Game 111 - Yanks Use the Broom on Boston

It began to Look and feel a lot like the Burnett-Beckett game when the Red Sox and Yanks swapped zeroes for 14 innings. Tonight's starters, Andy Pettitte and Jon Lester, matched donuts for the first 6 innings. Lester and Boston blinked first in the 7th, allowing an A-Bomb from ARod to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. The Yanks held the overhyped, overrated, Boston lineup scoreless for 31 innings when Andy Pettitte left the game after 7 shutout innings.

Newly acquired Victor Martinez connected for a 2-run blast off Phil Coke in the 8th, as another brilliant performance by Pettitte resulted in a no decision. Why Joe Girardi went with Coke instead of Phil Hughes is a great mystery. My first guess is that lefty Jacob Ellsbury led off the inning and he didn't want the switch-hitting Martinez to bat lefthanded at the Stadium - obviously, a bad calculation. My second guess is Hughes pitched in back-to-back games. However, he only threw 5 pitches and 4 pitches in those 2 games. Are they really protecting him this much?

The Bombers, though, never blinked, as the game changed on 12 pitches. Not even when the Bosox brought in Peter Gammons love child, Daniel Bard. Gammons, who waxes soliloquies and love poems about the hard-throwing Bard, must be crying in his pillow tonight after watching the rookie soil his pants. Bard allowed back-to-back bombs to Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira with 2 outs. It was the 6th time they've followed each other with a dinger, setting a club record. If you're curious, Mantle and Maris went back-to-back 4 times in their magical 1961 season.

The Yanks weren't done, making sure Boston understood before they left NYC who's the better team and crushing their short-term jubilance after Martinez' jack. Gammons' boy walked ARod and Sox manager, Terry Francona, brought in the freak with the rubber neck, Hideki Okajima to get his whipping. Jorge Posada slapped a double and Nick Swisher followed up with a 2-run single to give the Yanks a 5-2 lead with Mariano Rivera all warmed up in the bullpen.

The Great Mo though, insisted on making things interesting, as he always does against Boston. He allowed the talentless, overpaid bust, JD Drew, to leadoff with a single. He retired the next 2 before walking the fraudulent hack, Big Sloppy. Why he didn't challenge the bum is another mystery. Mo would retire Ellsbury for his 32nd save and give the Yanks a huge sweep of their division foe, increasing their lead to 6.5 games with 51 remaining.

Except for Thursday's 13-6 laugher, this had to be a mentally grueling series for the Yanks. For all of Boston's struggles at the plate, it's not like the Pinstripers were tearing the cover off the ball. They scored 1 run in 15 innings Friday and grinded out 1o runs Saturday and Sunday, going 3-20 with RISP. Josh Beckett was brilliant. Jon Lester was excellent, only allowing 1 run and he left with a lead. This series is a credit to the Yankee starters. Burnett, Sabathia and Pettitte combined to toss 22.1 shutout innings. The relievers weren't nearly as great, but they were pretty damn good - only allowing 4 runs in 14.2 innings of work in the series. For once, with the exception of Thursday's game, the Yankee pitchers challenged the Boston hitters and didn't look like a deer in headlights. Perhaps it helps that they weren't facing a performance enhanced Big Sloppy and all-time Yankee killer, Manny Ramirez.

Yankees Record: 69-42