Lester, Bard & Paps Shut Up Yankees

After sub-par performances by two of the Boston Red Sox starters, Jon Lester came through in a gigantic way. His late inning bullpen mates did the same exact thing in Boston's 2-1 victory over the first place New York Yankees. Lester pitched 6 1/3 goose egg innings, striking out six and walking three. He was dominant. Here's pinstriped slugger Mark Teixeira talking about their rivals...

"If their pitching staff is healthy, that's all that matters. I don't care how many injuries they've had or have right now, that's a good team. Pitching is everything in this game. Their starting five is as good as anyone's in baseball, and they have arguably the best eighth and ninth inning guys, as well. That combination is tough."

I agree, Mark, but it's a shame that Beckett and Lackey couldn't "get it together" for this pivotal series. His teammate and right-fielder Nick Swisher had this to say about the nasty stuff the Sox pitchers were throwing...

"Just ridiculous."

YES, he really said that! Buchholz and Lester stepped up and did everything we could have wanted. Here's the best lefty in the major leagues, Jon Lester...

“I wasn’t worried about the last four starts, I was worried about executing pitches on the day I get to pitch. I know what these past three games at Yankee Stadium were like and I wanted to give our team a quality start. I was worried about today, not three weeks ago. When you start worrying about your last outing, you get in trouble.’’

So the series in the Bronx has ended with both teams in the same position as they were on Friday. We could have been didn't. What else can I say? Now it's on to Canada to play the Blue Jays for three. Here are the pitching match-ups...

Tue. 10 at Tor ***7:07 PM ET **NESN/RSN **Matsuzaka (8-3) vs. Romero (9-7)
Wed. 11 at Tor ***7:07 PM ET **NESN/RSN **Buchholz (12-5) vs. Marcum (10-5)
Thu. 12 at Tor ***12:37 PM ET **NESN/RSN **Lackey (10-7) vs. Cecil (9-5)

What a weird starting time for Thursday's game. I don't know why but that's a wrap for this Tuesday morning. My girlfriend Nadia (hey BFW) went back to Minnesota yesterday and arrived safe and sound. We'll meet again...when, I don't know. I miss her, though, and I'm sad. Click on this post's title for more Sox stuff and as always, BE WELL. Thanks for being here. I mean it.