Boston Massacre 2009: Red Sox @ Yankees 8/9

Yep, that just happened.

Word, son.

Sweep complete. We may very well look back to August 9, 2009 as the day Boston’s season ended. Wishful thinking? Maybe, we’ll see. What’s certain, though, is that the team which took the field these past four games against the Yankees were pretty putrid offensively. Let’s recap some of the glaring deficiencies:

• They had a scoreless drought which lasted 31 consecutive innings.
  

  "Ahhh, my pride!"

• Boston’s 1-4 hitters (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Martinez, Youkilis) went 14-65 (.215), with 5RBIs and 16Ks.
• Their offense left 82 men on base, including 39 in Thursday’s 13-6 loss.
• Boston had only 2 (1-run) leads the entire 4-game series, each lasting just a 1/2 inning. In both instances the Yankees responded harshly, with 8 runs in the bottom half of the 4th on Thursday, and 4 runs tonight in the 8th.
• Between the 4th inning of Game 1 and the 8th inning in Game 4 (37-inning span) of the series, BoSox never held a lead. Of course that makes sense given bullet 1.

If that isn’t offensive futility, I don’t know what is.

Today’s game, a 5-2 win for the Yankees, mirrored the Burnett/Beckett effort on Friday. Each starting pitcher had stellar outtings. BoSox starter Jon Lester went 7 innings, struck out 7, and surrended 1 ER from 5 hits. Andy Pettitte, ol’ reliable, equaled his counterpart, and then some. He also went 7 IP, also scattered 5 hits, but didn’t allow a single run. He worked out of his only real jam in the 4th, eliciting an inning-ending Jason Varitek line-out with the bases-load. Besides that, he was dominant.

Boston almost made it out alive tonight, though. But just when the Red Sox thought leaving the Bronx with at least 1 victory was in sight, this after a towering blast from V-Mart to left, Johnny Damon’s homer to tie, and Mark Teixeira’s homer the very next at-bat to lead, slammed the door shut. For good. Nick Swisher tacked on a two-run single later in the inning for good measure as well.

Oh, and how could I forget about A-Rod?! He was the one that broke the tie-game in the bottom of the 7th with a solo shot. But he isn’t clutch at all…

It’s really not looking good for Boston, losers of 6 straight. They’re currently tied with the ever dangerous Rangers in the Wild Card, and ahead of the Rays by just 1.5 in the division. I’m not declaring their season as over, but after back-to-back sweeps at the hands of division rivals, I’d be panicking if I was a Sox fan.

The Yankees (69-42), are winners of 7 straight and owners of the league’s best record.

"Dude, I'm trying not to laugh, but this implosion is hilarious!"

“So much for 8-0, huh?” – Phil Coke

Truer words never spoken.

—-

W: Coke 1IP 3H 0BB 2ER 1K

L: Bard 0.2IP 2H 1BB 3ER 0K

S: Rivera (32)

Full box score here.