Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Last night there was quite the pitching duel we were all expecting to see…Josh Beckett vs. CC Sabathia. Of course, most people think we didn’t even have a game since the whole game seemed to be about Jorge Posada and how and why he wasn’t in the lineup. However, in the middle of PosadaGate, Josh Beckett went out there and pitched a gem of a performance. I remember last year that it was often said that Josh Beckett struggled against the Yankees…especially at Yankee Stadium. Not this year! Josh had put in dominant performances in both of his outings against the Yankees. Josh got in a wee bit of trouble in the 1st, allowing the first 2 batters to reach, but was able to get the next 3 outs and allow no runs to score. After that, Beckett was on a roll. He was using all of his pitches and throwing them all for strikes. All in all, it was a great performance. His pitching line for the night was 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB and 9 Ks. Matt Albers and Rich Hill came out in 3 innings of scoreless relief behind Beckett.
And for a long time, Sabathia wasn’t too shabby either. He also got himself in trouble in the 1st inning, but the struck out the next 3 batters to also not allow any runs to score. Sabathia seemed to be dealing until the 5th inning. Sabathia gave up singles to Lowrie and Crawford, walked Tek and then Ellsbury hit an RBI double to get the Sox a 2-0 lead. Sabathia settled back down until the 7th inning when the Yankees sent him back out there even though his pitch count was pretty high. I have to imagine they still believe he is the best pitching option and I can’t say I disagree with that. In the 7th, CC walked Mike Cameron and then gave up an RBI single to Jason Varitek. The single was controversial because it looked like Sabathia may have K’ed Tek, but the ump didn’t call it. It was a close call and I could have seen it called either way. Later Girardi would be ejected arguing that call as he went to get Sabathia. However, before Girardi went to get Sabathia, he got tagged for some more damage by giving a HR…to of course, Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzo is just a HR hitting machine lately…and I LOVE IT! The Sox were leading 6-0 and Sabathia was pulled from the game.
It was a great game….a great win. I loved seeing Beckett back in dominant ace form. He was wheeling and dealing and this time, he got some great run support.
RED SOX 6 YANKEES 0 BOXSCORE
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