Yankees Get Huge Series Win over Red Sox, Gain Momentum for September Finish
September 2, 2011 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
This past week we saw the Yankees win an important series for the first time against the Boston Red Sox this season.
Going into the series, the Yankees trailed Boston by 1.5 games and were looking to make up some ground.
In the first game, the Yankees took advantage of the pitching matchup with CC Sabathia against John Lackey.
Sabathia came into the game 0-4 against Boston in 2011, but on Tuesday night, he would not be denied a victory.
Sabathia went 6 innings, gave up 10 hits, 2 runs and 2 walks and struck out 10. It wasn’t Sabathia’s best performance of the season, but he showed a lot of grit and guts out there.
For Sabathia’s confidence going forward, he now knows he can beat Boston this year; he just has to keep his mistakes very limited. Sabathia improved to 18-7 on the season.
What you saw in the game was Lackey make a tremendous mistake by plunking Francisco Cervelli to start off the seventh inning. Lackey was irritated at Cervelli because he clapped his hands when he got to home plate after hitting a home run off him in the fifth inning.
Really, Lackey? He was excited. Cervelli didn’t show you up. It ended up costing Lackey because Cervelli came around to score and made it 5-2, which was the final score of the game.
The second game saw the Yankees get to Josh Beckett for five runs and had a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning.
But the only problem was that Phil Hughes couldn’t hold the lead and the Red Sox won 9-5.
But the more important thing was that the Yankees showed they could get to Beckett if they were patient enough and didn’t make bad swings against him.
The game on Thursday night did not in any way favor the Yankees.
Boston had Jon Lester on the mound and for the most part of his career, he has owned the Yankees.
The Yankees had A.J. Burnett on the mound. Burnett pitching against Boston in Fenway Park had trouble written all over it.
It was the complete opposite.
The Yankees made Lester expend a ton of energy, having him throw almost 50 pitches in the first inning—knocking him out of the game by the fifth inning.
Burnett gave up a two-run home run to Dustin Pedroia in the fourth inning. And most fans thought this was the beginning of the end for A.J. and he would fall apart.
But he didn’t. He settled down and got through the rest of the fourth.
And then he got through the fifth inning and pitched into the sixth inning and never allowed another runner to score in the game.
Burnett pitched 5.1 innings, allowed 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. By far, it was the best performance he put out there in nearly two months.
And given he pitched better than Hughes did, Burnett may in fact have saved his job in the starting rotation.
Burnett said he changed around his mechanics and motion and the results in Thursday’s game definitely proved that Burnett may have found something he can work with.
And if they can get that type of production out of Burnett the rest of the season and more importantly in the playoffs, the Yankees become that much more dangerous. Burnett was .
Burnett can’t just be a thrower anymore. He has to pitch. He has to think out on the mound and figure out a way to get people out, even if he doesn’t strike everyone out.
For once, there might be hope for Burnett.
Russell Martin’s two run double put the Yankees ahead 3-2 and Eric Chavez’s RBI single made it 4-2.
The Yankees bullpen continued to pitch well, as they shut down the Red Sox once Burnett left.
Mariano Rivera made it interesting with two walks and allowing a single by Marco Scutaro to load the bases with two outs in the ninth inning.
But his bases loaded strikeout of Adrian Gonzalez to end the game just proved why Rivera is still the best closer in the game.
He took one of the most feared hitters in the American League, in a chance to win the game, and took the bat right out of his hands by putting the ball where he wanted to and having him strike out to end the game looking.
The Yankees can move forward knowing they can beat the Red Sox. The Red Sox might have dominated them early on in the season, but that’s over with.
If not for Hughes blowing the lead Wednesday night, the Yankees had a chance to sweep this entire series and reclaim the lead in the division.
The Yankees and Red Sox will play one final time at Yankee Stadium September 23-25, a series that could determine who the AL East champs will be and who is going to be the wild-card team in the playoffs.
Both the Yankees and Red Sox are likely playoff bound, but this series showed that the Yankees can stand toe-to-toe with the Red Sox, take their best shots, and still be standing when it’s all over.
The Tigers are likely to win the AL Central and facing Justin Verlander is scary by itself, but if somehow the Yankees and Red Sox do get back to the playoffs and end up facing off in the ALCS in 2011, Boston isn’t guaranteed an easy victory anymore.
Boston lost their psychological advantage against the Yankees in this series. Now, whether or not they can still hold onto the AL East for the rest of September is the real question.
For the Yankees, their confidence grew in Boston. They needed it in the worst way.
Winning this series was important for the Yankees. Even if they didn’t take over the division lead, they at least know that Boston doesn’t own them anymore.
It’s going to be a fun finish to the 2011 season.
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