Tonight was no fun. No fun at all. Josh Beckett stinks up the joint. Ray Allen signs with the Heat. The Yankees beat Boston 10-8 in a game that lasted one minute shy of 4 hours.
Tonight's game was actually pretty exciting. Josh Beckett came out and was just awful. I can't stress that enough. Here's what his first inning consisted of:
- D. Jeter singled to shallow center
- C. Granderson singled to right, D. Jeter to second
- A. Rodriguez hit by pitch, D. Jeter to third, C. Granderson to second
- R. Cano walked, D. Jeter scored, C. Granderson to third, A. Rodriguez to second
- M. Teixeira singled to center, C. Granderson and A. Rodriguez scored, R. Cano to third
- N. Swisher hit sacrifice fly to right, R. Cano scored
- R. Ibanez singled to right, M. Teixeira to third
- E. Chavez hit sacrifice fly to center, M. Teixeira scored
- R. Martin grounded out to third
The result of all that hitting and scoring was a 5-0 lead to start the game. Luckily, Kuroda was just as terrible as Boston, and gave up 5 runs of his own in the first, capped off by a Saltalamacchia 3 run blast.
Both teams scored another run in the second, and with these two teams having to go three more times over the next two days, it appeared as though we'd both have to burn through the pen early. But it didn't end up being so bad as both pitchers settled in. Kuroda lasted 5.2 innings while Beckett was yanked after 5.
Beckett's line on the night: 5 IP 8 hits 6 ER 2 BB 5 K's. Not exactly "Yankee killing". And well, the bullpen wasn't any better. Albers threw a scoreless inning. He was relieved by Andrew Miller. He walked Granderson, gave up a hit to A-Rod and then struck out Cano. Valentine made the call for Padilla who wasn't so scoreless. He gave up a 2 run triple to Teixeira (putting the Yankees up 8-7) and also gave up an RBI double to Ibanez before getting replaced by Atchison; who gave up an RBI single to Chavez before he made it out of the inning. The Sox came into the 7th with a one-run lead and left with a three-run deficit. Thanks for nothing, Vincente.
Melancon finished the final two innings and looked, dare I say, awesome? 1 hit, 2 K's, no walks.
At least the bats came out to play as every single Sox player got a hit. Ortiz and Gonzo each had 3 hits, and Nick's personal favorite, Mauro Gomez, had two. Kalish, Ortiz, Salty, Ross (HR over the monster), Gonzo and Gomez each had at least one RBI as well.
The Sox had a couple chances at the end of the game. Punto was up with two outs and two men on in the 7th and shockingly!! struck out. I know we don't have too many big bats hanging out on the bench, but surely Shoppach or Lillebridge would have been a good pinch-hit candidate there. Then, in the 8th, Gonzo was up to bat against Soriano with 2 men on. Soriano looked awful, his pitches were all over the place. Gonzo got him into a 3-1 count... and then weakly grounded out to first.
A few places we can second-guess Valentine in this loss, but we have two more to play tomorrow, so let's put this one to bed and focus our negative energy on the Miami Heat.
