to continue to rain off and on the rest of the night. But if they do play, here's the lineups.

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Juan Miranda DH
Randy Winn LF

LHP CC Sabathia

Red Sox
Scutaro SS
Pedroia 2B
Drew RF
Youkilis 1B
Martinez C
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Hall LF
McDonald CF

RHP Beckett

That's Why It's the Greatest Rivalry: So yesterday I made a post about how I wasn't as excited for this Yankees-Red Sox matchup and that I thought it was losing its luster. Well that didn't take long to prove me wrong. Yesterday's game is one example of why these two teams are the greatest rivalry in sports. It doesn't matter where they are in the standings, these two teams desperately want to beat each other no matter how they do it and yesterday's game was the exact definition of a Yankees-Red Sox game. You just don't know what you're going to get when they face each other.
Battle of Aces?: CC Sabathia has done a very good job at continuing to be the Yankees ace this season. Josh Beckett for the Red Sox....not so much. Beckett has struggled this season with a 1-1 record and 7.46 ERA.
Make Joe West Proud: With rain in the forecast, the Yankees and Red Sox should make Joe West proud and get this game in as quick as possible (if there's a window to play) so they don't have to make it up later in the season.


UPDATE 7:42: Jim here. the tarp is apparently off the field and first pitch is scheduled for 8 PM. Outfielder Greg Golsen was optioned to AAA and Mark Melancon was recalled to help the depleted bullpen.

As usual, we'll be on the Twitter accounts: @jgeant and @jphealy.

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Yankees Annihilate Sox...Again

NYY 14 17 0

BOS 3 8 1


WP: Aceves (3-0)
LP: Buchholz (3-3)

Players of theGame: Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli has been tremendous while Posada has been sidelined. He had 3 hits and 5 RBI today, the most RBI against the Red Sox by a Yankee catcher since Lawrence Yogi Berra had 7 on July 3, 1957.


As I type this Mark Teixeira just hit his third home run of the game. So I'll add him too. His three home runs are the first by a Yankee since A-Rod against the Angels in 2005, and the first by a Yankee against the Red Sox since Lou Gehrig, who was the only Yankee to do it against them until today.


Play of the Game: CC Sabathia hitting Pedroia in the butt. Despite giving up a go-ahead home run right after he hit him, everyone knew it was in response to Josh Beckett's wild night. Don't get me started with Dumb and Dumber in the FOX booth today, but Sabathia is protecting his players. Beckett blatantly threw at Cervelli, almost injured Cano, and Jeter, well, that was out of frustration. Bottom line, you can't be throwing as hard as you can and praying it's a strike. That's how players get hurt, and if you're going to do that, watch out cause one of yours is going to get hit too.
Turning Point of the Game: Mark Teixeira's first home run. Tex's homer gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead and that was all they needed today as they manhandled the Red Sox.


Notes:

The Yankees have outscored Boston 24-6 in these first two games.

Alfredo Aceves is the latest to catch the injury bug. He left the game with a leg or back issue in the sixth. These injuries are getting absurd, but this is their sixth win in a row, so it ain't all that bad.

The game went into a rain dealy with 2 outs in the bottom of the fifth and CC Sabathia had a 2-2 count on Martinez. Now I know it was raining cats and dogs, but Sabathia could have gotten one more pitch in to try and make it an official game. Because of the delay Sabathia was shortchanged a win since he only went 4 2/3 innings.

Tomorrow

Yankees @ Red Sox 8:05 p.m. Fenway Park

Burnett (4-0) vs Lester (2-2)

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Hughes Continues to Impress in Win

NYY 10 11 0
BOS 3 9 0

WP: Hughes (4-0)
LP: Beckett (1-1)


Player of the Game: Phil Hughes. Man has Hughes put together a good start or what. Seven innings, seven hits, two earned runs, and seven strikeouts while only walking one. Seventy of his 101 pitches were strikes.

Play of the Game: Nick Swisher's 3-run home run. It was the only home run of the game and it put the Yankees up 3-0 early, and Beckett began to get rattled.

Turning Point of the Game: Francisco Cervelli's bases loaded walk. The walk made it 4-1 and signaled that Beckett had lost control of the ball and couldn't find the plate if he had a GPS.

Notes:

• The fact that Beckett lost the plate in the sixth was a bit nervewracking and infuriating, to both the fans, and the Yankees. Robbie Cano left the game, although Girardi said he'll play tomorrow, he came close to Cervelli twice, and Jeter got hit. When Jeter got hit it looked like the Yankees bench was a bit fed up and were up on the front step yelling out onto the field. Now, it's tough to determine if he was throwing on purpose being the bases were loaded, but nobody likes to see their players get hit. Beckett was pitching more like Daniel Cabrera or Vicente Padilla today, guys known for not having control and hitting batters. And nobody likes those pitchers.
• Phil Hughes did not retaliate, and we'll see what happens tomorrow, since CC looked very agitated during that sixth inning. But Hughes has been brilliant. He just went into Fenway Park and basically shut down the Red Sox, bringing his ERA down to 1.69 and is a perfect 4-0 on the season.
• Another disheartening outing from David Robertson. In a 10-2 blowout you don't want to walk two batters and give up a run. If he allows a 3-run homer after those two walks, it's 10-5 and suddenly the Red Sox have life.

Tomorrow

Yankees at Red Sox 3:05 p.m. Fenway Park

Sabathia (4-1) vs Buchholz

UPDATE: One more thing I want to add. I was listening to the last inning on the radio and when the final out was made John Sterling just simply said "Yankees win." What's up with that? I know it was a blowout but he always at least half-asses a "Thheee Yankeeees win!" A bit disappointing if you ask me. I wonder what the IT IS HIGH blog will say about this.

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Phucking Philthy

Yankees 3 8 0

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A's 1 3 0

WP: Hughes (2-0)
LP: Sheets (1-1)
S: Rivera (6)

Player of the Game: Phil Hughes. That has to be one of the easier decisions ever. 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 10 K's? I'd take that from CC, but from the 5th starter that's just icing on the cake. This was the second time in three years Hughes has taken a no-hitter deep into a game. So I guess it's third time's a charm next time.

Play/Turning Point of the Game: Robinson Cano's RBI triple in the fourth inning. Cano is obviously loving hitting in the five-hole, and he just keeps driving in runs, giving Hughes the little support he needed.

Notes:

• One of the big "debates" before the season was which team had a better rotation. Well, let's see. After tonight, Hughes has a better ERA than Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. You tell me who has a better rotation.
• With the win tonight, the Yanks win their 5th straight series to start the season. And they go for the sweep tomorrow (actually today at this point.)

SEE YA!

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