MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game 87: Red Sox at Yankees (L)

Boston Red Sox (51-37) vs. New York Yankees (45-41)

Josh Beckett (7-5, 3.65) vs. Darrell Rasner (4-6, 4.42)

July 4, 2008 @ 1:05 p.m. @ Yankee Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0		6	12	0
New York	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		4	6	1
Beckett (W, 8-5) Rasner (L, 4-7) Papelbon (S, 25)

Preview:

After apparently taking the night off yesterday, the Yankees face off against Josh Beckett in the second game of this four-game set.  Starting today and lasting through the weekend, all MLB teams will wear special navy caps with the logo in the colors of the American Flag in honor of Independence Day.

Beckett, last year’s Cy Young runner up, started the season a little rough, but has turned things around in the last month and a half.  In his seven starts since May 24, he has posted an ERA of 2.49, a 1.15 WHIP, and an impressive 45/9 K/BB ratio.

Darrell Rasner, today’s Yankee starter, has gone in the other direction.  After pitching excellently in May, Rasner was awful in June, going 1-5 with a 6.47 ERA.  In his most recent start, he held the Mets to two runs over five innings, despite allowing eight hits and three walks.  Hopefully, the turn of the month will bring a reverse in the course of Mr. Rasner’s season.

This morning, the Yankees called up LHP Billy Traber, and optioned Alberto Gonzalez to AAA to make room on the roster.

Update:

The game is scheduled to start back up at 5:45.

---

Recap:

The game started out well for the Yankees.  They worked three runs off Josh Beckett in the first inning on a two-run double by A-Rod and a Jason Giambi sac fly.

Unfortunately, they decided that was enough for the day, as they managed just three hits during innings two through eight.  They did draw five walks in those innings, but with no one to drive them in, those baserunners were wasted.

Johnny Damon was injured in the third inning, and you have to wonder how large a part that played.  Damon was the most vocal player after last night’s atrocious attempt at a baseball game, and he followed that up by leading the game off with a double.  In fact, the play that resulted in his injury - crashing into the wall trying to make a leaping catch - was an all-out gutsy play, showing the kind of zeal that has been missing from Yankee play of late.  It would have been an electrifying catch if made.  However, after Damon left the game, there was nothing electrifying about the Yankees.

Darrell Rasner failed to get the job done tonight, allowing six runs over five innings.  He flirted with disaster the whole game, giving up ten hits and three walks.  However, it’s hard to blame Rasner for this game.  Rasner has spent his career as a journeyman spot starter, and to paraphrase a famous philosopher, he was what we thought he was.

It should also be mentioned that the bullpen did another great job tonight.  Traber, Veras and Ramirez combined for four shutout innings.  Edwar especially did a commendable job, pitching two perfect innings and striking out three.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under Edwar Ramirez, Alberto Gonzalez, Billy Traber, Promotion / Demotion, Darrell Rasner, Johnny Damon, Game Thread / Recap, Alex Rodriguez. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.