Swept Under The Rug

I was looking for my broom this morning, and I couldn’t find it. I was wondering where it went. Then I realized, the New York Yankees took my broom and used it to sweep the Boston Red Sox this weekend in a four game series.

Baseball in the Bronx is back. Now they live true to the name of the Bronx Bombers. It took them to the ninth game, but the Yanks finally got a game against the rival Sox. And they did it a fashion that made it look like they had enough of the Boston beat downs they received in the previous eight games. Imagine the Red Sox as the bully in the yard during recess and the Yankees were the receivers of the punishment, the Yanks finally got tired of the bully and decided to fight back.

Let’s go inside the numbers.

Game one of the 4 game series had the Yankees lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 13 runs. The story isn’t about Yankee domination in the game; it’s about how John Smoltz of the Red Sox had such a terrible outing. The Yanks roughed up the pitching and they are just running on all cylinders. On Friday, the game was one to watch. This game lasted 15 innings and it ended on a two run homer from Alex Rodriguez. A.J. Burnett started the game and was masterful, but not to be outdone Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett was equally as good. Defense wins championships, and this was definitely on display during this game. But when the smoke cleared it was the Yanks up two in the game and the series.

The most remarkable thing this series was, the Sox went scoreless in game two, and scoreless in game three. CC Sabathia blanked the Six in game three as the yanks cruised to a five to zero score. That runs a total of 24 straight scoreless innings. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Game four was looking to be the final nail in the coffin, as the Sox didn’t score a single run until the 8th inning. Thank goodness they made the trade for Victor Martinez, as he belted a two run bomb off of Yankee reliever Phil Coke. That’s when the Sox were finally up in the score. They were up 2-1. But unfazed by this, Johnny Damon and Mark Texiera went back to back with two outs to give them the lead, and they weren’t looking back. They scored two more runs to add some padding to the lead and Marion Rivera got the final three outs and recorded his 32nd save.

No one expected the Yankees to sweep the Sox. I did, because I know what this team can do when at full strength. The Sox jumped on the Yanks when they were down, and the Yanks just returned the favor. The Sox are now six and a half games behind the Yanks for first place in the east and they are tied with the Texas Rangers for the wildcard. But you can ring them out; the Sox are hung up to dry.