Yanks Win Series at Fenway, But No Rest for Weary as Tigers Come to Town

After 2 1/2 innings, Saturday's game was already Yankees 4, Red Sox 3, and it looked like it was going to be one of those Yankees-Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

But, running against type, there wasn't a lot of action after that.

Shane Greene started for New York, and he didn't get out of the 5th inning. Allen Webster started for Boston, and he didn't get out of the 3rd.

Considering how many pitchers normally get used in Yanks-Sox games, especially in the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square, pulling your starter that early might have been a very bad idea. At the very least, you would want to bring in your "long reliever," the kind of guy who can make an emergency start (which, in effect, this became).

But Joe Girardi brought in Shawn Kelley, and Sox manager John Farrell brought in Burke Badenhop. (No, I'd never heard of him before, either.)

Two of the 3 early Sox runs came on a home run by Mike Napoli. No word on whether he called Greene what he called Masahiro Tanaka a few weeks back: "What an idiot!"

Webster walked the 1st 3 batters in the top of the 3rd: New Yankee Martin Prado, Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner. Cliche Alert: Walks'll kill ya, especially the leadoff variety. Or, as 2nd baseman-turned-manager-turned broadcaster, Hall-of-Famer Frankie Frisch, used to put it, "Oh, those bases on balls!"

Derek Jeter -- you may have heard of him -- doubled home Prado and Cervelli. Jacoby Ellsbury, back in his old stomping grounds, grounded out, but the ground ball got Gardner home to tie the game. Mark Teixeira grounded out, but Carlos Beltran singled Jeter home. Just like that, 3-0 Sox became 4-3 Yanks.

Teix added a home run in the 5th, his 19th "Teix Message" of the season. That turned out to be pretty important. The Yankees added another run in the 7th. That same inning, the Sox closed to within 6-4, thanks to a sacrifice fly by David Ortiz. Yes, he's still allowed to play professional baseball.

Dellin Betances pitched a perfect 8th. As he so often does, David Robertson made the 9th more interesting than was necessary. He got the 1st 2 outs, but allowed a single to Brock Holt. (Sounds like the name of a soap opera character.) Holt got to 2nd on defensive indifference -- his run meant nothing. The run that meant everything was at the plate: The dangerous Dustin Pedroia.

D-Rob got him to ground out to 3rd.

6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4!

WP: Kelley (2-3). SV: Robertson (28). LP: Webster (1-1).

*

Then came a Sunday night ESPN game. Against the Boston Red Sox. At Fenway Park. The starting pitchers were David Phelps and Clay Buchholz.

All those who went into this game thinking the Yankees were going to win, don't raise your hands, because you're lying bastards.

In fact, Phelps had to leave the game after 2 innings. Joe Girardi said he'd been dealing with elbow inflammation for "three or four weeks."

That's how long Phelps has been pitching better! What the hell?

Well, he didn't pitch well yesterday. After 2 innings, it was 5-3 Boston.

Two of those Yankee runs scored on a double by Brett Gardner. Lately, as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would say, "He has a little bit the quality, and the mental strength."

The Yankees closed to within 5-4 on a double by former Scummer, new Yankee Stephen Drew. Then David Ortiz hit a home run to make it 7-4 after 4.

Just in case you're keeping track, that's 457 career home runs for Ortiz -- 58 with the Minnesota Twins, and 399 since he discovered that steroids, and lying about them, can be fun!

But the Yankees tied the game in the 5th, thanks to a double by new boy Chase Headley and a single by Drew. That was it for Buchholz, who didn't have his good stuff. And then, in the 6th, Gardner hit a home run, his 15th of the season -- his 5th of the week.

According to ESPN, it went 420 feet. How is Brett Gardner hitting home runs with that frequency, and that distance? At this rate, Sox fans will soon start calling for Gardner to be tested for steroids! Ignoring, of course, Ortiz and his established transgression.

That made it 8-7 Yankees, and the bullpen made it stand up: Esmil Rogers in the 5th, 6th and 7th; Dellin Betances in the 8th; and David Robertson in the 9th.

8-7! We beat The Scum, 8-7! Took 2 out of 3 at Scumway Park!

WP: Rogers (1-0). SV: Robertson (29). LP: Craig Breslow (2-3).

*

So, with 8 weeks to go in the regular season, here's how the American League Eastern Division stands:

TEAM	W	L	MN	GB
Baltimore	62	48	53	0.0
Toronto	60	53	47	3.5
NEW YORK	57	53	48	5.0
Tampa Bay	54	57	44	8.5
Boston	49	62	39	13.5

Things don't get any easier for the Yankees: They come home to face possibly the best team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, with MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, and Cy Young Award winners Verlander, Max Scherzer and David Price.

Here are the projected pitching matchups:

Tonight, 7:05 PM: Brandon McCarthy vs. Scherzer.

Tomorrow, 7:05 PM: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Price.

Wednesday, 7:05 PM: Chris Capuano vs. Verlander.

Thursday, 1:05 PM: Shane Greene vs. Rick Porcello -- and when Rick Porcello is your 4th starter, you'd got a very strong rotation.

Come on you Pinstripes... It'll be difficult, but not impossible!