Some Observations From the Yankee - Red Sox Game

The MLB Network telecast of the game last night between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox was blacked out in New England and while having to watch NESN is usually a pleasant experience with the fair and very capable pair of Boston broadcasters, last night was horrible as there was this strange noise in the background the entire game. It sounded like a pool filter or something. Awful. The game was fairly interesting though. The Red Sox won as was predicted in this site's game picks. Without the tediousness of a game recap, which you can read on any major site, what follows are some observations from watching the game:

• Alex Rodriguez is off. In one at bat, Jon Lester threw three straight pitches right in the heart of the plate. The normal A-Rod would have crushed any one of them. This A-Rod whiffed.
• Speaking of Jon Lester, he really did not have his A game with him last night. You can call it a gritty performance without his best stuff. Or you can call it what it was. Lucky.
• The David Ortiz bat flip was innocuous as far as this Fan was concerned. He knew he hit it out and flipped the bat. Big deal. It's not like he hot dogged it around the bases or stood at the plate admiring his work. He flipped the bat and started running. Get over it.
• You better put a quality starter on the mound against the Red Sox. If you send meatloaf out there like Freddie Garcia, you will pay a steep price.
• Jorge Posada was pressed into action when Lester hit Mark Teixeira in the knee. Posada had three hits including his first hits of the year from the right side of the plate. Good for him. So what Girardi should do the rest of the year is not tell Posada he is playing until game time.
• Derek Jeter is only twelve hits away. It's getting exciting! Say what you will about Jeter's defense, but when he's not at short, every ground ball to Eduardo Nunez is cringe-worthy.
• There's a lot to like about Hector Noesi. Besides the Ortiz homer, he was terrific for six innings, throwing only 62 pitches. (pitching data courtesy of Brooksbaseball.net)
• Jonathan Papelbon is still a jerk. Contrast his reaction to a save (after he had given up a run) to the way Mariano Rivera reacts. The latter is pure class. The former is all crass.
• The Red Sox defense looks terrific. They made all the plays as the Yankees hit several rockets that turned into outs.
• Andruw Jones should be released. Bring up anyone from the minors and they will be just as good. Can Vazquez play the outfield?
• Robinson Cano looks like he is having a wrist problem. He got one meatball curve from Lester that normally he would have killed but his hand left the bat and he missed it. After the fly ball, he could be seen flexing his wrist.
• Kevin Youkilis has an .854 OPS despite a .255 batting average. The guy is just a horse in the middle of that line up.
• Adrian Gonzalez is simply superior to anything this Fan ever expected him to be in a Red Sox uniform. Unbelievable hitter. Just south of Jose Bautista for MVP honors right now.
• Walking any Red Sox catcher (Saltalamacchia had two of them last night) is simply stupid. Throw strikes and take your chances and eight times out of ten, you'll get them out.
• Dustin Pedroia is batting .243, J. D. Drew is at .227 and Carl Crawford sits at .245. How effective will the Red Sox be if those guys return to their career norms?
• Bobby Jenks...Ozzie Guillen is looking smarter all the time.
• Relief pitching is so fickle. Who would have ever thought Matt Albers would be an effective relief pitcher?
• Daniel Bard threw six fastballs and they averaged 98.8 MPH. He also threw three sliders and they were all strikes. Not fair.

And so the Red Sox strike first and have beaten the Yankees in most of their encounters this season. The two teams are in a virtual tie for first place. This series isn't half as fun as it used to be. The teams respect each other too much.