First off, I want to introduce someone I now affectionately refer to as Slappy. As in, Red Sox Slappy. Slappy is the newest writing in the Baseball Historians network, and he couldn’t have picked a better time to start his Red Sox blog, Fenway Fables.
Slappy is a little distraught and couldn’t run down the games in this series. I have no pretenses, so here they are in minute detail. This is a big day. Huge.
Friday, the Red Sox and Yankees played a double header. The Yankees proceeded to score twelve in the first game and fourteen in the second. The Red Sox actually put up a fight in game two and scored eleven, but for those of you who are bad at math, that puts them three runs short.
Johnny Damon was the hero in game one in the city where they wouldn’t pay him fair value. He homered and drove in four runs while scoring three times. He was a double short of hitting for the cycle. Bobby Abreu also had a big game. He went four for five. Jason Giambi drove in three runs and Chien-Ming Wang won his 14th of the season in the 12-4 blowout.
Not settling for one win, Johnny Damon came up big in the second game as well. He had three more hits and three more RBIs and hit homerun number 20. Robinson Cano drove in three and Melky Cabrera had three hits, three runs and two RBIs in the 14-11 win. Sidney Ponson was roughed up but Mike Myers picked up in the win in relief.
You’d think after that doubleheader, the Yankees would be sick of scoring and blowing out the Red Sox. Naw, they did it again on Saturday. Robinson Cano came up huge and drove in five runs and he homered. Damon had three more hits and Jorge Posada had four RBIs. Randy Johnson wasn’t quite his ace self (which has been a problem this year) but he had more then enough for his 14th win of the season.
They can’t all be blowouts and there was definitely some drama yesterday. Down 5-3, the Yankees scored single runs in the eighth (Giambi sac. fly) and in the ninth (Jeter RBI single) to the game up. Then in the tenth, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada both went yard to make it 8-5, a lead that would stand. Mariano Rivera evened up his record at 5-5 with two shutout innings.
Today’s game was a nice old fashioned pitcher’s dual. David Wells and Cory Lidle went head to head and once again, the Yankees came out on top. Bobby Abreu doubled home Melky Cabrera and then Nick Green scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. After six shutout innings, Cory Lidle yielded to the pen and Scott Proctor gave up a solo homerun to Wily Mo Pena. Fortunately Kyle Farnsworth did the job in the ninth (Rivera had the day off) and the Yankees finished their five game sweep over the Red Sox.
So now the Yankees have a nice, comfy six and a half game lead. While the Yankees head out west, it’s against the Mariners, who have lost eleven straight games. What a great time to be a Yankees fan!!!
