And the beat goes on; Sox crush Stanks again

Sox 11, New York 4

WP: Dice-K (3-2)
LP: Pettitte (1-1)
HRs: BOS-Lugo (1), Youk (2)

R.O.I.? The Sox are paying Lugo $8 mil a year to have games like he did tonight

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox continued its 2007 Feast o' Stankee Pitching with another bludgeoning of the New York staff, this time in the Bronx.

Daisuke Matsuzaka survived a rough 4th inning to register the win, Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis homered to power a 13-hit attack and the Sox pushed New York's losing streak to seven games with this laffer over the Bronx Bummers.

HEROES:

1. Julio Lugo: 3-4, 3R, 3RBI, 2BBs, 2SBs, E, DP, HR- he began the game with a groundout but tore it up after that; singled & scored on Youk's homer in the 3rd; homered in the 6th to give Boston breathing room at 6-4; doubled in the 8th to make it even more comfy at 7-4; and his bases loaded walk in the 9th made it a laugher, 9-4
2. Dice-K: 6IP, 5H, 4ER, 4BB, 7K- he was dominant at times (7 strikouts) and dubious (3 straight walks in the 4th) others, yet he stayed focused despite that one rough patch and found a way to win in his Yankee Stadium debut
3. Boston batters: four guys had at least 2 hits (Lugo, Youk, Papi, Coco), three had at least 2 ribbies (Lugo, Youk, Papi), five knocked in at least 1 run and seven Sox scored runs

GOATS:

1. Stankee pitchers: six hurlers, 13 hits, 11 earned runs, 25-minute innings, 4+hour games and 197 pitches: these are your 2007 New York Stankees ladies & gentlemen
2. Bobby Abreu: 0-5, 2Ks, GIDP, 7 LOB- the career .300 hitter is now batting .262 and is in the midst of a horrendous 2-26 slide with 11 Ks during the 7-game losing streak
3. Robinson Cano: with his 0-4, 3-strikeout, 5 men left on base performance the man named after Jackie more resembled another Robinson- Crusoe, as in lost.

RECAP:
Another Sox/Stankees game, another Boston come-from-behind blowout win. So far that has been the pattern in 2007 as Boston has won all four meetings by an average score of 8-5 while outhitting New York 50-36.

The main difference, as it has been all year for both teams, was the pitching. Boston's starter, Dice-K, was making his big league debut in the hallowed stadium, yet he pitched like a seasoned veteran of the big stage. He had one bad inning- the 4th- when he walked 3 batters in a row and gave up 3 bloop hits which led to all four of New York's runs, but he overcame that troubling frame to right the ship and keep his team in the game.

His New York counterpart however, Andy Pettitte, who became a World Series hero in this very stadium, couldn't duplicate Matsuzaka's poise under pressure. Staked to a 4-2 lead after his team's 4th inning uprising, the lefty immediately gave it back in a wild inning-the 5th- of his own.

Lugo got it started with a 1-out walk, stole second, then Youk singled him to third. Ortiz followed with yet another opposite-field single that scored Lugo, and after Manny walked to load the bases and J.D. Drew struck out, Pettitte walked Mike Lowell to force in the tying run. Papi would then "scamper" in and score the go-ahead run on a Pettitte wild pitch (should've been a passed ball on Georgie), and before anyone even knew what happened Boston was well on its way to yet another come-from-behind win over the devastated Stanks.

But not before they rubbed some salt on the wounds, just for good measure. Lugo's homer & double made it 7-4 after 8, but things went from bad to worse in the 9th as New York was just trying to close it out and get the hell outta there. Joe Torre brought in seldom-seen but often-hit Mariano Rivera for some much-needed work (after all, the club doesn't have a save yet this season and has had very few opportunities to get one), but his outing ended up being a sad sight for the legion of Stankee fans worldwide.

The former dominating closer looked like a shell of his former self. He allowed 3 hits, a walk and 4 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, and when Torre pulled him in favor of Mike Myers you could almost sense the end of an era was happening right before your eyes.

I tell ya if I didn't hate this friggin' team with every fabric of my being I might have almost felt sorry for the guy.

The way the Stanks are playing right now, sorry is the only word that comes to mind though.

NOTES:

-Drew (0-5) was the only starter not to record a hit; he is now in a 7-31 skid that has dropped his average from .375 to .293 (guess I missed him in my 'who's not hot' preview)

-Mike Lowell's 9th inning single extended his hitting streak to 13 games

-Cap'n Tek did get a hit, a walk and scored a run, but he struck out 2 more times; that makes 9 Ks in his last 14 ABs

-Jeter extended his hit streak to 15 games, although it was delayed when he had the day off Thursday to recover from various bruises

-A-Rod had a very quiet night: 0-3 with a walk and a run and a strikeout

-Ball Stealer had a rough night as well; he fell into the camera well chasing a fly ball and went 0-4 with 2 Ks, both looking. Plus he had the nerve to dispute both calls- idiot, you're batting .142, sit down and shut up

-Boston left a ton of men on base again (18), but the Stanks topped that with 22 ducks left on the pond

-the losing streak is New York's longest since 2000. The team record is an unlucky 13 games in a row back in, appropriately enough, 1913

QUOTES:

-"We're just not a good baseball team right now." -Jason Giambi, a.k.a. Captain Obvious

-"It's as frustrating as you can get. It's embarrassing is what it is."-Pettitte, ditto

-"If I got into all the things that happened in the fourth inning, it would be a very long story. So to keep a long story short, I think there are technically a few things I need to work on."-Dice-K summing up his performance

-"It's good for us to beat them."- Lugo, fully comprehending the scope of the rivalry

RECORD: 15-7

AL EAST: Up 4 gms on TOR, 6 1/2 on NY

UP NEXT: SAT @ NYY 3:30 on FOX HD