Frankie The Sports Guy

Just 3 days ago the Yankees and Red Sox were set to square off in a 4 game showdown in the Bronx and the Yankees were just 2.5 games ahead of Boston. I kept saying that the Yankees should win the games that Smoltz and Bucholz start, and if they can win one of the two games started by Beckett and Lester, we would be 4.5 games ahead and have taken 3 out of 4 games. I am proud to say that the Yankees exceeded my expectations.

Not only did we sweep the Red Sox and move to 6.5 games ahead of them in the AL East standings, we put multiple daggers right through their hearts. It started with a complete shalacking of John Smoltz who 15 hours later was Designated for Assignment. Our encore performance took us 5 hours and 33 minutes, but Alex Rodriguez decided to cap off a great night of pitching with a 15th inning 2 run laser into the left field seats to give us game 2.

In game 3, CC was nothing short of spectacular as the Yankees scored 5 runs to take the series from the Red Sox and grab the first three games of this series.

Then there was tonight's game where the Yankees came in having held the Red Sox without a run for 24 consecutive innings. We needed Andy Pettite to match zeros with John Lester, and he did just that throwing 7 solid shutout innings. It was then that Alex Rodriguez made his mark again in this series launching a spectacular shot to left center field giving the Yankees a 1-0 7th inning lead. What could have been a dagger in their hearts when Victor Martinez gave Boston a lead with a 2 run shot off Coke, the Yankees did damage yet again in the clutch, and this time it was off Red Sox young hard thrower Daniel Bard. Damon homered to tie it, and Teixeira followed him with a majestic home run to give the Yankees an 8th inning lead sending the New York crowd into a frenzy. The Yankees never let go of this lead and Mariano came in to pitch the 9th as the Yankees captured an improbable sweep of the sinking Red Sox by winning tonight 5-2.

Can the Yankees keep this going tomorrow night against Toronto? I sure hope so, but what I can say for sure is that this weekend's series was one I won't forget.