However, the Red Sox (51-51, 26-23 away) should be happy after they took two of three games in New York (60-41, 31-19 home) this weekend and went 3-3 on a brutal road trip against the two best teams in the AL (Rangers and Yankees). Felix Doubront pitched well tonight and Pedro Ciriaco had an RBI single in the 10th that scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 runs, 2 walks) as Boston outlasted the Yankees 3-2 in 10 innings at Yankee Stadium.
After losing on Friday, the Red Sox won nail-biters last night (8-6) and tonight to make the season series 6-3 in favor of New York. There are nine remaining so you will have plenty more baseball games that are well over three hours long no matter what.
Trade bait Ryan Sweeney's two-run double in the second gave Boston a 2-0 lead it would carry until the sixth. New York cut it to 2-1 on Red Sox killer Russell Martin's solo homer (his 12th of the season) then he tied it with an RBI single in the seventh.
Jacoby Ellsbury (double) and Adrian Gonzalez (run) both had two hits for Boston while Nick Swisher added two hits for the Yankees. Somehow the Red Sox survived grounding into five double plays-the most they had recorded in over seven years.
Doubront and Ciriaco have been by far Boston's best players against New York this season. In three starts, Doubront has gone 18.2 innings and only allowed five earned runs on 12 hits. Ciriaco is 11-for-22 in five games against the Bronx Bombers with six RBIs. He has provided the winning hits the last two games as well (RBI triple on Saturday night in the 9th). Call it a small sample size, beginner's luck or not having a book on either guy yet but whatever the reason, two of the most unlikely players have carried the Red Sox to wins against their archrivals.
This evening, the young lefty went 6.1 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits with eight strikeouts and five walks. A high pitch count (109) was the only thing to complain about regarding one of the best outings of his career.
Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda went eight innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk.
Andrew Miller wiggled out of a jam (runners on the corners, 1 out) in the seventh but Alfredo Aceves (2-6) blew the save (5th time he's done that) by giving up Martin's hit in the eighth (charged to Miller). It didn't matter though since he stayed out there and eventually got the win following 2.1 innings. He struck out two and didn't allow a hit besides Martin's, the downside was that he threw 37 pitches.
The only thing I fear from these last two days is that the Red Sox front office will feel like they've figured things out so there is no need to make a big move (trading Josh Beckett). I really hope that is not the case since they should realize that he had less than nothing to do with either win or any positive things to come out of the weekend. They have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday to do the right thing and get him out of here before fans' heads explode with anger and frustration.
Boston returns to Fenway Park for its longest homestand of the season: 10 games (3 vs. Detroit, 4 vs. Minnesota and 3 vs. Texas). Their next road game is Thursday, August 9 in Cleveland which kicks off the longest road trip of the season: also 10 games.
Clay Buchholz (8-3) faces Max Scherzer (10-5) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN). Beckett (5-9) is scheduled to take the fall against Justin Verlander (11-6) on Tuesday (7:10 p.m., NESN) and Aaron Cook (2-4) gets Rick Porcello (7-6) on Wednesday (7:10 p.m., NESN).
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