Just when it looked like the Yankees were turning it around reality set in once again with a trip to Boston. With a 4-3 meltdown loss tonight at Fenway Park the Yankees have now lost all eight meetings with the Red Sox in 2009. This most recent three game series was highlighted by poor Yankees pitching, awful outfield play, and zero clutch hitting.
As has been the case against their arch rivals this season, the Yankees' starting staff let them down once again. In the first two games of the series, Yankee starters A.J. Burnett and Chien-Ming Wang combined to pitch 5.1 innings and give up 9 earned runs. Tonight, CC Sabathia cruised through the first seven innings and entered the eighth win a 3-1 lead. The Yankees' ace, however, ran out of gas in the eighth and left the game without recording an out in the inning. Alfrefo Aceves relieved Sabathia and couldn't bail him out. The final line for Sabathia: 7 IP, 4 ER, 123 pitches. This isn't the first time Yankees have been burned trying to milk Sabathia late in the game and it highlights a glaring issue.
Manager Joe Girardi doesn't have a reliable reliever to turn to not named Mariano Rivera. The Yankees overrated starting rotation, unreliable bullpen, and poor defense may be good enough to win against mediocre competition, but its a mirage. Against the elite squads, like Boston, the only thing the Pinstripes have proven is that they can't get the job done.
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