Yankees Pound Red Sox, Jon Lester Bruised But He's OK...NYY 9 Boston Red Sox 5

Just the sight of seeing Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester, face red, writhing on the ground after being hit near the knee by a line drive rocket hit by Melky Cabrera sent shivers of terror through my spine. Literally!! Boston could not afford to lose a pitcher of Lester's ability at this point of the season and the sight and sound (sound, especially) was horrible. He was only able to pitch 2 1/3 innings and they weren't easy ones. The Bronx pinstripers worked him for 78 pitches. Anytime Jon's location was remotely near the center of the plate, the Yanks pounced on it. I'll be watching the NESN and NESN HD one hour game replay, which is on every day from 8am to 9am EST. Here's Lester's brief comment after X-Rays thankfully (!!) were deemed negatve...

“It hurt. I don’t know what other type of reaction you want. It hurt, hit off my knee, going about Mach 7.

Boston shortstop supreme Alex Gonzales had a "ringside" view of the entire play. He described what he saw...

“It’s very scary when a pitcher gets hit like that,’’ Gonzalez said after the Red Sox’ 9-5 loss to the Yankees. “The hitter hit the ball very well. Nobody wants to get hurt, especially in this moment, especially Lester, one of the best pitchers we have on the club. Thank God it’s nothing serious.’’

Thank God is exactly right, Gonzo. Lastly, here's the Boston skipper, who is sure to guide his team to another playoff appearance this year. Hit it, Tito...

“He’s going to be OK,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “When it first happened, I think it looked terrible, it sounded terrible, he was in a lot of pain. I think it caught enough meat or muscle where it wasn’t just a direct blow on that bone. I actually think from talking to Dr. Larry Ronan, our trainers, he might be right on turn. The fact that we’re even talking about that is good news.’’

Jones, Bowden, Delcarmen and Ramirez finished the game but let four more runs cross the plate. The only one of them who was unscored upon was Ramon Ramirez, who had been in a little slump. A loss is a loss, one game only. I never had any serious thoughts that MY team, the Boston Red Sox, would catch the New York Yankees to win the AL East crown, not this year. Does that make me any less of a fan or any less of a proud member of Red Sox Nation? Not on your life, or mine. I have loved this team for decades and will love them with all my heart until the day I leave this good earth. Yes, it would be nice if the Yankees clinch while they're playing some other team, but whatever happens will happen. That's all there is to it.

This afternoon at Yankee Stadium, it'll be Daisuke Matsuzaka, in his third post-injury start, versus Cy Young Award candidate CC Sabathia, who is always lights out in August and beyond. The odds for this nationall televised game by Fox and Fox HD heavily favor the pinstripers, but who cares about odds? I sense an upset. Remember I said that.

Hey, have a wonderful and terrific Saturday and, if it's in your plans, enjoy afternoon baseball from the house the Ruth never built. You can click on this post's title for more SI coverage of the Red Sox (SI has a new Red Sox team layout newspage...wow!) and as always, BE WELL. I thank you for stopping in and your comments are always welcome. See ya...soon. Go SOX. Pure and simple.