Bombs Away Beckett by Jared Carrabis
Yanks tag Beckett for 5 HR, take series 2-1


Oh, so thaaaaat's why they're called the Bronx Bombers, gotcha.

It was a bizarre night on the bump for John Wasd--excuse me, Josh Beckett. The marquee match-up of Beckett versus CC Sabathia was shaping up to be just as advertised. In Beckett's most recent start against New York, the right-hander tossed seven shutout innings of four-hit baseball with seven strikeouts. The very next day, Sabathia hurled 7.2 shutout innings of two-hit baseball with nine strikeouts.

Boston and New York fans alike were drooling over this series finale pitching match-up prior to both teams taking the field, but after the dust had settled, it was Red Sox Nation who were held with their mouths hanging open with no drool to be mustered.

The first pitch of the game out of the hand of Beckett was hammered to the opposite field and into the Red Sox bullpen off the bat of Yankee captain, Derek Jeter. Stunned, Sox fans looked on, as they hoped for the long ball to have been a mere fluke. Disappointingly, a fluke it was not.

Hideki Matsui led off the top of the second with a solo blast that did not land in the Red Sox bullpen; it went over it.

Treading water early, the Sox's offense went to work on Sabathia in the bottom half of the same frame. After striking out Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay swinging consecutively to start the inning, Mike Lowell hammered a two-out double that plunked off the scoreboard in left. Rocco Baldelli got the start in right field over the lefty, JD Drew, with a lefty on the mound and made the best of his start by ripping a base hit back up the middle to drive in Lowell.

With the Yanks' lead cut in half, this time it was the other captain chipping in to do some damage. Behind in the count 1-2, Jason Varitek poked an 83 MPH slider down the right field line for a double to bring Baldelli around to tie the game at two.

In the top of the third, Beckett gave the two runs right back. An RBI single by Mark Teixeira and a ground out by Alex Rodriguez brought home two more Yankee runs to up New York's lead to 4-2.

In the top of the next inning, Robinson Cano, who entered the game as a career .341 hitter against Beckett, hammered a 2-2 curveball over the Sox's bullpen for a solo home run. Cano's round-tripper marked the second consecutive start in which Beckett had allowed at least three home runs.

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Sox got the run right back when Jason Bay scored on one of Cano's two errors on the night.

With Beckett looking to keep his team only down by two, he allowed a one-out single to Johnny Damon in the top of the fifth. Two batters later, now with two down, Rodriguez strolled to the plate, as chants of, "You do steroids!" bellowed in the background. Unfazed by Fenway Faithful's collective voice, Rodriguez drilled a 3-2 curveball into the first row of the Monster seats for a two-run blast.

As the ball fell back onto the field, the Yankees had powered their way to a 7-3 lead against Beckett. The Sox would inch closer to the Yankees' lead in the bottom of the sixth after a sacrifice fly off the bat of Baldelli brought home Youkilis, who doubled to start the frame.

From that point on, New York's pitching staff was lights out. Sabathia carted his six-foot-seven, 290 pound frame off the mound after tossing 118 pitches over 6.2 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, while scattering eight hits and striking out eight.

With his pitch count fairly low and his run total high, Beckett pitched well in the sixth and seventh innings, retiring nine consecutive batters into the eighth inning since Rodriguez's Monster shot. The string of nine straight sat down by Beckett was snapped when Matsui came to the plate and clubbed his second home run of the night around Pesky's pole. It was the fifth home run allowed by Beckett on the night.

Beckett exited the game after going eight miserable innings, giving up nine hits, eight earned runs and the big stat, five home runs. But, hey, look at the bright side; he didn't walk anybody! The right-hander racked up five strikeouts, one K to compensate for every ball he allowed to land elsewhere than somewhere where a teammate could catch it.

Manager Terry Francona allowed Beckett to fire 120 pitches on Sunday night, which indicates to me that there isn't a health issue here. Beckett is too great of a pitcher to not overcome this dreadful three-game stretch. He'll look to bounce back in his next start this Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays at home.

The 8-4 lead would hold for New York, as Mariano Rivera came on for the ninth, and we all know what team he plays for: Team Shut It Down.

Final Score: Yankees 8, Red Sox 4

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

The Red Sox and Yankees combined to score 58 runs in their three-game series at Fenway Park.

The five home runs given up by Josh Beckett are a new career high for the right-hander. It would be a new career high for any active pitcher that's pitching in the majors today. In fact, only two pitchers since 1954 have given up five long balls, while still going eight innings. Pat Hentgen did it in 1997 against the Red Sox and Jim Palmer did it way back in 1977. Kudos to Ian Browne for that one.

Not that it's anything to celebrate, but after going five consecutive starts without giving up a home run (July 12 - August 7), Beckett has now given up 10 HR in his last three starts, ouch. Trust me, he's not trying to sugarcoat this one either, "Games likes tonight are humbling deals. I would describe this as an ass-whooping."

In three starts against Boston, CC Sabathia has averaged 121 pitches per start. That says a lot, considering he's only thrown 120 pitches or more against one other American League team in 2009.

Now for some good stuff. Since joining the Red Sox on August 1, Victor Martinez has now reached base safely in 16 of his 20 games in a Red Sox uniform.

Kevin Youkilis has also hit safely in 16 of his last 21 games, seven of which were multi-hit games.

Monday's pitching match-up:

It's no Sabathia versus Beckett, but when the Sox welcome the Chicago White Sox to Fenway Park for a four-game series, Clay Buchholz will be the man in charge of getting the party started. In his last three outings against the Yankees, Tigers and Blue Jays, Buchholz has pitched masterfully, with a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings of work. Although these numbers don't reflect his overall performance this year, Buchholz is 2-0 against the Jays and 0-3 against every other team. Things could get interesting at the Fens on Monday, because the Red Sox are Jose Contreras' daddy. In ten starts and one relief appearance against Boston, Contreras is 3-5 with an 8.82 ERA.

Eye on the scoreboard:

Yankees 8, Red Sox 4
Rangers 4, Rays 0

Result: With the Sox's second loss in three tries against New York, Boston, again, falls 7.5 back in the AL East. As we quickly approach the final month of the season, the Red Sox have just 39 games remaining to catch the Yankees, or else it's Wild Card or bust. With their win over Tampa Bay, the Rangers move back to just one game behind the Sox in the Wild Card standings, while the Rays stay put, trailing Boston by three games.

In case you missed it:

I was on The Baseball Show Saturday morning, so if you missed it, here it is!



PS: My book comes out in four days! (August 28)

-Jared Carrabis





Published on August 24, 2009

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