Pinstripes Are Not Slimming
I had chalked this up to a loss even before the first pitch was thrown, but John Lackey pitched competently enough to keep the Yankees to a handful of runs and was supported by perfect innings by Manny Delcarmen and Felix Doubront. When two questionable relievers hold the line in a pressure-packed situation, you hope that the offense will come through and notch a run or two.
The Red Sox shot out to an early lead in the second by virtue of Victor Martinez’s leadoff homer and consecutive doubles by Adrian Beltre and Mike Lowell. After the second inning the visiting batters managed a mere four baserunners: singles by Marco Scutaro and Beltre, a base on balls by J.D. Drew, and Darnell McDonald reaching on Ramiro Pena’s error.
Pena filled in at third for Alex Rodriguez. In typical Rodriguez fashion the third baseman was scratched from the game because of a freak injury during batting practice. Rodriguez was too preoccupied saying hi to Joe Buck that he didn’t realize Lance Berkman peppered a ball straight at him. After the strike to the shin Rodriguez was shown rolling on the turf in agony, like Cristiano Ronaldo. X-rays were negative.
The last-minute substitution of Pena only served to fire up the inconsequential infielder. Pena overcame his fifth-inning error to single to right in the sixth to plate his second run of the game.
Scutaro had an error of his own in the first. Nick Swisher was being swisheriffic at first with one out and Mark Teixeira grounded out to Lowell. Lowell touched first and fired to Scutaro to complete the double play. As the force was off Scutaro attempted to throw it back to Lowell to initiate the rundown but ended up Knoblauching it over his first baseman. The flub was not costly.
The Red Sox shortstop made a heady play in the sixth, all but tackling Pena when he tried to advance past the keystone sack on his stolen base attempt. Martinez’s throw slipped by Scutaro but the infielder made sure Pena wouldn’t get any further than second base.
Major league pitchers should not be allowed to name their kids. Roger Clemens’s children all have names that start with “k,” as in strikeout. C.C.’s initials stand for Carsten Charles and his sons are named Carsten Charles III and Carter Charles (born August 5, 2010). His two daughters are named Jaeden Arie and Cyia Cathleen (after Cy Young). Jaeden is either happy to be different or will have years of therapy to cope with that difference.
| Game 111: August 7, 2010 | ||
| Red Sox 63-48 | 2 | L: John Lackey (10-7) |
| 2B: Adrian Beltre (33), Mike Lowell (6) HR: Victor Martinez (10) | ||
 Yankees68-41 | 5 | W: C.C. Sabathia (14-5) S: Mariano Rivera (23) |
| 3B: Curtis Granderson (6) | ||
