Ground Hog Day......
What is it when the Sox and Yanks get together, is there a special water they drink, it's April for crying out loud. Once again yesterday, the Sox and Yankees answered all the questions about why these games are hyped so much,and why they constantly play these games on national t.v. .
A Yankee/Red Sox game is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get, I guess. Sometimes they are nail-bitters, and other times it looks like there will be no conclusion until the very last out has been recorded. This time the last out was recorded almost five hours after the last pitch. The sun was high in the sky when the game started, it was setting when the game ended. Terry Francona had a head full of hair, he is now bald, President Obama was just starting his first 100 days, he is now planning his re-election campaign. Lets put it this way...it was a long game.
This game was billed as a pitchers duel, however few thought it would be, especially not on the Sox side, as Josh Beckett has been just plain average these days. On the otherside, A.J. Burnett had been pretty dominate to start his Yankee career. So when the Yanks jumped to an early 6-0 lead, and Burnett had only allowed one hit thru three innings, you had to think that this series was heading for splits-ville. What ensued after though was just another historic Yankee/Sox game.
Pitching- Josh Beckett was horriffic, end of story. He had only one 1-2-3 inning, and was scored upon eight times in just five complete innings. What was more amazing, was that Beckett was actually in line to win the game, after the Sox rallied in the 5th to take the lead. For some reason though, Terry Francona gambled on Beckett, he quickly found out that was a bad move. Who knows whats going on with Beckett, it's very clear at this point we are looking at guy closer to the 2008 version of his self, and not the lone brilliant year of his career 2007.
On the other side, Yankees starter A.J. Burnett was equally as bad. He also failed to make it six innings, and he was also tagged for a touchdown and two point conversion. Sure Burnett started good, but the end result was the same, he stunk on wheat as well.
Hitting- What's to say, the Boston Red Sox hitters were brilliant yesterday (notable exception Rally Killer Donkey Hole Drew). Every Sox hitter except Rally Killer had a hit. The Sox feasted on the Yankees mediocre bullpen like it was thanksgiving, and they were very thankful. The Sox made the Yankee pitchers pay for every mistake, including when Yankee manager Joe Giradi walked Drew to get to Mike Lowell, what a dope. Drew is an automatic out, and Lowell is one of the hottest hitters in the American league. Lowell took it personally, as he crushed a three run go ahead homer over the MONSTAH !
Bullpen- Despite the final score, I felt the Sox bullpen looked pretty good overall. They pitched four innings yesterday, and allowed only one earned run, not bad at all. Manny Delcarmen continues to be impressive, and Ramon Rameriz is indeed the real deal. Once again Hideki Okajima struggled as he gave up a towering homerun to Robbie Cano. His run was the only one the bullpen surrendered. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a pretty sloppy 9th inning, however despite throwing 30 pitches, he got out unscathed, and allowed no runs to cross.
As I said to start the season, The Yankees bullpen is a mess, and the only way they can fix it is to throw more money @ that problem like they do everything else. The Yankee bullpen also surrendered a touchdown and two point conversion, and they were scored upon in every inning they pitched. Luckily for them, the Sox did not need to bat in the 9th, otherwise who knows what the final score would have been.
Who know what tonight will bring, of course this game is on ESPN, and will have an 8pm start time.. Which means both teams will be boarding a plane around 3 am or so. Hopefully this will be just a "normal" three hour affair between these two teams.
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