112 Plate Appearances Later...

The third incarnation of the matchup between A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett finally delivered on it's pitcher's duel billing. They combined to allowed 16 earned runs the first time around and Burnett didn't hold up his end of the deal when they faced off almost exactly two months ago, getting bounced in the second inning.

This time, however, not only did Beckett and Burnett keep their competition at bay, every pitcher that was called in from the bullpen kept a scoreless tie alive into the bottom of the 15th inning. When Joe Girardi pulled Phil Hughes in favor of Mariano Rivera heading into the top of the 9th, Matt texed me and said "Now who is going to pitch the 10th?" It was only the tip of the iceberg.

The answer to that question was Alfredo Aceves, who also pitched the 11th and 12th, holding the Red Sox just one hit and one walk and striking out three. Brian Bruney added two scoreless innings of his own.

Junichi Tanzawa, who made his major league debut by facing Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the 14th, got him to line out to center and took a huge sigh of relief. He then allowed back to back singles by Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano, and Ramiro Pena was brought in to run for Jorgie. Eric Hinske ripped one to right field that appeared that it would end the game but J.D. Drew snared it with an impressive running catch to keep the Sox alive. Melky Cabrera was up next and during the course of his 8 pitch at bat ripped a 3-2 pitch down the rightfield line that was foul by no more than six inches before striking out swinging.

Phil Coke sat down the side in order in the top of the 15th and the Yanks got right back at it. Derek Jeter led off with a bloop single, bringing up Johnny Damon. For some incomprehensible reason, Damon, who has 13 home runs at Yankee Stadium alone this year, tried to bunt. After one unsuccessful attempt, his second popped up right towards Victor Martinez at first base and he made a diving catch. It looked like the game might be extended further when Mark Teixeira struck out swinging and A-Rod came up to the plate.

He worked the count to 2-1 and blasted a breaking ball in the the opposing bullpen to bring the game to an end after five hours and and thirty three minutes. There is a tendency to classify any curve ball that get hit for a home run as a "hanger" but this one was really not that bad. A-Rod just reached down and rocked it. The 73 at bat home run-less was ended at the best possible time.

It was hard tell whether it was a triumph of pitching or a failure of hitting. Obviously, to preserve a 0-0 tie for the better part of two full games the hurlers had to be doing something right. But there were 15 walks issued and the teams were a combined 0-19 with runners in scoring position. Just like Thursday night, it wasn't pretty. And just like I said after that game, we'll take what we can get.

Wrapping It Up For The Weekend

Sorry Fackers. Like Jay, I'm heading out for a little weekend trip to the heart of enemy territory, so things are going to be a bit sparse around here. We'll have previews, maybe recaps, maybe scattered updates. But don't count on too much.

That also means that even though last night's game marked the two thirds point of the season, we won't be doing our usual extrapolations and ZIPS. Sorry math geeks. If you have a third grade education you should be able to figure out how to do the extrapolations on your own. For the ZIPS projections, check out the awesome fangraphs.com

Before I go, here are a few Sox related thoughts:

During the series in Boston in June, I posted a recap of the Sox off-season moves compared to the those of the Yankees. Though lauded in the media, they haven't been too great. Smoltz is pitching like he has a giant fork sticking out of his back, Kotsay was DFA's then traded, Bard was released before the season started, Penny's been so-so, Baldelli's on his second DL stint, and Varitek will now be losing playing time to Victor Martinez.

I was a little perplexed by the Sox deadline moves - particularly the quick flip of LaRoche for Casey Kotchman. They way I figured it, Youkilis, Kotchman, Lowell, Martinez, Varitek, and Lowell would all be fighting for playing time amongst the corners, catcher, and DH. Last night's line up may have given some insite into their thought process. With Jason Bay sidelined with a sore hammy, Youk was in leftfield. Youkilis made 18 OF apperances in 2006, but has played less than 9 innings out there since. And left field in Yankee Stadium is far different than catching caroms off the Monster.

I wonder though, if J.D. Drew continues to struggle, might the Sox give Youk more time in the OF to get the other bats in at first and third? Time will tell, but from my vantage point in the upper deck last night, Youkilis didn't look too comfortable out in left. He was continually short-arming his throws like an infielder as well. But it speaks volumes as to the guy's versatility that he was able to that. Fack him anyway.

I was a bit surprised that Francona left former Yankee Billy Traber out there for so long. It was the equivalent of waving the white flag. Given the way the Yanks swung the bats it may have been the smart move, but seemed to be in stark contrast to the all-in look of the initial line up, i.e. Youkilis in left.

Lastly, I'm extremely interested to see what comes out of the David Ortiz press conference tomorrow. I realize it's convenient for the union to address this now since they're based in NYC, but it can't the wisest move for Ortiz to do this right in the thick of a critical series against the Yankees, in New York. You knwo the tabloids are going to be hanging on every word like a pack of hungry dogs.

That's it until the preview folks. Enjoy your Friday.

Hey, Zero Out Of Seven Ain't Bad...

Okay, I'm sorry. I lied. It's pretty bad.

In and of themselves, the 2 2/3 innings of 4ER ball Chien Ming Wang threw last night weren't as bad at the 2 2/3 wherein A.J. Burnett gave up 5 runs the night before. Unfortunately for the Yankees though, baseball games don't occur in a vacuum and the latest in a series of slow motion trainwrecks for the formerly dominant sinkerballer could have far-reaching implications.

All signs pointed to the Yankees turning it around last night at Fenway. They were due. Going winless in their last six appearances against the Sox was fluky and it was about time they got on the board. After a marginal outing against Texas, Wang seemed poised to right the ship. Neither of those things happened.

CMW stumbled right out of the gate. He walked J.D. Drew and Youk back to back in the first inning setting up an RBI single by Jason Bay. What was probably worse than the fact that he allowed a run was that he faced seven batters and used up 29 pitches. For a pitcher that still wasn't fully stretched out, it was an ominous beginning.

Jorge Posada tied it with a solo shot in the top of the 2nd, but the Sox opened up their half of the inning by going single, double, double and driving in two more runs. Wang retired the next three batters in a row, but a 9 pitch battle with the Fackin' Youkstah helped drive his pitch count to 58 after only two innings. Wang gave up a homer to Mike Lowell to lead off the 3rd which most likely sealed his fate. He was pulled in favor of Phil Hughes despite having just struck out Nick Green for the second out of the third inning.

69 pitches, 39 strikes, 5 earned runs, six hits and three walks marked CMW's second best start of the year. It's truly hard to believe that this guy was once a dominant pitcher in the Major Leagues. It pains me to say this, but Kei Igawa almost certainly would have done better than Wang has so far given the same opportunities.

Last night might be the last chance Wang gets in the starting rotation for a while, but that question alone is worthy of another entire post. His probable replacement, Phil Hughes, wasn't perfect either, but was a lot better than Wang allowing two runs in 3 2/3 IP. Those two came in the fourth on a two run shot by Youk and put the Sox up 6-2.

The Yankees did manage to claw their way back in the game and make it interesting. Back to back homers by Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira against Ramon Ramirez in the 7th brought the Bombers within one, but Okajima and Papelbon stifled the rally in the 8th and 9th. Teix continued his hot hitting, picking up nearly half the Yankees' hits, and was the only Pinstriper with a plate appearance to not leave a man on base. The Yanks left 20 men on in total (2 for 15 w/RISP). They are .141 in those situations for the season series.

The Yanks are averaging 4.0 runs per game against Boston this year, which wouldn't be bad if the Sox weren't scoring 7.3.

It could be worse. The Yankees could be floundering with a marginal record despite having played like the Rays are. They are still only one game back on the Sox after dropping all seven head to head meetings this year. It's a pretty incredible feat in its own right. A win tomorrow brings it back to square one.

The lesson for tonight is that due don't do shit. The same goes for tomorrow night. Just as a streak of coin flips ending up as tails doesn't alter the probability of the next flip, the victories piling up on the Red Sox' side of the ledger don't change the fact that tomorrow night's game is still about a 50/50 proposition.

/checks pitching match up for tomorrow

Okay, make that 60/40 Yanks.

Seriously... tomorrow will be the night. It has to be, right?