Duke Refsnyder and A-Rod Lead Yanks to 2 of 3 Over Boston Red Scum

To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (you know: Episode IV: A New Hope):

Fenway Park. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

On Friday night, Michael Pineda took the mound in the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square, pitched into the 7th inning, and allowed 1 run on 7 hits and no walks, striking out 6. The only run was a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the 5th inning.

(That was when Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers said she came in and turned on the TV. I'm not saying she's a jinx... but she sometimes says it about herself.)

So the Yankee pitching gave the Yankee hitting the chance to win the game. They did. Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in the 1st inning. Naturally (if you'll pardon the choice of words), the Sox fans chanted, "Ster-oids!" at him, and then wildly cheered David Ortiz, who took the collar: 0-for-4. A small piece of what would serve him right.

The Yankees scored 3 more runs in the 4th, with help from a game-ending injury to Sox starter Clay Buchholz, an error by Sox 2nd baseman Brock Holt (sounds like the name of either a naive soap opera character or an unscrupulous law firm), and a bases-loaded walk by emergency reliever Robbie Ross. Ex-Chowdahead Jacoby Ellsbury singled home another run in the 8th, and the Yankees had taken the opener of the series.

Yankees 5, Red Sox 1. WP: Pineda (9-5). No save. LP: Buchholz (7-7).

*

In spite of how poorly the Sox are doing this season (again, a small piece of what would serve those bastards and their bastard fans right), I don't think anyone expected the Yankees to sweep this series. Beating the Red Sox is tough enough, especially in the pinball machine.

But this was Ivan Nova's 3rd straight disappointing game after his triumphant return from over a year on the Disabled List. He got into the 7th inning, and didn't walk a batter, so it wasn't an issue of control. But he allowed 4 runs on 8 hits. His ERA is 3.42, which is respectable. But in these last 3 starts, he's 0-3, with an ERA of 4.76, which is not good.

It didn't help that, in relief of Nova, Adam Warren and Chasen Shreve faced 6 batters and only got 1 of them out, adding another run to the Sox' total.

A-Rod hit another home run, his 18th of the season; and Ellsbury, remembering how much he likes hitting at Fenway, hit his 2nd. He singled in the 8th, and Brett Gardner doubled him home.

Rob Refsnyder made his much-awaited major league debut on Saturday night. Batting 9th, wearing Number 64 (surely, he'll get a lower one, possibly even this season) and playing 2nd base, he grounded out to 2nd off Eduardo Rodriguez in the 3rd, lined out to right field off Rodriguez in the 6th, and popped up to 1st off Junichi Tazawa in the 8th.

Red Sox 5, Yankees 3. WP: Rodriguez (5-2). SV: Koji Uehara (22). LP: Nova (1-3).

*

So yesterday afternoon was the rubber game, and the last game before the All-Star Break. There wasn't really a "must-win" vibe around the Yankees. The Sox needed the game a lot more.

Kim Jung-Tae was born on March 24, 1991 in Seoul, Korea. At the age of 5 months, he was adopted by an American couple, and given the name Robert Daniel Refsynder. He grew up in Laguna Hills, Orange County, California. That's Angels territory, and he grew up as an Angels fan.

His father, a former small-college basketball player, took him to the Los Angeles Lakers' annual Christmas Day game every year. He played quarterback for his high school football team, but went to the University of Arizona on a football scholarship. He switched to baseball, and he helped them with the 2012 College World Series.

There was a to-do about Brian Cashman keeping Refsnyder in Triple-A while Stephen Drew's bat was pathetic. At age 24, and doing very well at Scranton, he should have been up, at the minimum, in May. If not last season. After yesterday's game, it will be impossible for a reasonable man to ignore Refsnyder. We'll see if Cashman is going to be reasonable.

Brian McCann hit one out in the 2nd inning, his 14th homer of the season, making it 2-0 Yankees. But the Sox came back with 3 off Nathan Eovaldi in the 3rd. But McCann led of the 5th with a double, Chase Headley singled him over to 3rd (McCann can do lots of things, but running isn't one of them), and Wade Miley committed a balk to send McCann home with the tying run.

Brett Gardner led off the 6th with a single, and A-Rod doubled him home. After Mark Teixeira lined out, Chris Young doubled home A-Rod. McCann grounded out, but Headley doubled home Young, to make it 6-3 Yankees.

The Sox took a run back in the bottom of the 6th, but Refsnyder led of the 7th with his 1st major league hit, a single to center off Tommy Layne. In the 9th, with Headley on 2nd, Refsnyder came to bat against Alexi Ogando, and crushed a pitch over the Green Monster for a home run.

If you're keeping track at home:

Career Home Runs
Alex Rodriguez 673
Rob Refsnyder 1

Naturally, we were wondering what broadcaster John Sterling's call was going to be. It turned out to be, "Refsnyder has soul!" A play on his birthplace of Seoul. Lame, John. The least you could have done was call him "Duke Refsnyder," a play on the old Brooklyn Dodger center fielder Edwin "Duke" Snider, a.k.a. "the Duke of Flatbush."

(Snider was called Duke as a boy because he seemed to have a very noble bearing. Like Refsnyder, Snider was a quarterback in high school before becoming a major league slugger. Like Venus and Serena Williams, he was, literally, straight outta Compton, though he usually called neighboring Los Angeles his hometown.)

But the rookie sensation giveth, and the rookie sensation taketh away. He committed an error in the bottom of the 9th, and Andrew Miller's shakiness after coming off the DL continued. The Sox tagged him for 2 unearned runs, before he got Shane Victorino to pop up to end the game.

Yankees 8, Red Sox 6. WP: Eovaldi (9-2). No save. LP: Miley (8-8). That's 2 out of 3 against The Scum, in Scum Town.

Ortiz did not play in this game. According to Sox manager John Farrell, he has "an upper respiratory infection." Could that be code for that time-honored Sox activity, choking? Farrell said that Ortiz was "taking fluids." What kind of fluids, Johnny? Performance-enhancing fluids? Same New England, always cheating.

*

So, with 15 out of the season's 26 weeks in the books, the Yankees are 48-40, a pace for 88 wins. Not enough to win the American League Eastern Division? Perhaps not, but, for the moment, in 1st place. They lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 3 1/2 games (5 in the loss column), the Baltimore Orioles by 4, the Toronto Blue Jays by 4 1/2 (6 in the loss column), and the Red Sox by 6 1/2 (7 in the loss column).

If the current standings hold until the end of the season, the Playoff teams will be as follows: The Yankees, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Minnesota Twins and the surprising Houston Astros in the AL; the Washington Nationals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates and another surprise, the Chicago Cubs, in the National League. The Mets? Despite all their injuries and their pathetic hitting, they're just a game (2 in the loss column) behind the Cubs for the 2nd NL Wild Card.

The All-Star Game is tomorrow night, in Cincinnati. A-Rod, Teix, Gardy and Dellin Betances will represent the Yankees.

The Yankee Doodle Double Standard: It's Not Cheating If the Red Sox Do It

If David Ortiz did what O.J. Simpson did -- stabbed his ex-wife and her friend to death -- instead of police chasing him down the freeway, Major League Baseball would give him an escort to Logan Airport, and fly him out of America's jurisdiction on their own dime.

Let's tell the truth: There is one set of rules for the Boston Red Sox, and another set of rules for everybody else. It's the Yankee Doodle Double Standard.

Yes, Michael Pineda was caught using pine tar last night, and he was thrown out of the game, and will likely be suspended for it -- meaning he'll miss 2 or 3 starts. Yes, it was stupid.

But the Red Sox complaining about cheating is like that idiot rancher in Nevada calling anyone else a "freeloader." This is only partially about the steroids used by Ortiz, and previously by Manny Ramirez, and who knows how many other Red Sox scofflaws. (Ah, but if the law isn't applied, how easy it is for them to scoff at it!)

Jon Lester had that green goop on his glove during last year's World Series. Was he punished? Was he so much as investigated? No.

Clay Buchholz got caught with white goop on his arm last May. Was he punished? Was he so much as investigated? No. Jack Morris, now broadcasting for that night's opponents, the Toronto Blue Jays, called Buchholz out on it. And on ESPN, Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley (a former Red Sox pitcher), said, "I think Jack Morris should zip it. I feel sorry for Buchholz to even have to deal with this."

Hey, Eck: If you don't want to deal with what happens if you get caught breaking the rules, don't break the rules. Buchholz got caught by Morris... and he got away with it, because he's a goddamned Red Sock.

When Pineda pitched against the Red Sox last week, some of them knew he'd been using pine tar, but backed away from accusing him of cheating:

* Pitcher Chris Capuano: "In in my mind, there is a difference between doctoring the ball to make it do something funny, versus to get a grip."

* Catcher David Ross: "Maybe it's cheating, but I don't really look at it that way."

* Even Ortiz himself, the most blatant, unrepentant and dishonest cheater in baseball history, said of Pineda that night, "Everybody uses pine tar in the league. It's not a big deal."

He's probably wrong about "everybody" using it. But he may be right about a lot of pitchers using it. And by saying, "It's not a big deal," he may be sticking up for a fellow Dominican, much like those jackasses who held up banners and Dominican flags in the old Yankee Stadium's bleachers for Pedro Martinez when he pitched his 17-strikeout one-hitter in 1999.

(You want to do that, fine, but don't do it in the bleachers. Those seats are for people who want the Yankees to win, and don't give a damn about the nationality of either side's players: The uniform is the flag.)

Sox manager John Farrell got cute: "Guys look to create a grip, but, typically, you're not looking to be as blatant as him." (Meaning Pineda.)

Oh, I see: Farrell's not mad that Pineda "cheated." He's mad that Pineda got caught.

Why? Why is getting caught cheating worse than the actual cheating? And, if it is, why, then, play David Ortiz, who cheated, lied about it, got caught, and lied about it again -- just like Pineda? Apparently, what's good for Pinstriped goose (not to be confused with Rich Gossage) isn't good for the Red-Socked gander.

Maybe Farrell's just pissed that, now, the umpires will be looking at Sox pitchers, to see if they're cheating.

Yeah, don't bet on the umps investigating Sox pitchers the same way. He's still new to this rivalry, and may not know: A Red Sox player can do whatever he wants, because the Red Sox winning is good for Major League Baseball's profits. Whereas a Yankee player can't do anything that looks to the Red Sox like it's "unfair," because, apparently -- the evidence since 1996 to the contrary -- the Yankees winning isn't good for MLB's profits.

Funny, I didn't see Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue getting upset when the Dallas Cowboys won. Or David Stern when the Chicago Jordans, the Los Angeles Kobes and the Miami LeBrons won. Or Gary Bettman when the Pittsburgh Crosbys and the 2 Los Angeles teams (the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and the L.A. Kings in 2012) won.

*

Oh yes, there was a game last night. Whatever Pineda was doing last night, clearly, it wasn't working, because the Sox already led 2-0 when he got tossed. Joe Girardi leafed through his Binder, and sent David Phelps out to replace him, and he allowed 2 more runs. Matt Thornton, Preston Claiborne and Adam Warren were more or less fine from then on.

But it didn't matter, because the fried-chicken-gulping, beer-swilling bastard John Lackey shut the Yankee bats down. Aside from an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano in the 6th, the Yankees didn't get any runs home. They left 7 men on base.

Red Sox 5, Yankees 1. WP: Lackey (3-2). No save. LP: Pineda (2-2).

The series concludes tonight, with CC Sabathia opposed by Felix Doubront. How will the Red Sox try to game the system this time? Probably by hiding CC's pregame meal, so he's hungry.

That's fine, of course. So says MLB. After all, it's not "cheating" if the Red Sox do it.

UPDATE: Right after I first posted this, MLB's decision came down: Pineda has, indeed, been suspended for 10 games. He'll miss starts at home to Seattle, and either home to Tampa Bay or away to Anaheim.

How's That 2011 Red Sox vs. 1927 Yankees Comparison Workin' For Ya?

Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Tony Lazzeri,

of the 1927 World Champion New York Yankees

Eric Ortiz (presumably no relation to the Red Sox' big fat lying cheating bastard David "Big Papi" Ortiz), NESN.com (New England Sports Network), January 2, 2011:

The Red Sox have won 100 or more games three times in their 110-year existence.

They will make it four in 2011.

In fact, the Red Sox have won 88 games, with 8 still to play. If they maintain their current winning percentage, they will win 93. A good total, to be sure, but not 100. Even if they win all their remaining games, they will have won 98, and will win at least the American League's Wild Card, but that still might not be enough to win the AL Eastern Division, as the Yankees have already won 92.

Eric Ortiz continues:

But this team has the potential to accomplish something even bigger than winning 100 games... 100 wins doesn’t just appear plausible. It seems downright inevitable. So does a date with history.

The Red Sox have no intention of suffering a similar fate. The way they are constructed, they could surpass the 116-win mark, but nothing less than a World Series title will make Boston happy.

The 2011 Red Sox possess all the pieces to have a season for the ages. If everything falls into place and the breaks go their way, they could do more than set records and become champions. They could do more than take their place on Immortality Peak and end up being mentioned in the same sentence as legendary clubs of the past: the 1929 A’s, the epic Yankees teams of the ‘30s, the 1970 Orioles, the 1976 Reds.

The 2011 Red Sox could accomplish a feat that has never been done. They could unseat the 1927 Yankees as the greatest major league team of all time.

That would be something to celebrate.

Really.

Babe Ruth demands an explanation for this bullshit.

*

Then there's what Mike Lupica -- New Hampshire native, Boston College graduate, Red Sox fan, and New York Daily News columnist, wrote this past Sunday, September 18, 2011:

Of all the injuries in the American League East, the one that made the most difference - and maybe all the difference for the Red Sox - was the one that lost them Clay Buchholz for the second half of the season.

It's more important than A-Rod, more important than Phil Hughes being gone from the Yankees as long as he was.

If Buchholz is healthy, I believe the Red Sox win the East easily, instead of fighting to the finish for a wild card the way they do.

Really.

John Lackey is 12-12, with an ERA of 6.49 and a WHIP of 1.630. Tim Wakefield is 7-7, with an ERA of 5.08 and a WHIP of 1.327.  Admittedly, Wakefield is 45 years old, and shouldn't be able to pitch like a 30-year-old ace. But the fact that a 45-year-old knuckleballer, who debuted in the major league when George Bush the father was President, is in your rotation suggests you've got problems. (In 1985, Ron Guidry was the Yankees' ace, winning 22. Phil Niekro won 16, but he was a 46-year-old knuckleballer, and shouldn't have been the Yankees' Number 2 pitcher.)

Before he got hurt, Buchholz was pitching very well. But suppose he was available. He couldn't take the place of Lackey and Wakefield, could he? Not unless the Red Sox want to go back to the days when men were men, and pitched every 4th day, instead of every 5.

The bottom line is that the Yankees have had A.J. Burnett pitch poorly again, and 3 major come-back-from-injury question marks in Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes, and a then-unknown quantity in Ivan Nova.

And the Yankees have won 92 games, with 10 to play, and are 5 games ahead of the Red Sox, 6 in the loss column.

No one was saying the 2011 Yankees were going to approach the 1927, or 1936, or 1941, or 1953, or 1961, or 1998, or even 1978 Yankees. But they've already won 92, which is as many as the 1996 World Champion Yankees won in the regular season.

So Lupica is saying that one injury is the reason the Red Sox aren't beating the Yankees over the course of 152, soon to be 162, games?

Hey, Lupica:

Bucky Dent demands an explanation for this bullshit.