Make It 7 Straight 2009 Boston Victories Over Yankees! Red Sox 6 NY Yankees 5

Good morning on this still rainy Thursday morning, the "morning after," so to speak. Wednesday night at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox again defeated their rivals, the pinstriped NY Yankees, by a score a 6-5. Tim Wakefield earned his eighth victory against three defeats by going six innings and allowing three runs on eight hits, walking three and whiffing two. He looked a little shaky in the first couple of innings but settled down enough to keep his team in the game. Boston manager Terry "Tito" Francona said this about his starter...

“Getting through that lineup, for what he did, we’ll take it,” said Francona. “I think we’ve seen him better. Every time it seems I think Wang was having some command problems and we made him work hard, which is the idea. We had some good at-bats, and then we hung on for dear life.”

Indeed, Yankee starter Wang was all over the place, off the plate or splitting the middle of it. When he did the latter, he was pounded. When he didn't, he walked guys. For the second night in a row, a Yankee starter only lasted 2 2/3 innings. The Sox were patient and let Wang self-destruct. His days as a member of the NY starting rotation might be numbered. Sox leftfielder and Yankee killer Jason Bay put it this way...

“If you’re sporadic and you’re not really getting strike one, we’re a bad team to face,” said Jason Bay. “A matchup for us that’s pretty good is if you struggle with command. If you get ahead, it’s obviously a different game plan. I think we match up well against guys that aren’t finding the zone. They have a horse going tonight, a guy they expect to go deep into the game, but it’s something if we’re able to get to him, it would work in our favor.”

The MVP of the Red Sox pitchers last night was none other than the Darkman, Hideki Okajima. He came in to a one run game after Sox reliever Ramon Ramirez gave up taters to Teixeira and Damon and held it that way for 1 1/3 innings. He gave way to a still ailing Jonathon Papelbon, who gritted out his fifteenth save. YES! The Red Sox win was the eighth straight over NY if you count the game on September 28th. I sure do. We ALL do.

Tonight, they do it again. Boston goes for yet another sweep but the Yankees are countering with their high-priced "ace," CC Sabathia. The Sox have had success aginst him in the past. Brad Penny will start for the good guys, pitching for his life. Why? John Smoltz will make his last start for Pawtucket tonight and could be activated to pitch for the Sox against the Marlins on the 16th. Or he might be held back and pitch against the team he played for for 20 years...the Atlanta Braves. No matter what, Penny will be pitching his heart out...bigtime.

Enjoy your Thursday and your Thursday game night. You can click on this post's title for more on the Sox and as always, BE WELL. Your comments are always welcome and always answered. GO SOX. I'll say it again...GO SOX. Tonight and every night.