Momentum. When it’s on your side, it can be a really good thing. And when it’s not, there’s no telling how bad things can get.
Unfortunately for the Boston Red Sox last night, they found themselves on the wrong side of it in a 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees last night. The loss for the local nine gives the Bronx Bombers sole possession of first place in the AL East.
In case you were wondering, the Red Sox hold a seven game lead over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the wild card standings.
The Red Sox entered the 5th inning with a 2-0 lead over the Yankees and their starter Bartolo Colon on the strength of a Jacoby Ellsbury RBI double and a David Ortiz monstrous home run to right field. It was looking like they would put a little more distance between themselves and the Yankees when they managed to load up the bases.
But rather than stick with Colon, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi went to his bullpen for a lefty in Boone Logan to face Adrian Gonzalez. Logan ended up making Gonzo look silly as he struck him out on three pitches to keep the game where it was at 2-0 Red Sox. You can bet that won’t happen again to Gonzo if he faces Logan down the road.
Now having that momentum on their side, the Yankees worked some magic in the 6th inning off of Jon Lester. It’s really funny how one bad inning can cost you the game. And it didn’t help that Lester walked the leadoff batter, the 9th place hitter Eduardo Nunez to start the inning.
The Yankees captain followed that up with a single and Curtis Granderson would bring Nunez home with a single. Lester’s second walk off the inning, this one to Mark Teixeira loaded up the bases. The Yankees got the second run of the game when Robinson Cano grounded into a double play but that was an exchange the Red Sox would gladly take to get two outs. But Nick Swisher closed out the scoring on the night with a double that brought in Granderson.
After that, the Red Sox couldn’t really get anything going other than a Carl Crawford double off of Logan. Corey Wade, Rafael Soriano and the Godfather of closers, Mariano Rivera, shut the Red Sox down.
Up until that fateful 6th inning, Lester was throwing the ball well. He had an excellent command and his cutter was downright nasty. But when his command went array in the 6th, the Yankees took full advantage. Take away that inning and we’re probably talking about the Red Sox being in first place today and not the other way around.
Matt Albers was outstanding out of the Red Sox bullpen as he struck out two with a walk in two innings of work. Randy Williams and Alfredo Aceves combined on a nice inning as well with Williams issuing a walk.
A win today for the Red Sox would be really nice but they know it won’t come easy against CC Sabathia. They’ll need John Lackey to be at the top of his game this afternoon.
We’ll be back later with this afternoon’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now enjoy the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
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With playoffs nearly assured for both, Sox-Yankees falls flat [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
Slide into second [Boston Globe]
Time for bats to swing into action [Boston Globe]
Hot team from New York has something to prove [Boston Globe]
Miller penned in for relief [Boston Globe]
Aviles suddenly in the middle of it [Boston Globe]
It was jobs well done by ’pen [Boston Globe]
Lester’s outing deep-sixed [Boston Globe]
The numbers speak well of Granderson [Boston Globe]
Sox looking up at NY [Boston Herald]
Rivals know it’s first things first [Boston Herald]
It’ll be battle to the wire [Boston Herald]
Youk: Ortiz deserves second RBI [Boston Herald]
To Lester, sixth makes no sense [Boston Herald]
Sox looking up at NY [Boston Herald]
Rivals trading places? [Boston Herald]
Nick Swisher: Yanks’ series-opening win proves Red Sox are ‘human’ [Clubhouse Insider]
Sox stumble, Yankees take over first, 3-2 [CSNNE.com]
Don’t overhype this weekend [CSNNE.com]
Bond between Ortiz, Cano bigger than baseball [CSNNE.com]
Sox stars lack shine in series opener [CSNNE.com]
Red Sox notes: Ortiz makes history with HR [CSNNE.com]
Rapid reaction: Yankees 3, Red Sox 2 [ESPN Boston]
One bad inning costs Lester and Sox [ESPN Boston]
Closing Time: Lester, Sox see streaks end against Yankees [Full Count]
Dustin Pedroia on takeout slide: ‘It was Tom [expletive] Emanski’ [Full Count]
How the Yankees finally got to Jon Lester [Full Count]
Boone Logan outsmarts Adrian Gonzalez for one night [Full Count]
There’s A Message In Yankees’ Win Over Red Sox [Hartford Courant]
Yankees Bullpen Shows Its Strength in Series-Opening Win Over Red Sox [NESN.com]
Red Sox Hoping to Avoid Repeat of Recent Second-Half Woes Against Yankees [NESN.com]
New York ovecomes early deficit, takes over first place in A.L. East [Providence Journal]
Papelbon putting it all together at the right time [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Lowrie set to return on Monday [Providence Journal]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times and The Journal News websites. You can also check out our Bloguin brother, NYY Stadium Insider.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
