Game 79 Wrap-Up: BOS 2 NYY 1

I saw the last 2 innings of last night's game, from across the bar while my girlfriend and I were out to dinner.  You can imagine what kind of fun late night conversation that made for as I watched Derek Jeter ground into the most predictable double play in baseball history and Masahiro Tanaka lose a game on a Yankee Stadium cheapie home run that he probably shouldn't have even been in the game to give up at that point.  It's gotten to the point where the offense isn't enough good enough to win when he's on the mound.  2 steps forward, 1 step back.  What a perfectly blah, bland, mediocre team this is.

Game Notes:

- The Red Sox got their first run on a David Ross homer in the top of the 3rd.  Tanaka missed with a fastball and Ross pulled it into left for a 1-0 lead.

- The Yanks got their run to erase the lead in the bottom half of the inning.  Brian Roberts reached on an error, Yangervis Solarte got hit by a pitch, they both got sac bunted over by Brett Gardner, and Roberts scored on an RBI groundout by Jeter.  Yankee baseball, boys and girls.  Catch the fever!!

- Tanaka was brilliant except for the Ross homer, but I was surprised to see Joe go to him in the 9th when he had D-Rob available.  Facing the 3 best Boston hitters, already over 100 pitches, and coming off a start when his velocity was brought into question, seemed like the perfect time to get him out and go with your best reliever.

- Joe didn't, and after getting a shift-induced double play ball by Papi and getting ahead of Mike Napoli 1-2, Tanaka decided to try him with a fastball.  He left it up and over the plate just enough for Napoli to drive it the other way for the game-winning home run.  Heart-breaking.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Tanaka: 9 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.  Literally the only thing Tanaka can do to be better is never give up home runs.  Even then, his offense most likely wouldn't get him enough run support to win a game.  Poor guy.

Oh Nos:

- Brian McCann: 0-4, 2 K.  Sucks.

- Carlos Beltran: 0-4, 2 K, 2 LOB.  Double sucks.

Next Up:

Series finale is tonight and it's the ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" game.  Chase Whitley and John Lackey are the starting pitchers.  To be honest, I'll probably skip watching this to watch the "Money In The Bank" PPV.  That's how uninspiring this team is.