Boston Red Sox 7 NY Yankees 0...HAPPY 4th Of July To All!

The Boston Red Sox soundly defeated the reeling New York Yankees Thursday night at the Stadium by a score of 7-0. Jon Lester was superb with every aspect of his pitching and spun his second complete game, his first since his no hitter. Manager Terry "Tito" Francona had this to say...

"He used his two-seamer, his cutter, his four-seamer, got a lot of first-pitch strikes, got some double plays," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He really looked like a 6-foot-5 major league left-hander."

And here is his wonderful pitching line...

IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
J. Lester (W, 7-3) 9.0 5 0 0 2 8 0 3.21

JD Drew, Yankee "fan favorite" Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp, back from his 5 game suspension, had 2 hit games and Jacoby Ellsbury had 2 RBIs. With 11 hits, they were able to score six runs more than they needed, but I like 7. It's a nice crooked number. The loss prompted Yankee manager Joe Girardi to call a post-game team meeting, and after a contentious war of words with a New York newspaper guy, he said this, which was echoed by team captain Derek Jeter...

"We did not play a good game," Girardi said, still visibly agitated as he met the media following the team meeting. "We didn't do anything. We didn't hit, we didn't pitch. We didn't play a good game."

"I think everyone realizes that we're capable of playing a lot better than we have been," the captain added. "We have to come out, forget about what's happened to this point in the season and hope we start playing a lot better."

Not only did Lester get the victory, he gave the Boston bullpen a much needed night off. The Yankees are in for more trouble today when they face Josh Beckett, who, as we all know, does not like the Yankees. Look for him to be pumped up, to put it mildly. It's Fourth of July day baseball in the Bronx, and the Yankees will counter Beckett with Darrell Rasner. Josh is due for some run support in a huge way, and I have a feeling that this afternoon, he'll get it. New York is a team in turmoil, and it's been said the Georgie Steinbrenner himself will be at the stadium to root for, or maybe scowl at his team. First pitch will be at 1:05pm EDT.

Today is July Fourth, 2008. I want to wish each and every one of you a happy and healthy Independence Day. As Spock would say, "Live long and prosper." Go Josh...GO SOX. As always, be well. Any Yankee derogatory comments? Any nice ones? Fire away. Thanks. And I have a special treat for you on this holiday Friday. Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant, my favorite sportswriter, wrote a tremendous column about Jon Lester and the Red Sox and Yankee comings and goings. You'll love it, so click away on the title of this post.