Yankees Beating Red Sox Is the Sound of Music

Last night at Yankee Stadium, the stands were alive with the sound of music.

Now, our winning streak is 16 out of 17, going on 17 out of 18.

Twice, Giancarlo Stanton made the ball go, "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye."

Pinstripe-hit long balls and Severino's flings, these are a few of my favorite things. And these Yankees sound more like John Coltrane than Julie Andrews.

Now, I'm not comparing the Boston Red Sox are like the Nazis. Far from it. They've only tried to kill our uniformed personnel.

The biggest series of the season -- and, if the Yankees win the American League Eastern Division and the Red Sox don't make the Playoffs, it may remain so -- began last night, with Luis Severino doing his usual serious dealing.

He had to make up for his disastrous performance at Fenway Park last month, and he did. He pitched into the 7th inning, allowing 2 runs (and it was suggested that neither of them should have been earned), on 6 hits and no walks. He struck out 11. Even with his Fenway debacle, his ERA for the season is just 2.21. He's a starting pitcher in the 21st Century.

Nonetheless, he allowed a run in the 7th, and left the game tied. It was tied thanks to a pair of home runs by Giancarlo Stanton. It was Stanton's 3rd multi-homer game of the season, and they've all come in games that Severino has started. Stanton now has 9 home runs on the season.

Hitting home runs against the Red Sox in May is very good. Keeping it up all season long, regardless of the opponent, is better.

David Robertson finished off the top of the 7th. In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees retook the lead. With 1 out, Neil Walker nearly hit a home run, settling for a double. Gleyber Torres drew a walk. Sox reliever Heath Hembree balked the runners over, a dumb mental error that cost the Sox at least this game, and possibly much, much more. Brett Gardner was given "the old unintentional intentional walk" to load the bases and set up an inning-ending double play.

Except, as they used to say on Laugh-In, Here come da Judge. Aaron Judge singled to left. Walker scored, but 3rd base coach Phil Nevin took a chance that 3 runs would not be enough to beat the Red Sox -- he might have been justified thinking that at Fenway -- and sent Torres, who was thrown out at the plate. The 21-year-old baserunner trusted the 47-year-old coach, who has literally been involved at the major league level since before the baserunner was born (June 11, 1995 to December 13, 1996). The 47-year-old coach should have known better.

The Yankees should have gotten more than 1 run out of the inning, but it stood up thanks to a hitless 8th by Chad Green and a slightly shaky 9th by Aroldis Chapman, who hit Jackie Bradley Jr. with a pitch with 2 out, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. But he got Christian Vazquez to ground out to end it.

Yankees 3, Red Sox 2. WP: Robertson (3-1). SV: Chapman (8). LP: Hembree (2-1).

3-2! We beat The Scum, 3-2!

The series continues tonight. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Rick Porcello. Come on you Pinstripes! Beat The Scum!