The Magic Carpet

By Matthew Storey

Boston Red Sox - 4 (12-6)
New York Yankees - 1 (9-9)

Winning Pitcher: Masterson (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Pettitte (2-1)

HR: None

Yankees lost their 3rd straight of the weekend in Fenway, to be swept by the hot Red Sox, when Andy Pettitte's 4th consecutive quality start was not backed up with another quality Offensive showing. Facing the weakest pitcher of this group (having faced Ace quality Lester and Beckett, with Verlander on deck) in Red Sox kid, Justin Masterson, who despite having thrown a no-hitter in MLB and having had good early career success, doesn't really have the 'stuff' profile you look for. Nonetheless, he shut down the Yankees hot bats (only Cano and Melky had multi-hit games) and the Sox nibbled enough to gain the win.

Sox highlights included an RBI 2B from Papi and a daring steal of home by Jacoby Elsbury (in a bases-loaded situation, if a Yankee ever ran in that spot - I think Guru might K-I-L-L him, too risky for my taste!).

Yankee highlights came on the hill, where Pettitte is simply CRUISING thus far in '09, as with Games 1 and 2, each Yankee starter provided the sort of work that will win the majority of their games.

Joba, in game 1, had little on his 'stuff' but nonetheless handed the bullpen a winning hand, if Brian Bruney had been available (15 day DL out of nowhere, right before game), Yankees would have had Game 1 and when they send Mariano to the 9th with a 2-run lead they win 97 of 100. This was one of the 3 he'll blow this year (margin of error +/-2).

AJ, in game 2, was cruising as well, but got undone by the rotation reshuffle, instead of following Chien-Ming Wang and his sinkers, he's ended up following Joba, whose stuff mirrors his own, after going 9 innings in two games seeing that sort of fastball/curveball, power game (same as Beckett, Verlander), Sox hitters finally caught up with AJ. But, again, give AJ 6-0 leads and how many will they lose? Maybe 2 of 33 times?

The pen crumbled a lot in game 1 and 2, but with Bruney out and the sorts of innings they've had to absorb, they get a pass - there isn't a bullpen in Baseball with the sorts of innings/k ratios those young arms can put up, they've proven in '08 what they can do and been brilliant when rested thus far.

To replace Bruney, Yankees brought up their #1 Relief prospect, Mark Melancon, and he gave them two strong innings in his debut, securing a 5 pitch 1-2-3 in the 7th and loading the bases with wildness in the 8th, before shutting down the threat.

Yankees fall to 9-9 with the loss, and head to Detroit for the tough Verlander coming off two bad outings, which can't be a good thing for Yankee hitters!