The Yankees series win this week was about as ugly as Boston’s ballpark, but wins are wins. And with those wins, the Yankees are now just a half game back of the Red Sox in the AL East.
On Monday, Wang got whacked. He gave up four runs in the third and three more in the seventh. The Yankees’ bats didn’t do much until it didn’t matter and Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada went deep in the ninth inning to make it a 9-5 final.
The Yankees got back on track on Tuesday. Jaret Wright left the game after five shutout innings before he gave it up to Scott Proctor and watched him turn a seven run lead into a three run lead. Kyle Farnsworth added fuel to the fire when he gave up a run in the eighth. A-Rod hit his eleventh homerun of the season and he drove in three runs. Johnny Damon also went deep and he scored two runs. Mariano Rivera got the Yanks out of trouble in the eighth and picked up ninth save in the process.
Yesterday, the Yankees jumped out to an 8-5 lead after five innings before the Red Sox loaded the bases in the eighth inning. Kyle Farnsworth then pulled a rabbit out of his hat and struck out David Ortiz to get out of his own jam. Randy Johnson was hit hard and hit early and he gave up five runs (all in the first three innings) on nine hits with eight strikeouts. Rivera pitched a perfect ninth and picked up his tenth save of the season.
The pathetic Royals are on deck this weekend. There’s no doubt that anything less then a sweep would be a disappointment.
