A Beating For The Sox
By John Bonini
Leave it to Lieber. Jon Lieber that is, pitched 6 2/3 innings of no-hit ball against the Red Sox, silencing their recent red-hot lumber, lifting the Yankees to a 14-4 win in one of the most impressive pitching performances against one of the best offenses in baseball all season.
The Red Sox were simply beat up on all cylinders Saturday afternoon, including on defense, which the Red Sox have prided themselves in since the trade deadline added two more gold gloves to the infield. The Yankees certainly didn’t see any flashes of the gold leather this afternoon, as Cabrera’s throwing error and two fielding mistakes by the Sox made the defense almost laughable.
Manny Ramirez, who was featured on Sports Illustrated earlier this year, bearing the headline “Hitting Pretty”, has looked pretty ugly against the Yankees so far in this series, going 0-4. Alex Rodriguez continues to put forward good games against the Red Sox, which has been a complete turnaround since his 0-17 slide against the Sox in April. The Yankees hitting has come alive, collecting 15 hits Saturday afternoon, which is more than the Red Sox have managed to scrape up in the two games combined.
If the Yankees starting pitching is their Achilles heel, the Yankee pitchers certainly haven’t gotten that memo as of late, throwing 25 innings, allowing only 13 hits, and 5 ER in the last four games.
The signs certainly don’t point in the Red Sox favor to catch the Yankees for the division crown; perhaps the Wild Card is more realistic for the Fenway faithful. One thing is for certain, as October approaches, the collision course seems to be right on track for perhaps a repeat match up in the postseason.
