Yankees End Road Trip with a Bang

The Yankees finished off their very successful road trip (7-3) last night, bashing a career best (or worst depending on how you look at it) 5 home runs against Boston starter and loser (we mean that in more than one sense of the word) Josh Beckett. The 8-4 victory gave the Yankees their second straight series win against the Sox, and after having lost their first 8 games against Boston, they have won 6 of 7 contests with their division rivals.

Derek Jeter set the tone by hitting the first pitch of the ball game into the Boston bullpen in right-center. It was Jeter's 21st career lead off home run, tying him with Alfonso Soriano for 2nd best mark in franchise history (Rickey Henderson has the all-time record with 24 lead off HR's).

Hideki Matsui hit a pair of home runs for the 2nd time in 3 games, and the 3rd time in the last 7 games he has played. Strangely, Matsui has alternated the last 9 games between a hit or hits, and an Oh-fer. Matsui has also flown under the radar for the last 2 months. Since July 1, he's hitting .292 with 13 HR and 40 RBI in 41 games played. (His splits are .292/.374/.620)

Alex Rodriguez also went deep, just the 3rd time he has done so in the month of August. All 3 home runs have come against the Red Sox.

And Robinson Cano tied his career high with his 19th home run of the season. It somewhat made up for the 2 errors he made in the field. And..remarkably..Cano was complimented by EPSN's Joe Morgan for the way he pivots and turns the double play. But that didn't make up for a horrendous night of broadcasting by Morgan and his partners Jon Miller and Steve Phillips. (If you still don't believe there is an anti-Yankees bias on ESPN- did you notice they showed highlights of Boston's win on Saturday, but none of the Yankees' 20 run output on Friday?)

The game wasn't all about home runs though. Another great job by CC Sabathia, who ran his record in August to 5-0 (2.65 ERA) and now leads the majors with 15 wins. The big guy allowed 3 earned runs in 6.2 innings, didn't walk a batter, and struck out 8 (In August - 39 K, 5 BB). He threw 118 pitches, which would have been lower if not for Cano's misplays and a bad jump on a ball in left fielf by Johnny Damon.

Speaking of Damon and bad jumps, he leapt for a ball that hit nearly half way up the Monster. All righty then.

Phil Hughes worked for the first time in the series, throwing 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball.

Mariano Rivera pitched the 9th, also his first time in the series, in a non-save situation. He walked the lead off man on 4 pitches, but then retired the next 3 hitters with ease.

Jeter had another multi-hit game and passed 2,700 career hits (2,701). He's not just 20 hits behind all-time franchise leader Lou Gehrig. Remarkable.

The moron called Jonathan Papelbon is feeling a little insecure these days (well maybe more insecure). Papelbon is upset at the prospect of the Red Sox possibly acquiring Billy Wagner from the Mets.

"I like the way our bullpen sets up right now," Papelbon said Sunday. "We have a good dynamic in the bullpen. We have guys who know how to work well together. It's not that simple."

Actually it is that simple (as is Papelbon). Getting Wagner would be a great addition to the Sox pen, and would ease some of the burden on Hideki Okajima. But clearly, this is about Papelbon concerns over possibly losing his closing job one day. Papelbon could have been a member of the 2004 Red Sox- he is most definitely an idiot.