Short Circuit
Xander Bogaerts clouted his first home as major leaguer in the top of the fifth. He drove in his fellow rookie Jackie Bradley, Jr., who had reached on an eight-pitch base on balls. Both these players were born in the early 1990s.
This Red Sox team has such great affection between players that they didn’t give Bogaerts the silent treatment on his home run. I hope that Ryan Dempster taught him how to call Yankee Stadium the Toilet, so that Bogaerts could ask in his native tongue Papiemento, “Unda e baño ta?”
Tim McCarver was disgusted by the Red Sox players’ beard-pulling. He commented on Boston’s scruffy appearance and how it contrasted with the Yankees’ clean-shaven look. I like comparing 87-57 to 75-67.
On the other side of the ball the Yankees started Derek Jeter at shortstop and had him batting in the two hole. The Yankee captain could barely field his position and his .190/.288/.254 certainly does not warrant a slot so high in the lineup. He had a CT scan of his left ankle but the results were negative. Just like the results on the field.
It used to be Red Sox fans that envied the young talents that the Tampa Bay Rays cultivated. How we looked at Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings must be how Yankee fans gaze upon Bogaerts and Bradley.
John Lackey got more run support in this game than he had in his previous five starts. Lackey’s line was far from clean: 5⅔ innings, 7 hits, 7 earned runs, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts. He wasn’t helped by Matt Thornton’s inability to get Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano out, but many pitchers have that shortcoming. Thornton induced a fly ball out off Curtis Granderson’s bat, but not after two earned runs had been tacked on to Lackey’s totals.
Drake Britton’s appearance in the eighth also sparked a rally. J.R. Murphy led off with a single and Brett Gardner walked, allowing Mark Reynolds to drive them both in with a scorcher down the left field line.
John Farrell probably wanted to avoid using two of most trusted (and therefore overused) arms, but his bend but not break strategy didn’t accommodate a 13-9 margin. Junichi Tazawa took over from Britton in the eighth and passed the baton to Craig Breslow with two outs remaining in the ninth.
| Game 144: September 7, 2013 | ||
 Boston Red Sox87-57 |
13 | W: John Lackey (9-12) H: Junichi Tazawa (23) |
| 2B: David Ortiz (31), Xander Bogaerts (1), Ryan Lavarnway (7), Shane Victorino (24), Dustin Pedroia (38) HR: Mike Napoli – 2 (21), Jonny Gomes (12), Bogaerts (1) | ||
| New York Yankees 75-67 |
9 | L: David Huff (2-1) |
| 2B: Eduardo Nunez (14), Ichiro Suzuki (15), Brett Gardner (32), Mark Reynolds (12) | ||
