Fatboy Versus Slim
How badly could a game have gone to prefer that it ended in the fifth inning with the score 6-3 in favor of the Yankees instead of playing out the full nine?
How about Mark Teixeira, who chose the Yankees over the Red Sox, blasting two more home runs in the late innings? Not that the third longball should count since it came off Jonathan Van Every. How about the fact that Terry Francona even sent Van Every to the mound, the first position player to pitch in a Red Sox/Yankees game ever?
The concept of run prevention was assiduously applied, but not to Yankees’ offense. The local nine scored in a single inning. Darnell McDonald, one of the few bright chapters in the otherwise dreary tome of the Red Sox’s season thus far, knocked a solo homer with one out in the third. C.C. Sabathia then induced a fly ball out off the bat of Marco Scutaro.
With two out in the inning and a slim one-run lead, Sabathia sought revenge for his teammates who were hit by Josh Beckett in the series opener. Sabathia ignored the fact that no one in their right minds thought Beckett was intentionally hitting Yankees, not even the hair-trigger umpires who dole out illogical warnings regularly.
Dustin Pedroia took a pitch in the back and calmly made his way to first. If only Fox had its act together and had a mic on Pedroia, because you could tell he was making his feelings known to Ron Johnson, Teixeira, the Red Sox bat boy, and anyone else within earshot. Victor Martinez retaliated in the proper way: a two-run shot over the left field wall to give his team a 3-2 lead. It was the local nine’s only lead in the series so far.
Tim McCarver rhapsodized that the Yankees’ signing of Sabathia was “shrewd.” Brian Cashman is as shrewd as a john who knows what street to cruise for prostitutes. The Fox broadcasters were silent for much of the third inning in honor of Ernie Harwell and Robin Roberts. Major League Baseball should seriously consider allowing viewers the option to view and listen to the game in such a manner. The legion of fans that would pay not to hear Joe Buck and McCarver just might be greater than the amount MLB receives from Fox for broadcast rights.
| Game 31: May 8, 2010 | ||
 Yankees21-8 | 14 | W: Alfredo Aceves (3-0) H: Boone Logan (3) |
| 2B: Ramiro Pena (1), Derek Jeter (6) HR: Mark Teixeira – 3 (5) | ||
| Red Sox 15-16 | 3 | L: Clay Buchholz (3-3) |
| HR: Darnell McDonald (3), Victor Martinez (3) | ||
