Monday, August 10, 2009

Yankees Sweep the Sox

A four-game sweep was just about the only way that the Yankees were going to able to erase the stinging memory of eight straight loses to the Red Sox and that is just what happened this weekend in the Bronx. Add on 31 1/3 scoreless innings by Yankee pitchers and 0-8 seems like a distant memory.

Now the Yankees have opened up a 6.5 game lead in the East as the Red Sox are struggling to stay ahead of the Rays and the Rangers. The Yankees cannot relent though, as the coming months could still find both the Rays and the Red Sox getting a groove. But aside from that the Yankees are sitting pretty right now.

The biggest thing to take out of this weekend series is the performance of the big three: Burnett, Sabathia and Teixeira.

Each had their moment where they lifted the Yankees above the Sox and earned their very large pay checks. Burnett and Sabathia combined to throw 15.1 innings of scoreless baseball and Teixeira hit .353 with two dingers and three RBI over the course of the series.

It was a solid team effort for all four games. Hell even A-Rod managed to step in the big moments, hitting his game winning jack in the 15th and then tagging Jon Lester to start the scoring in the 7th of last night's game. A-Rod looks like he has grown up a little as he has yet to open his mouth in a negative fashion and has yet to shy away from a big moment this season.

The only disappoint for the Yankess was Joba's bad start and he got the win in spite of himself. It's hard not to feel good about the Yankees right now. They have the best record in the game and seem to be clicking on all cylinders. they have a good mix of young and old players, plus a solid bench for Girardi to work with. They even have great chemistry.

None of that matters in the post season, but it does mean that they are in a great position to put together one final run and lock up that post season berth.

4 comments:

Bronx Baseball Daily said...

This is a very strong team right now. It's also amazing how far the bench has come from the beginning of the season. They've got speed and defense, Hairston and Pena, they've got power off the bench, Hinske.

Dan said...

Aside from game 1, the Sox pitching was great. I've never seen such good starting pitching go unrewarded. Buchholz, Beckett, and Lester each went 6+ and gave up a combined 3 ER's. The Boston bats are just colder than a Soviet gulag right now.
I would beware Yankee fans. Their pitching issued a ton of walks over the series, but the Sox failed to make them pay. That type of thing could be your undoing in the playoffs.

Peter said...

That walk total is extremely skewed by Joba's seven walk performance in the first game. After that they walked just 12 batters in the next 3 games totaling 33 innings.

Pettitte, Sabathia and Burnett matched the Sox great starters pitch for pitch and then some. We hadn't seen that earlier this season and it made all the difference.

And once Gardner gets back, their defense and bench will be even better.

Dennis said...

Burnett did pitch well. How many wins is he up to now?