Party Like It's '99, Pitch Like It's '07 by Mike Ghika
More Beckett dominance as Sox win sixth straight over NY


The Yankees entered cold, rainy Fenway Park on Tuesday night with a one-game lead in the AL East over the Sox, despite owning an 0-5 record against Boston on the 2009 season. And for the sixth time, the Red Sox proved victorious over the Bombers with a 7-0 win as they evened things with New York atop the standings.

The romp over the rival Yanks was backed by yet another stellar if not spectacular performance from Josh Beckett, who allowed just one hit and two walks with eight strikeouts over six innings to lower his ERA to 3.77. His former Marlins teammate, AJ Burnett, took the loss after the Sox offense roughed up the hard-throwing right-hander for five hits and five runs (3 ER) over just 2.2 innings.

The Sox would take control of the game by putting up a 4-spot in the second, as David Ortiz got things started with a two-run blast into the centerfield bleachers (his third of the season), perhaps another sign that Papi is slowly recovering from his miserable start.

"It was exciting," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "That's probably the best swing he's taken. On a night when the ball was not going to carry, especially to center, he hit it through [that rain]. That was a good swing. Everybody was excited. I hope he gets 40 curtain calls."

In place of the recuperating Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Kotsay would follow with a walk before a fielding error by A-Rod at third allowed Nick Green to reach safely. Dustin Pedroia would ground out for the second out as the runners moved up to second and third, but JD Drew knocked a two-out, two-run double to make it 4-0.

In the third, Burnett (4-3) got Ortiz to fly out and Jorge Posada threw out Mike Lowell on what seemed to be a failed hit-and-run attempt before the Sox worked some two out magic. After a Jason Varitek walk and a Kotsay single, Green doubled home the captain for a 5-0 lead, chasing Burnett from the game.

After singling and stealing second in the fourth, Kevin Youkilis (2-for-4) would score on a Lowell base knock to go up 6-0. In the seventh, Green hit a solo shot over the monster for his second homer of the season to make it 7-0.

"It was nice tonight -- our offense was patient," said second baseman Dustin Pedroia. "It's great, especially against A.J. He has great stuff. Getting him out of the game early, that was huge for us. Getting in their bullpen early is definitely nice."

The closest the Yanks got to getting on the board came in the fourth when they had men on first and second with two away, but Beckett (7-2) got Jorge Posada to strike out swinging to end the minor threat. The comfortable lead allowed Terry Francona to pull his ace following the sixth after just 93 pitches (59 strikes).

"I've been throwing a lot of pitches, doing some normal stuff, and I think they kind of wanted, after we got a big lead, to slow me down a little bit."

After going 2-2 in April with an ERA well over 7.00, Beckett has been spectacular, posting seven straight quality starts since the beginning of May with a 5-0 record. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh in Detroit last week, and he began Tuesday night’s contest by setting down the first 11 hitters he faced.

"I felt good," said Beckett. "It's a work in progress. We're taking care of stuff we need to take care of. Fastball location was good, which you definitely need to have with this team."

Manny Delcarmen was good for 1.1 IP, although it looked as if he was trying to throw at Derek Jeter in the eighth after Jose Veras hit Jason Bay with a pitch in the seventh. May you recall, New York’s Joba Chamberlain seemed to deliberately hit Bay with a pitch earlier this year. Delcarmen came in tight with three fastballs to Jeter, although none of the pitches hit the shortstop. Ramon Ramirez came in and got the two outs needed to escape the eighth, and former Tar Heel Daniel Bard sat down the three Yankees he faced in the ninth as he hit 100 mph on the gun in mop-up duty.

"I reared back on [those]," said Bard after lighting up the gun. "It was pretty much all I've got, so I kind of wanted to see where I was at."

Away from the bandbox that is the new Yankee Stadium, where 100 home runs were hit in the ballpark’s first 29 games, the New York offense managed just two hits against the Sox staff in the first game of this three-game series. The Yanks’ one through four hitters (Jeter, Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez) combined to go 0 for 13 with 2 walks, both drawn by Teixeira. The foursome as a group will make over $88 million this season.

And so, after 151 regular and postseason head-to-head meetings between the two clubs since 2002, the Sox hold a slight 76-75 edge over its rival counterparts. And for a Yankee team that has been forceful at the plate and consistent on the mound since A-Rod’s return from hip surgery, at this point in the season it just doesn’t seem to matter how well or how poorly they’ve been playing once the Red Sox come up on the schedule. After their current 0-6 start, the Yanks would have to go 9-3 in the remaining twelve games against Boston just to split the season series. In a tight AL East race where a tie in the standings is always possible (as was the case back in 2005), that is bad news for the Yankees.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

The last time the Red Sox began a season 6-0 vs. the Yankees was in 1912. Boston would finish the year 14-0 against New York en route to a World Series title.

Josh Beckett has recorded seven straight quality starts dating back to May 5. In that span, he is 5-0 with a 1.70 ERA, 45 SO, and 16 BB. He has gone at least 6 IP with 3 ER or less in each of the seven starts.

The Sox have won 6 of their last 8 games dating back to their May 31 win at Toronto, and every Sox starter has received the decision in each of those eight contests.

In 12 games since being dropped to the No. 6 slot in the order, David Ortiz is hitting .208 (10-for-48) with 2 HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 2 BB, and 14 SO. He is, however, hitting .276 over a current seven-game hitting streak.

The Red Sox had three picks in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday. With the 28th overall selection, the Sox selected Reymond Fuentes, an 18-year-old outfielder from Puerto Rico. Fuentes, a 6-0, 160 lb. left-handed speedster, is the nephew of four-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glover Carlos Beltran. The Sox also selected Alex Wilson, a RHP out of Texas A&M in the second round (77th overall), as well as David Renfroe, a high school shortstop from Mississippi in the third round (107th overall). Pittsburgh selected Boston College catcher Jorge Sanchez with the No. 4 overall pick, while his BC teammate LHP Michael Belfiore went in the second round to Arizona.

Wednesday's pitching match up:

In the second game of a three-game series between the Red Sox and Yankees at Fenway, Boston’s elder statesman Tim Wakefield (7-3, 4.50) matches up against former two-time 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang (0-3, 14.46). The match-up surely favors the Sox, mainly due to Wang’s trying season in which he was just recently called back up after a stint in the minors. Wednesday will mark Wang’s second start since being recalled, having allowed 5 runs in 4.2 IP in his return against Texas last week. Wakefield is coming off a win at Detroit, and the knuckleballer is 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 5 starts at home in 2009.

-Mike Ghika

Final Score: Yankees 0, Red Sox 7

Jared Carrabis contributed to this post.

Published on June 10, 2009

---