Youk Da Man!!!

Sox: 5 Thwarted Yanks: 4

It was your usual long, drawn-out Red Sox-Yankees game, drawn out a little longer than expected thanks to a game-tying dinger by J-Bay in the bottom of the ninth. Lester, while not shelled like in his first two starts, was not dominant like he was against the O's on Sunday. His command came and went and his frustration with the home plate ump made for some laborious innings. He only allowed two runs over six innings, however, and he kept his team in the game.

After a quick run in the first inning, scored on a single by Jake, a Joba balk, a steal of third, and a wild pitch, the Sox were held down for five innings, grounding into double play after double play (4 in all). JD didn't bring his A game to the plate tonight, grounding into two of those DPs and flying out with the bases loaded and two outs in between. He went 0-for-4 with a walk. J-Bay, however, did bring it, going 3-for-5 with that 2-run tater off of vaunted closer Mariano Rivera that broke his 0.00 ERA for the season and blew his save. Youk, who Joba was careful to avoid hitting, finished the job for the Sox in the 11th, crushing one into the last row of Monster seats and greeted at the plate by his ecstatic teammates for the hero's dogpile.

A performance worth noting from the pen: Manny Delcarmen, having inherited a bases-loaded no out mess of Oki's making in the 7th, retired the batters he faced in order, allowing Damon to score from third while Bay made a helluva diving catch for the second out. The first out was a shallow fly-out to left, which was not deep enough for Damon to score. He got Melky to ground out to escape the jam with only one run, averting what could have been a big inning for the Yanks. Javy pulled a Houdini act of his own after he hit a batter and walked the next two. Pedey bailed him out big-time with a heads-up throw home, which Tek turned into a double play by throwing to Youk at first. Cabrera popped out to end the inning, saving Javy's butt in the process.

Tomorrow, Beckett, having served his suspension, gets the start against AJ Burnett. This uplifting come-from-behind victory tonight hopefully set the tone for the rest of the series. It ain't over 'til Youk knocks it out of the park!

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!