A GAME THE YANKEES SHOULD HAVE WON... BUT LOST

It is the greatest rivalry in sports today. I don't care if the Red Sox are in last place and the Yankees are in first, they both still come out to play as if their lives are on the line. Okay, I actually do care, and I love it, but you get the point.

The start of the game looked promising, as starter Jon Lester did not come out of the gate on fire. Derek Jeter led off with a walk and then Nick Swisher ended his hitting drought with a double. A fielder's choice ground out by Robinson Cano scored the first run. Steve Pearce loaded the bases. However, they failed to bring in any additional runs, as Curtis Granderson popped out.

Hiroki Kuroda, who had his moments in this game, kept giving up leads. In the third inning, he gave up the 1-0 lead. Pedro Ciriaco led off with a double, and Jacoby Ellsbury singled him in to tie the game. After Ellsbury stole second, Dustin Pedroia's singled in the go-ahead run for a 2-1 lead at the time. In the end, he would strike out six and get a no-decision.

The Yankees took the lead back in the top of the sixth. Curtis Granderson got a lead off walk, Andruw Jones singled, and Jayson Nix sacrificed them over. Then Derek Jeter bounced a ball into the right field seats for a ground-rule double, bringing in both runners and giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. That would be all for Lester's night.

Not to be outdone, the Red Sox came back in the bottom half of the sixth, as Dustin Pedroia went yard on Kuroda, tying the game at 3. This has been the bane of Yankees baseball of late - the inability of the pitching staff to hold a lead. To his credit, though, he was able to get out of the inning without allowing another run.

In one of the weirdest plays we have ever seen, the Red Sox led off the bottom of the seventh with Ryan Kalish bunting over the head of Kuroda, landing in the Bermuda Triangle between Kuroda, Jeter, and Nix. Then a bunt by Pedro Ciriaco that was mishandled by Russell Martin allowed him to reach first. Facing his final batter of the night, Kuroda struck out Mike Aviles. Kuroda seemed a little upset at giving up the ball after just 94 pitches, but Boone Logan took over to face Jacoby Ellsbury. In what should have been a routine ground ball, Swisher left his position and Logan did not cover first, allowing the runner to reach.

With the bases now loaded, Joba Chamberlain came in and all of Yankees Universe held its breath. He got a grounder from Daniel Nava to Swisher who made a nice play forcing the runner at home, and then got the hot-hitting Dustin Pedroia to pop out to Derek Jeter. It was a huge moment for Joba, getting the Yankees out of a critical jam.

David Robertson came in for the eighth and shut the Sox down. The man named Houdini usually makes things too interesting for comfort before getting out of the inning. Not tonight. Robertson displayed some serious stuff as he struck out the side in the eighth. The game being tied, he came out for the ninth. Too bad that the carriage turned back into a pumpkin. After getting the lead off batter to pop out to second, he did not record a single out. Back-to-back-to-back singles brought in the winning run.

This back and forth with the Orioles is not healthy for the team. The fact that the Yankees were 1 for 12 with RISP means that this game should have been won. If they had even been 2 for 12, Rafael Soriano would have been in and he would have untucked his shirt. They need to beat last place teams and give us much of a cushion to the team as possible. There is a principle that says that in a short series, an inferior team has a better chance to win than in a long series. This applies in a pennant race too. The more chances we give the Orioles to catch us, the higher the likelihood that they will actually pass us and win the division. Even if they do not win the division, the harder we play in the last week of September the less gas we have in the tank for the playoffs. This was a tough loss.

Final Score: Red Sox 4, Yankees 3

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon

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