In their only meeting of spring training this season, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees by the final score of 7-5 to take the first battle of the season. I kid I kid. It really means absolutely nothing that the Red Sox beat the Yankees on Monday night.
Interesting game at City of Palms on Monday night. Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball wasn’t all that sharp as he gave up four runs on 8 hits in 4 innings of work. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out 1. J.D. Drew kept up his hot start to spring training by hitting his first home run of the spring. Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell were both 2 for 3 in the game.
It was an interesting lineup for the Red Sox as they started all their regulars minus Varitek (Mirabelli was catching because of Wakefield on the mound), while the Yankees brought one of their Japanese imports, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and the Giambino to the Fort. Thats why I say it really doesn’t matter what happened in this game. It’s about getting ready for the season.
Speaking of getting ready for the season, Craig Hansen pitched well in the 9th inning to pick up his first save of the spring. He gave up 1 hit and struck out one for the save. Actually the Red Sox entire bullpen (Brendan Donnelly, J.C. Romero, Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez and Hansen) on Monday pitched very well allowing 1 run on 5 hits in 5 innings of work. They also struck out 5 and didn’t walk anyone. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the Sox as they get closer to breaking camp.
