Elusive Empire Erupts

Are the Patriots and Jets starting the NFL season earlier this year? Nope. Those high-scoring slugfests Friday and Saturday were just baseball games. The Red Sox and the Yankees collided at Fenway for their final series of 2009 Friday night. The outcomes were closer to football finals than a nine inning game on the diamond. The offenses were more than prepared, exploding with hits and runs like they were going out of style. Even with Yankee ace, A.J. Burnett, on the mound, Boston batters bashed the Bombers. Burnett has had past success at Fenway Park. He could not sustain that success Saturday afternoon in rainy New England, allowing the home team to score a pair of touchdowns in a 14-1 New York loss. The scoring during this series so far is extremely obscure. As a Yankee fan, it’s never fun when the “empire” strikes back.
The Yankees put up 20 runs behind Andy Pettitte on Friday night in the series opener. The Bombers allowed 11 Boston runs, but still won the game. Yesterday, the Red Sox piled on even more runs, but this time were the victors. Junichi Tazawa, the rookie Boston hurler, kept the Yankee bats on the shelf with six shutout innings to snap a five game skid for his hurting team. Tazawa pitched out of trouble all day and allowed two walks and eight hits. He was less jarring on the mound than Brad Penny was the night before, and more poised than when he delivered the game winning pitch to Alex Rodriguez in the 15th inning earlier this month. The Japanese 23 year old established his prominence in the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox with his profound performance.
Equally marvelous were the Red Sox hitters on Saturday afternoon. Kevin Youkilis put the “kill” in Burnett by drilling a duo of dingers. Kevin clocked six RBIs, tying a career high for a single game. His first homerun came in the second inning as Boston already put up ten runs. Burnett surrendered a solo shot to Alex Gonzalez before letting Youkilis drive one out. The Red Sox had a seven run second and added five more by the sixth inning when Youkilis went deep again. David Ortiz contributed a solo homerun in the fifth that was followed by destructive back-to-back doubles by J.D. Drew and Jason Bay. Burnett lasted five innings and gave up nine earned runs. The Red Sox roughed up Burnett and set a team record with their eighth consecutive multihomer game. With no lead a safe one in the bandbox ballpark, the Red Sox were eager to equip more runs. Manager, Joe Girardi, displaced Burnett with an ineffective Alfredo Aceves and later, Dave Robertson. Together, the relievers gave up the final five Red Sox runs. Burnett demonstrated none of the magic from the pitching duel with Josh Beckett earlier in the season. The electricity went out and Burnett simply could not locate his pitches. The fastball to Youkilis was thrown right over the plate, belt high. The result, of course, was a three run bomb over the Green Monster.
New York couldn’t score more than one run Saturday. The only run came on a Nick Swisher seventh inning solo slash. Swisher and Robinson Cano had three hits, Mark Teixeira had two, and four other Bombers a paltry two. Hideki Matsui went 0-5 a night after accounting for a pair for homeruns. The team was coming off a Friday evening outburst they had not seen since July 20, 2007. Their 23 hit series opener was the most runs and hits the Yankees have scored in over two years. Yet, baseball’s best team since the All-Star break couldn’t figure out the opposing rookie. The difference between Tazawa and Burnett was location. Tazawa dialed up the fastball and breaking ball with a little zing and precise placement. The communication between Burnett and his battery-mate, Jorge Posada, could also be a factor. The $82.5 million dollar Burnett denies any miscommunication with his teammate, citing he did not throw enough curveballs in the 14-1 crushing. Burnett found it harder to explain why he threw certain pitches and was shellacked by Boston. He inexplicably tossed an outside fastball to Ortiz in the fifth, good for a Big Papi longball. A.J. has one awesome curveball when he uses it. Why he didn’t implement the breaking ball and use his fastball to set up the curve is agonizingly beyond me. The loss should be a huge deal because the Bombers still hold a sufficient division advantage, with a chance to pad the lead. Most significant right now is how C.C. Sabathia and Burnett will handle the big spots come playoff time.

Parting points: Song of the day—“I’m Only Happy When it Rains” by Garbage