Pineda Shines vs. Sox

"I don't always pitch against the Boston Red Sox. But when I do, I make them regret it. Stay Yankee, my friends."

Yankee general manager Brian Cashman still has much to answer for, but looking at what's happened to Jesus Montero in the last couple of years, and how well Michael Pineda has pitched in his first 2 games in a Yankee uniform, we can let him off the hook for this deal.

Pineda went 6 innings tonight. I was thinking, "Joe Girardi, if you don't send him out for the 7th, after the way he's pitched tonight, I'm going to have a fit."

He did send Pineda out for the 7th, but Daniel Nava hit one out, and Xander Bogaerts singled. That was it. Pineda allowed just that 1 run, on 4 hits (he had a no-hitter going until the 5th), 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts.

It wouldn't have mattered if the Yankees didn't get the man some runs. They did. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th. Jacoby Ellsbury reached base against his former team for the 1st time when 3rd baseman Jonathan Herrera butchered a grounder. Carlos Beltran singled. Brian McCann broke an 0-for-14 slump by singling to right, scoring Ellsbury. Alfonso Soriano did not strike out. In fact, he hit into a double play, making 2 outs -- but it still got Beltran home. 2-0 Yankees.

With 1 out in the 5th, Dean Anna hit his 1st major league home run. Rather than do the 1965 Shirley Ellis hit "The Name Game" -- Anna, Anna, Bobanna, Banana Fanna Fofanna, Fee Fi Momanna, Anna -- which seemed obvious to me, John Sterling said, "Anna is on the Dean's List!" Anyway, after a Brett Gardner strikeout, Derek Jeter hit a ground-rule double, and Ellsbury singled him home. Ellsbury was out trying to stretch it to a double, but the run counted.

So that was the 4-1 lead that Pineda handed over to Cesar Cabral. He struck out A.J. Pierzynski and Jackie Bradley. Leave him in to face Ryan Roberts? Nope, Girardi pulled him for David Phelps.

Time to go for the Mission: Impossible joke again: "Good evening, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, which is one I feel you must accept, is to get these Scummers out. Please do not self-destruct in five seconds."

He got Roberts to ground out to end the 7th. He went 1-2-3 in the 8th, including striking out the big fat lying cheating bastard David Ortiz to end it. And he went 1-2-3 in the 9th to end it.

4-1! We beat The Scum, 4-1! We beat The Scum, 4-1! We beat The Scum, 4-1!

WP: Pineda (1-1). SV: Phelps (1). LP: Clay Buchholz (0-1).

And, as Michael Kay would say, "The time of the game, a manageable 2 hours and 55 minutes."

A Yankees-Red Sox game ending in under 3 hours? There's one we haven't seen in a long time.

This would be where John Sterling would say, "You know, Michael, you just can't predict baseball." The series continues tomorrow night, with CC Sabathia pitching against Jon Lester.