Pettitte shuts down Sox as Schill gets shelled

New York 8, Sox 3
WP: Pettitte (3-3)
LP: Schilling (4-2)
HRs: BOS- Crisp (1); NYY- Matsui (4), Ball Stealer (4)

This 4th inning blast by Ball Stealer off Schilling was the straw that broke the Sox backs

SUMMARY:
Curt Schilling pitched horribly while Andy Pettitte pitched well, the NY batters pounded out 16 hits (six for extra bases), and the Stanks took two of three in the Bronx.

HERO(s): New York Batters 16 hits, 8 runs, 3-2Bs, 3B, 2HRs
Sink your teeth into these numbers: every Stankee except Giambi had at least one hit, five had at least two hits, and three Stanks (Demon, Ball Stealer & Jeter) had three hits apiece. Ouch.

GOAT: Schill 6IP, 12H, 6R, 5ER, 0BB, 3Ks, 2HRs
He wasn't just a goat, he was that freaky faun creature from Pan's Labyrinth.

RECAP:
You knew things weren't going to turn out well when Coco Crisp was picked off stealing second base to end the first inning with Manny Ramirez standing at the plate, yet replays appear to show Crisp was safe by a considerable margin.

Yep, it was that kind of night in the Boogie Down, and even though the Sox returned the favor when Curt Schilling nabbed Bobby Abreu leaning off first in the bottom of the inning, by then New York had already slapped four hits and three runs on Schill & the Sox, the biggest blow coming on a 2-run homer by Hideki Matsui.

Watching Curt this season I've noticed it's apparent early in games if he either has it or doesn't have it, stuff-wise. This was his second rough start in a row, and even my wife could tell that Curt did not have "it"; what he did have was a mediocre fastball that the Stankee batters smacked all over the Stadium, and also a change-up that didn't change, a splitter that didn't split, and, well you get the point-he sucked.

I'm positive that Schill will admit as much tomorrow on his blog, because the way he was throwing it up there and New York was hitting 'em, it looked like a beer league softball game, minus the DeMarinis.

After New York hung the three-spot on Boston in the first it added another run in the second courtesy of three infield hits and a throwing error by Julio Lugo (0-5), his 5th of the season. But it didn't really matter at that point.

By the end of three innings Schilling had allowed five runs on nine hits and with the way Pettitte was dealing, the chances of a Sox comeback looked bleak. Then, with one out in the fourth, the situation became critical.

That's when Dougie Mientcz-ah, who the fuck cares how he spells it, he's the Ball Stealer to me, took a Schilling meatball and mashed it off the facade of the upper deck in right, a blast that only added one run to the score (6-0), but was like a death blow to the hearts of his former teammates.

Boston would finally get to Pettitte (6.1IP, 9H, 1R, BB, 2Ks) in the sixth when Manny and Mike Lowell sandwiched doubles around a couple of outs, but Brenden Donnelly, making a push as the new team gascan, gave the run right back in the seventh when he relieved Schilling an immediately gave up a triple to Jeter and an RBI single to Matsui.

Even though the Sox would tack on a couple meaningless runs off Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th, it was way past the point of praying for another miraculous finish. Just for good measure the two old Sox, Judas Demon (3-5) & Ball Stealer (3-4) combined for another run in the bottom of the 8th off Joel the Current Gascan Pineiro, and then old nemesis-turned recent punching bag Mariano Rivera closed out the win with an uneventful ninth.

So the Stanks got the moral victory they so desperately needed by taking two of three in the series, but they did not get the confidence-building satisfaction of sweeping their nemesis and jump-starting their playoff push.

And at the end of this horrid night of Red Sox baseball, the Sox are still 9 1/2 games up on New York.

Read that and weep, fuckers!

NOTES:

• Ex-Sox curse: Demon and the Ball Stealer combined to torch their former employers with this ungodly linescore: 6-9, 3 runs, 2 doubles, one homer, 2 ribbies
• More Mientc*$@#z: Ball Stealer has four homers this season, two against the Sox; of his 13 RBIs on the season, one quarter (4) have been against Boston
• Youk's hit streak reached 16 games when he doubled in the second; he had another multi-hit game (2-4) and another RBI and is now batting 347
• Lowell continued his blistering pace, rapping two more hits and two more RBIs; he is now batting .355 in May (27-76) with 17 RBIs
• Boston ended up with 12 hits themselves, including six players with a pair each: Coco, Youk, Manny, Lowell, Wily Mo and Pedroia; Tek, Papi and Lugo went hitless
• Coco hit his first homer of the season off Farnsworth in the 8th; he was also caught stealing for just the second time this season on that bogus play
• As poorly as the three Boston hurlers pitched, none of them allowed a base on balls; Hmmm...
• After a pregame chitchat between the managers and crew chief Joe West there was no fallout from A-Rod's latest pansy attack
• Jeter's 2nd inning RBI single moved him past Joe DiMaggio into 5th on the all-time Stankee hits list with 2,215
• The loss was Schilling's first since opening day

QUOTES:

• "Most of the hits were mistakes and they hammered them. My last 12 innings, I've given up 24 baserunners. It's not just the stretch, it's everything."--Schill assessing the damage
• "We won the series. It was a huge series, there's no doubt."--Pettitte, reeking of desperation
• "He's giving up a lot of hits." --Captain Understatement, Tito on Schilling

RECORD: 31-15

AL EAST: Up 9.5 on NYY

UP NEXT: Thu-Off Day; Fri @ TEX 8P