Sickening Sweep

I was sick to my stomach yesterday, and I attribute the Yankees to my queasiness. The diagnosis: pathetic pinstripeitis. The Bombers’ futility against the Boston Red Sox continued Thursday. They trail their AL East rivals by two games in the standing and have now lost eight in a row to Boston in 2009. The Red Sox currently hold a nine game winning streak against New York, dating back to last season. The teams don’t meet again until August. I know my stomach will appreciate that. I was bothered by the brooms Boston brandished in this latest sweep. Here are a dozen reasons the Yankees made me sick last night:
1) Boston is 8-0 against the Yankees this year. Please tell me how that is possible. Even the Mets rudely wrecked the Red Sox. It is the first time the Red Sox have won that many games to open a season since 1912. The Yankees have never been UNABLE to beat the Red Sox. Boston sure has their number this year. The players and radio announcers can say whatever they want about having 102 more games on the schedule. The Yankees are still only two games back. But, if they can’t get over this Boston snide soon, I can’t expect them to be contenders in September and October. Boston is the class of the division, and that makes me ill.
2) Jason Bay. He’s the new Yankee-killer. The Red Sox do not miss Manny Ramirez with his ex-Pirate coming through with clutch hit after clutch hit. Bay had a key RBI single to tie the score in the bottom of the eighth last night. Jason comes up like a view from a big bay window, large, in major moments. He derides and disparages the Yankees pitchers by ridiculing them with rockets.
3) The Red Sox bullpen makes me sick because they are sickeningly good. They are far better than what the Yankees throw out there, besides Mariano Rivera. Jonathan Papelbon threw nine pitches and picked up his 16th save by preserving the 4-3 lead in the ninth on Thursday. Takashi Soto earned his first AL victory by throwing a scoreless four out effort of relief. Manny Delcarmen has been stable but the Yankees touched him up for three runs in the seventh inning. It was the first time in the last 16 appearances Delcarmen has allowed the Yankees to score a run.
4) Joe Girardi hasn’t beat the Red Sox yet. He had a chance to bring in Rivera for a six out relief role but chose to use Alfredo Aceves. To his credit, Aceves has been good and effective in marred mop-up and long relief responsibilities for Girardi this year. But Rivera was the better choice. Mariano hadn’t pitched in two days and needed the work. In a must-win game for New York, Rivera has to be in there for the late-inning duties. The Red Sox don’t fear Rivera as much as they used to, but he is still a dominant reliever. Aceves came into a tough and impossible situation with two runners on base. He gave up a single to Kevin Youkilis to load the bags, and another to Bay to tie it. Mike Lowell then hit a shallow sacrifice fly to Melky Cabrera in centerfield, scoring JD Drew for the go-ahead run. I’d rather lose a game with my best reliever on the mound than any band of bullpen boys Girardi parades out there.
5) C.C. Sabathia suffers the loss after tossing a season-high 123 pitches and showing some fight on the mound. He gave up one run through seven innings. The lefty is now 5-4 and was pitted against Brad Penny, a mediocre counterpart at best. Penny went six shutout innings before Delcarmen was summoned in relief. Sabathia lost a game he should have one after running into trouble in the eighth. New York’s former farmhand, Nick Green, singled off C.C. and Dustin Pedroia drew a walk on ten pitches. When the Red Sox needed to, they made things happen. Of course Boston took advantage of their runners in scoring position by driving them in at the first opportunity. I felt the Yankees had their best chance to finally win a game against Boston with their ace on the hill. Instead, Sabathia comes out of Fenway with the loss and the Bombers drop their eighth straight.
6) David Ortiz doesn’t seem to have problems hitting against the Yankees. He socked two homeruns during the series, including a bomb to the Green Monster in left off the first pitch he saw in the second inning. It was Big Papi’s third homer in five games and he might be coming out of his season-long slump. Still, it is stomach-turning how he suddenly is cured when he sees the pinstripes.
7) The New York offense is frustrating. They finally have their opening day lineup in tact yet they waste at-bats and fail to hit well with runners in scoring position. The Yankees were 3 for 26 with runners in scoring position in the two one-run losses this series. The Bombers play for the big inning and wait for the long ball too often against the Red Sox. I miss the scrappy small ball and come from behind rallies this team seemed to be relying on just a month ago.
8) Base running and defense. I love Nick Swisher, but his second frame base running blunder last night did not do much to settle my stomach. Johnny Damon’s defense was dismal too. He dropped what should have been the final out of the fourth inning on an easy fly ball. It didn’t do any damage, but why is the defense suddenly dispensable? The errors seem to be doubling now that the Yankees’ aren’t riding that consecutive game errorless streak.
9) The Yankees did not envision being swept off the road in the three-game trip. They expected to at least win a game after coming into Fenway park with a one game division lead. The Bombers were reeling off wins as the hottest team in the league before the were ghastly greeted by the Green Monster. I don’t know what it is about this Boston team, but the Yankees just can’t win close games. They had their chance by actually taking the lead last night. Alex Rodriguez and Francisco Cervelli gave New York the 3-1 edge in the seventh. The team was six outs from ending the drought. But again, the magic that is the Red Sox prevailed. The 2009 rivalry is now a one-sided, uneventful event.
10) A.J. Burnett did not even start last night but seeing him in the dugout induces nausea. All anyone could talk about was how great Burnett was pitching in Boston last year. He baffled as a Bluejay in Boston. In pinstripes, he went two hapless innings Tuesday for a perturbed and pitiful pounding.
11) Plunkings. Can we go a game without a feud between these two teams? I realize fighting and umpire warnings are what makes this rivalry so heated and intense. But, it gets sickening and tiring after a while. Penny hit Rodriguez in the back in the middle of the first inning. Both benches had to be warned. There were no further problems because the Red Sox answered by winning yet again. They really do not need to show the Yankees up because they already do enough by playing better baseball.
12) Josh Beckett is a big-game pitcher. He has bounced back this year to come up in key situations as a Boston starter. The Yankees could do nothing at the plate against the ace in the opener of the series. Chien Ming-Wang is not a big game pitcher anymore. Why Girardi chose to start Wang in Boston after only his second game since rehabbing is beyond me. Of course the Red Sox smacked him around.

I am disheartened by the series sweep. There are not many positive things to take from this series. The one thing I did take was an aspirin. It didn’t do much to relieve me but quelled the quandary for some time.

Maybe the Subway Series will embolden my thoughts about the Yankees.

Parting points: A little Beck never hurt anyone, even the song “Nausea”.