The New York Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox Friday night at Yankee Stadium was like a microcosm of the Yankees' recent struggles. Most of the issues experienced by the Yankees as they have lost seven of their last 10 games were on display.
- Inability to get a key base hit. Check. See the 13 runners left on base. The inability to get Brett Gardner home from second base with one out in the fifth inning. Watching Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada fail to get Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano home from third and second in the eighth inning. Watching Mark Teixeira pop up against Jonathan Papelbon with the tying run, Curtis Granderson, on base.
- Exasperating bullpen work. Check. Joba Chamberlain entered a tie game with a runner on base in the seventh inning. By the time the inning was over the score was 5-2 Boston, the big blow being a two-run Kevin Youkilis home run.
- Great, but wasted, starting pitching. Check. Bartolo Colon went 6+ terrific innings. He took the loss, but this game was not his fault. He was terrific.
Boston took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Yankee catcher Russell Martin tied the game in the fifth inning with a two-run home run, his seventh of the season. In the seventh inning Boston scored on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez, who had homered for Boston's first run, and Youkilis' two-run homer.
The Yankees got a run in the eighth inning when Granderson scored on a wild pitch by Boston reliever Daniel Bard, but left the tying runs in scoring position as Swisher struck out and Posada grounded out. Consecutive two-out hits in the ninth inning by Derek Jeter and Granderson pulled the Yankees within 5-4, but Teixeira popped out to end the game.
Boston has now won three of the four meetings between the two teams thus far in 2011.