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Sox, Yanks to Batlle for Top spot in the East
Boston (33-24) vs, New York (33-23)
June 7, 2009
BOSTON -- Order has been restored in the American League East heading into the latest rivalry showdown, which begins Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Unlike the first two series, when both teams were still looking up at the Blue Jays in the standings, the Yankees and Red Sox are now at the top of the division.
That is what baseball fans have been accustomed to for the better part of the last decade. Last year was different, as the Rays led the AL East for almost the entire season before beating the Red Sox in a seven-game American League Championship Series.
This could be another one of those epic Red Sox-Yankees summers that stretches into October, as was the case in 2003 and '04. Both teams appear positioned to be on a collision course.
"From our standpoint, I believe we have a lot of similarities being in a big market and having high expectations," said Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. "I look forward to it. I think it's a great way to see how you measure up at certain points in the season. I know they've been playing really good baseball and I feel like we're getting into that groove where we're going to be playing some of our best baseball. They're always exciting games, and two teams mixed up with a lot of talent."
Depending on how the Yankees fare in their Monday night game against the Rays, New York will come to Fenway leading Boston by either a half-game or be tied for first place in the AL East.
Though the Red Sox won their first five games against the Yankees for the first time since 1985, it obviously didn't allow them to create any kind of separation. Yes, the Yanks have caught fire since last these two teams met.
"They have a great team," said Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. "They've been playing good baseball. We have to come out and play good baseball, too. Hopefully we come out and win the series."
Boston will lead the series off with ace Josh Beckett, who has been on fire of late. In his previous start, Beckett had a no-hitter for 6 2/3 innings before the Tigers ended his bid. The power righty has turned in six quality starts in a row.
"We expect that from him," said Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay. "We expect him to go out there every time and shut teams down and have a legitimate chance to win and he's been even better than we could hope."
The Yankees will counter with A.J. Burnett, Beckett's former teammate in Florida. When they faced off at Fenway on April 15, an almost unfathomable slugfest developed, with the Red Sox winning, 16-11. You can be fairly certain that won't happen again.
"Two power arms going head-to-head, two guys who played together, know each other well," said Bay. "They've seen Josh a lot, we've seen A.J. a lot over the last few years too. Not a lot of secrets. Just whoever goes out and executes their game-plan better has the best chance."
For the first time this season, Alex Rodriguez will participate in the rivalry. The star third baseman was on the disabled list recovering from right hip surgery when the teams met previously. That will add even more adrenaline to an always electric Red Sox-Yankees crowd.
"Whenever the fans get pumped up a little bit more, it always pumps up the players a little bit more," said Red Sox reliever Justin Masterson. "The fans really help to drive the energy that takes place within the venue."
Pitching matchup
BOS: RHP Josh Beckett (6-2, 4.09 ERA)
Beckett turned in one of the finest performances of his career in his last start, flirting with a no-hitter for 6 2/3 innings. Over 7 1/3 innings, he allowed two hits and no earned runs, striking out nine. Beckett is on a roll, turning in a quality start in his past six outings. This is his sixth start of the season at Fenway, where he is 2-0 with a 4.25 ERA. Beckett has pitched twice against the Yankees this season, going 1-0 with a 9.00 ERA.
NYY: RHP A.J. Burnett (4-2, 4.69 ERA)
Part of the reason the Yankees signed A.J. Burnett this offseason was his success against the Red Sox -- and a rain delay Friday gave them an opportunity to push Burnett back for Tuesday's series opener in Boston. He is 5-0 with a 3.52 ERA lifetime against the Red Sox, though his last start at Fenway was his worst against the Sox, one in which he served up eight runs over five innings. Still, Burnett is coming off one of his best starts of the season -- seven innings, three runs and eight strikeouts against the offensive-minded Rangers. He will pitch on two extra days of rest.
Tidbits
David Ortiz has hit safely in each of his past six games, going 7-for-25 (.280) with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs, and three runs scored. ... Mark Kotsay's homer on Sunday was his first in a Boston uniform. ... Relievers Manny Delcarmen (1.13 ERA) and Ramon Ramirez (1.30 ERA) have been nearly unhittable for the Sox this season.
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Dice-K roughed up early in loss to Texas
Red Sox righty fans eight, but allows five runs on 10 hits
By Maureen Mullen
June 7, 2009
BOSTON -- After nearly being subjected to a perfect game Saturday night, the Rangers wasted little time breaking out their bats Sunday afternoon in a 6-3 victory against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox in front of 37,537 at Fenway Park.
Michael Young, who broke up Jon Lester's perfect game with one out the seventh inning Saturday night, hit a solo home run off Matsuzaka into the Boston bullpen in the first inning.
Matsuzaka went 5 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season, throwing 102 pitches, 71 for strikes. He allowed five runs on 10 hits, striking out eight and not walking a batter. He had one wild pitch in the fifth, scoring Nelson Cruz, who had tripled. Cruz also homered -- off reliever Hideki Okajima in the seventh -- and doubled, leaving him a single shy of the cycle.
"It was almost a little backwards of some of his starts," Sox manager Terry Francona said of Matsuzaka's outing. "Early on he pounded the zone, a lot of strikes. I thought he missed over the middle and up on a team that can really make you pay when you throw the ball in the middle.
"The walks weren't there. The strikes were there but there were a lot of pitches, a lot of deep counts. Anybody starts out 0-2, 1-2, and can work himself back into 3-2 and then you need to make a real good pitch. Especially against a lineup like Texas.
Sometimes when he's working behind in the count, you see less runs than when he's working ahead. It's a little hard to explain sometimes."
Matsuzaka, who has lost his past four starts at Fenway dating back to Sept. 28, 2008, had season highs in innings, pitches, hits allowed and strikeouts, and tied his season high in runs allowed, as his record fell to 1-4, one more loss than he had all of last season, and his ERA jumped to 7.33.
"I do have some thoughts on [my struggles], but I'm not sure if it's something I can improve on right away," Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino. "But the opponents' batting average is something I would like to focus on."
Last season, Matsuzaka led the league with a .211 opponents' average.
Rangers starter Vicente Padilla, who cleared waivers on Friday, held the Red Sox in check for seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
"We certainly wanted to get to him early," Francona said. "He's real tough on right-handers, which we knew going in and he showed that again [Sunday]. There's some deception. There's a lot of movement on his pitches, and he's very tough on right-handed hitters."
Only Kevin Youkilis (1-for-3), David Ortiz (1-for-4) and Mark Kotsay (2-for-3) notched hits off Padilla, who is holding right-handers to a .207 average entering the game. Youkilis was the only righty to get a hit off Padilla (4-3, 5.22 ERA).
The Rangers added a run in the second as David Murphy, who singled, went to second on Marlon Byrd's single and scored on Omar Vizquel's single to left. Murphy's double in the third scored Young, who had singled, and Cruz, who doubled.
The Sox got on the board in the third, as Jason Varitek led off with a walk and went to second on Mark Kotsay's single. Both runners scored when second baseman Ian Kinsler misplayed Jacoby Ellsbury's hard grounder, cutting the Rangers' lead to 4-2. Ellsbury later left with a right shoulder strain.
Kotsay's shot into the right-field seats in the fifth -- his first home run of the season and first in a Boston uniform -- brought the Sox within a run, but they would get no closer.
"I had four at-bats previous to today [and went 0-for-4]," said Kotsay, who was activated from the disabled list before Tuesday's game and made his first start of the season Sunday. "I just said, 'You try to get comfortable as quickly as possible and take good at-bats.' I had four previous at-bats and didn't have any results and fortunately, I had two results and two hits [today]. But they were pretty much meaningless [because] we didn't win."
Through the first six innings, the Sox had three frames end as runners were either picked off or caught stealing. In the first, Youkilis was picked off second. In the second, Jason Bay was caught attempting to steal second, and in the sixth, David Ortiz was thrown out trying to swipe second.
"It's baseball; I mean, it happens," Youkilis said. "Jason Bay got thrown out because it was a 96-mph fastball and a great throw [by Rangers catcher Taylor Teagarden]. [Padilla] throws an offspeed pitch, he's probably safe. It's just baseball, and it's going to happen like that and you cant' do anything about it.
"I don't remember the last time I got picked off, so maybe that's just one time it'll happen in my career and it'll never happen again. It was just a miscommunication thing ... just with two outs, you try to get a bigger lead, and I just had a lapse there and I should have got back."
Cruz's home run snapped Okajima's 16 1/3-scoreless inning streak, going back to April 28, the longest such streak for a Red Sox pitcher this season.
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