Red Sox Sweep Yankees; Strike .500 (20-20)

Last night, the Red Sox swept the Yankees in a 7-5 win where they reached .500 at 20-20 as well! In the first inning, the Yankees took an early lead as Mark Teixeira knocked in Derek Jeter with a single. However, the Red Sox got it right back int he top of the second, as Jed Lowrie hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Kevin Youkilis. In the bottom of the second, however, two home runs: a solo shot by Andruw Jones and a 2-run shot by Curtis Granderson gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead. However, in the top of the third, the Red Sox put runners at 1st and 2nd with just an out. Kevin Youkilis stood at the plate, with a 1-2 count, through great patience, he worked the count full, then delivered, crushing a 3-run homer to left field to tie the game! The Red Sox took a lead in the fifth, after David Ortiz hit a home run around the right field pole to make it 5-4. In the top of the 7th, Dustin Pedroia scored on an Alex Rodriguez error to make it 6-4. The Yankees got a run back when A-Rod redeemed himself with an RBI double to left. However, the Red Sox got it right back on a solo home run by Jarrod Saltalamacchia to make it 7-5.

Jon Lester (top right) pitched pretty well after the first 2 innings, pitching 4 shutout innings after that so his day looked like 4 runs in 6 innings. He earned the win, and is now very good at 5-1/3.28/58. Alfredo Aceves allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning before Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 and Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless one. Kevin Youkilis (left) had a great game, going 2-5 with that big three-run homer, as he is now .246/7/25 this year, as other than the batting average he's been pretty good. David Ortiz went 3-5 with a solo home run, as he is now .295/7/19 as he has gotten off to a good start. Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 2-4 with a solo home run, as he is now .217/1/9. Tonight, the Sox will head back home to face the Orioles, and will send Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-3/4.64/24) against Chris Tillman (2-3/6.15/24).

Bright Spots:

Daniel Bard- 1 1/3 scoreless innings

Jonathan Papelbon- a scoreless inning

Kevin Youkilis- 2-5 with a 3-run homer

David Ortiz- 3-5 with a solo shot

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 2-4 with a solo homer

Dull Spots:

Alfredo Aceves- a run in 2/3 innings

Carl Crawford- 0-4

I am so happy that the Sox are at .500, and more importantly, swept the Yankees to get there!