Yankees vs Red Sox (4/19-4/22)

Game 1: The torrid pace of Alex Rodriguez continued on Friday night as he hit two homeruns against Curt Schilling. Luckily, Schilling kept the game from getting out of hand and so did the Red Sox bullpen. The Yankees took a 6-2 lead into the 8th inning when everything suddenly began to go Boston's way. David Ortiz started the rally with a double against Mike Myers, Manny Ramirez then worked a walk. JD Drew followed Ramirez and grounded out, moving Ramirez and Ortiz over to 2nd and 3rd. Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek followed with RBI singles, which brought Coco Crisp to the dish with 1 out and a 2-run deficit. Crisp knocked a Mariano Rivera offering down the first base line past 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Two runs scored and Crisp ended up at 3rd base with a tie game. Alex Cora capped off the rally when he blooped a single over the head of Derek Jeter who was playing shallow and the Red Sox took the lead.

The Red Sox took their 1-run lead into the 9th inning with Papelbon unavailable after he pitched in the previous two games. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Hideki Okajima did his best Papelbon impression and retired the Yankees (including the red-hot Alex Rodriguez), which sent the fans into a frenzy.

By completing the comeback, the Red Sox avoided a 1st place tie with New York and moved ahead by 2 games. Thursday's game against Toronto was great, but the Red Sox one upped themselves tonight. What a great game.

Game 2: Josh Beckett took the hill for the Red Sox on Saturday and wasn't quite as sharp as he had been in his previous three starts. He allowed the Yankees to get two-run leads on two seperate occasions, but the Red Sox offense answered each time. The Red Sox pulled ahead 5-4 in the 4th inning, but the lead was extended further when David Ortiz hit a 2-run homer just inside the Pesky Pole for what turned out to be the game winning runs. Coco Crisp (2/4, 2 R, SB) and Jason Varitek (2/4) also deserve mentioning as they both continued their recent resurgence. Ortiz (4 RBI), Youkilis (1 RBI), and Lugo (2 RBI) had multi-hit games as well.

Beckett came out after 6.2 innings. He allowed 4 runs and struck out 7. Hideki Okajima relieved Beckett and recorded some more big outs. Mike Timlin finished the 8th inning before giving way to Jonathan Papelbon who continued his dominance in the closer role. The final out came on a well-hit ball by Bobby Abreu, but Coco Crisp was there to make the play and the Red Sox won again.

The Red Sox move ahead of the Yankees by 3 games with the win and are 9-2 in their last 11 games.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka had a rough outing on Sunday night as he allowed 6 runs to the Yankee offense. Matsuzaka still recorded the win, thanks to 4 consecutive solo shots (first time in time history) by the Red Sox and a 2-run shot from Mike Lowell later in the game. Jon Papelbon held onto a 1-run lead in the 9th inning and retired Alex Rodriguez for the final out.

With the win, the Red Sox sweep the series and move 4 games ahead of the Yankees.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 2-game series with the Blue Jays on Monday night. Tim Wakefield will take the mound for the Red Sox.