Yankees Play Pinball at Fenway Again

I always want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. I want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox even when they're playing somebody else.

It's not that the Red Sox turned around the dynamic of the rivalry by finally winning, or even starting a period where they have been the superior organization, if not the superior team. It's not even that they did so by cheating. It's that they got away with it: They have gotten caught, repeatedly, they deny they'd done anything wrong, and the media takes their word for it, while believing every accusation against the Yankees, no matter how flimsy the evidence.

Is it any wonder that I follow the custom of English soccer rivalries, and call the Red Sox "The Scum" -- Capital T, Capital S?

Last night, in the 2nd game of a 4-game weekend series at Fenway Park, the Yankees did not get a good start from Nestor Cortes: He didn't get out of the 4th inning, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks.

But the Yankees didn't need a good start from him. I have often called Fenway "the little green pinball machine in the Back Bay," or "the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square." The Yankees treated it as such last night. They scored 4 runs before the Red Sox even came to bat: Single by DJ LeMahieu, groundout by Aaron Judge that moved LeMahieu over to 2nd, Matt Carpenter was hit by a pitch, RBI single by Gleyber Torres, home run by Josh Donaldson.

Carpenter doubled a run home in the 2nd. In the 3rd, Aaron Hicks drew a leadoff walk (you know how troublesome those can be), and Jose Trevino doubled. After a Marwin González popup, Joey Gallo hit a ball that Sox right fielder Christian Arroyo never saw. It didn't quite make it out of the field of play, but it scored Hicks and Trevino. Gallo thought he could get an inside-the-park home run out of it, but was easily thrown out at the plate. It was the latest dumb moment for Gallo in a season loaded with them, but the ball he hit before it was a big help. That made it 7-2 Yankees.

Knowing Fenway, the run that Gallo couldn't score could have loomed large. As George Carlin might have said, You never hear about anything "looming small," but the Yankees made it do so. Carpenter led off the 4th with a home run. If I were Matt Carpenter, and you were at Fenway, would you cheer me anyway? 'Cause it was bye, bye, baby. (With apologies to the memories of Tim Hardin, Bobby Darin and Johnny Cash.) Two walks and a Sox error led to another Yankee run in the inning, and it was 9-2 New York.

The Yankee linescore for the 1st 5 innings was 41220. That ZIP Code is not in use, but if it were, it would be in Hagerhill, Kentucky.

The Sox scored 2 in the bottom of the 4th, and another in the 6th. 9 to 5 was a good movie, but as a score at Fenway Park, it brought back some concern. But the Yankees tacked on a run with some "small ball" in the 7th, another in the 8th on a single by Carpenter and a double by Torres, and another in the 9th on a bases-loaded walk by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Yankees 12, Red Sox 5. WP: Miguel Castro, who finished the 4th inning and pitched a scoreless 5th (5-0). SV: Lucas Luetge, who was the finishing but not the winning pitcher in a game won by his team, and pitched 3 1/3rd innings without blowing the lead, and thus fit the qualifications for being credited with a save (1). LP: Connor Seabold (0-2). Seabold was a nonentity coming into this game, and I was concerned that he might pitch the game of his life this one time against the Yankees, but he was given the beating that, by the fact of his wearing the Red Sox uniform, he so richly deserved.

In the American League Eastern Division, the Yankees now lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 15 1/2 games, the Red Sox by 16, the Toronto Blue Jays by 16 1/2, and the Baltimore Orioles by 20 1/2. Hey, don't look now, but after getting off to a terrible start, the O's are now only 3 games under .500. The AL East is actually a pretty good Division this year -- and the Yankees are running away with it. The Magic Number to clinch is 64.

The series continues tonight. Jordan Montgomery starts against Kutter Crawford. That's "Kutter" with a K. Maybe Roger Clemens is his real father. Let the Yankees be "his daddy" tonight.