NY Yankees Batter And Deep Fry Josh Beckett & The Boston Red Sox

Four and two thirds innings pitched, eleven (!) hits, seven (!!) runs with six strikeouts and two walks. All in less than five innings. Who had those stats last night at Yankee Stadium. Was it Josh Beckett of Boston or spot starter Dustin Mosely of the pinstripers? All the logic in the world would say Mosely. But noooo. Josh Beckett was about as far from his "A" game as humanly possible and the Yankees prevailed by a score of 7-2, taking the third game of the series and upping their AL East lead over the Red Sox to seven games. There was sloppy play in the form of two balls that were thrown away and the Boston hitters made Mosely look like an ALL Star. And most surprisingly, Josh Beckett, author of three straight stellar outings, stunk. Here he is...

“It’s hard for guys to catch balls that are hit that hard. I think I just threw too many balls over the fat part of the plate. I think it’s pretty simple. Like I said, they don’t hit balls out of the strike zone that hard.’’

Yes, there were hard hit balls by NY all over the place, on the nose hitting by pitches that caught far too much of the plate. Here's the Red Sox skipper, Tito Francona, on the Yankee's plan of attack, a scheme that worked...

“Lot of hits, some not so hard, some hard. They’re certainly not afraid to work the count or hit deep in the count. That’s what they do well when they’re on their game. Regardless of what the count is, you leave the ball over the middle, they hurt you."

There's no rest for the weary, that's for sure, as the final game of this series in the Bronx plays out beginning shortly after 2pm EDT. It's a matchup of All Star pitchers as Lester goes up against Hughes. This is a must game for Boston just for them to get back to where they were before they played game one. If not for an extended losing mini-streak by the Rays, the Sox would be all but out of it but still, a faint and distant Wild Card glimmer is visible. Every game counts more than ever and our hopes are centered on one of the best left-handers in all of baseball, Jon Lester. We all wish he can get the job done and the bats can solve Hughes. This one is big. BIG.

Click on this post's title for more on last night's loss and have a great week. I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning with the good or bad news. As always, BE WELL. Thanks for stopping in.