Game 97 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 BOS 2

(Yankee defensive play of the game.  Maybe of the year.  Courtesy of the AP)

It was an ugly start to the Yankees' second half on Friday night.  Their starting pitching wasn't great, their offense wasn't good at all, and they dropped another game in the postseason race.  Things got worse earlier yesterday when they lost another player - Zoilo Almonte - to the DL and made some moves to call up more scraps to add to the heap.  They needed something good yesterday to get a little positive momentum going, a win perhaps, and they had the right guy on the mound to help get it done in Hiroki Kuroda.  He showed up in a big way today and in a much appreciated change of pace he got some offensive support on his way to his 9th win of the season (still not enough for Jim Leyland).

Game Notes:

- The offense had a few chances early.  Brett Gardner led off the game with an infield single and got doubled off on an Ichiro lineout, and they couldn't come through with runners on second and third in the 2nd.

- Hirok was up to the challenge of covering them though.  He worked around a HBP in the first thanks to some bad baserunning by Daniel Nava and had his fastball and slider working really well early.

- The Yanks blew another opportunity in the 5th when Eduardo Nunez was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to third.  John Lackey helped redeem them by throwing a wild pitch to move Luis Cruz to second and Gardner capitalized with an RBI single to give New York a 1-0 lead.

- The smallball success continued in the top of the 7th against a tiring Lackey.  Nunez doubled, moved to second on a Chris Stewart groundout, and scored on a single by Cruz.  Another single by Gardner put 2 on with 1 out and 1 in to end Lackey's day.

- Kuroda helped his cause covering the plate on a passed ball in the 5th to keep the game scoreless, then hurt it with a wild pitch in the 7th that allowed a second run to score.  Still, 2 runs in 7 against the Sawx and handing it over to D-Rob and Mo is a job well done.

- D-Rob and Mo handled things easily in the final 2 frames, thanks in part to a spectacular catch-throw double play by Chris Stewart to end the 8th, and the Yanks evened up the series.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Kuroda: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.  Just Hirok doing what he do.  He threw strikes, was efficient, generated weak contact all day, and made his best pitches when he had to.  No matter who you think the true ace of the staff is, there's no denying that Kuroda has been the best starting pitcher this season.

- Lyle Overbay: 3-4 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K.  Was right in the middle of everything yesterday and hit the ball really well against both righties and lefties.  A guy actually producing from the cleanup spot in the order.  What a concept!

- Nunez: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 SB.  Speaking of right in the middle of everything, Nunez had himself a day yesterday too and not for the usual reasons of booting the ball or throwing it away.  The Yanks could really use a hot streak from him.

Oh Nos:

- Travis Hafner: 0-4, 2 K, 3 LOB.  Not much left for this guy.  It'd almost be better if he would finally get hurt so the Yankees could take him out of the lineup.

Next Up:

Series finale is tonight, on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and the Yankees send CC Sabathia to the mound against Ryan Dempster..  How will the extra rest help him against ?  We'll see in a few hours.