Joe Girardi’s bullpen call was huge tonight

In a fantastic opener to the series, the Yankees bullpen won. And it all boiled down to a gutsy call by Joe Girardi.

Bartolo Colon threw his 94th pitch but hadn’t completed the fifth inning. With two out, the bases loaded and Adrian Gonzalez stepping in the batter’s box, Girardi walked out to the mound.

Red Sox-Yankees: Who’s hot, who’s not? [Globe]

More Red Sox-Yankees content for Boston.com…

David Ortiz and Carl Crawford were red hot the last time these two teams met in June. Jon Lester was not at his best, and Derek Jeter still needed 14 hits to reach 3,000. That's all changed heading into this weekend's Sox-Yankees series.

Continue reading who’s hot, who’s not here.

Yanks’ comeback falls short, Garcia lit up

The Yankees dug themselves into a hole early, and they never made it out. Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon made sure of that.

Scoreboard Says:
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4
W: Jon Lester
L: Freddy Garcia
S: Jonathan Papelbon

Red Sox-Yankees series preview: ‘Payback’

The Yankees have lost five of six to the Red Sox this year, and New York is still hurting after getting  swept at Yankee Stadium in May. But as the Daily News put it, it’s time for some payback.

The Yankees are clinging to a one-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East, so this is about as big a series in June as you’ll ever see.

UPDATE: For the Boston Globe’s website, I wrote this extended preview for the series. Enjoy!

On the Hill:
Tuesday: Jon Lester (7-2, 3.94) vs. Freddy Garcia (4-4, 3.34)
Saturday: Tim Wakefield (2-1, 4.40) vs. A.J. Burnett (6-3, 3.86)
Sunday: Josh Beckett (4-2, 2.01) vs. CC Sabathia (7-3, 2.80)

Feinsand: ‘No chance’ Felix Hernandez will be discussed at trade deadline

Daily News Yankees beat writer Mark Feinsand made it clear in a tweet to me that the Mariners won’t be entertaining deals from the Yankees, or any team, for Felix Hernandez at the trade deadline.

No chance. I mean, like, zero. RT @lenNYsYankees I think you may have to eat your words in a couple months.

That’s about as adamant as you can get.

Bondy: Girardi sounds like a hockey coach

Do you think the Yankees lost yesterday because Joe Girardi has been messing with the lineup too much and putting the team out of rhythm? Well, Filip Bondy of the Daily News does, and, on an unrelated note, he also thinks Girardi sounds like a hockey coach with all his nicknames.

And I couldn’t disagree more, with both of Bondy’s conjectures.

Bondy’s first mistake was neglecting to mention why Girardi used backups yesterday.
As you can see from the lineup, the only subs used were for the seven-eight hitters, which, in Bondy’s mind, turns the ‘A’ lineup into a B-minus. Let me explain why I think Girardi did what he did:

1. He used Marcus Thames over Lance Berkman because Berkman is terrible vs. lefties and Thames is great vs. lefties. It seems Bondy would’ve preferred the .185 hitter over the .328 hitter.

2. Brett Gardner had played 14 straight days and Girardi really wants to get a good look at Austin Kearns now to judge how much he should be used down the stretch. If anything, a day off for Gardner keeps his legs fresh, which he’s complained about this year.

Another thing Bondy forgot to mention was the Yankees were facing Jon Lester. He hadn’t allowed a hit until the fifth inning — and that hit belonged to one of the subs! Of the six Yankee hits yesterday, two came from the subs.

…he benched Brett Gardner, whose fleetness of foot can't change games while he's sitting until the eighth.

This is true, but when Gardner did get his chance in the eighth, when the Yankees really needed a steal, he couldn’t judge what pitch to go on — against a righty. He should’ve left on the first pitch because no Red Sox catcher is going to catch him stealing.

Sometimes it seems Brian Cashman has brought in half the Western hemisphere to audition for the roles of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, who might still be here but for several measly million dollars.

That was his lede paragraph. He says this without acknowledging Gardner and Curtis Granderson have played up to, if not better, than last year’s duo thus far.

Girardi manages by the book and does an excellent job of keeping his older players fresh. I guess he, the manager of the team with the best record in baseball, has some things to learn from Bondy, the writer for the Daily News.

I can’t wait to see what arguments Bondy will come up with if Mark Teixeira misses a few games this week.

I think Bondy felt like dissing Girardi because his name is already in Girardi-nickname form. He’s probably upset about that.

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Apparently, another Daily News reporter wrote an unreasonable column for this morning. Brien of It’s About the Money, Stupid took it down.

Yankees News: Sox salvage split, Tex out

A few tidbits of the day’s happenings in Yankeeland:

• The Red Sox won a nail-biter over the Yankees, 2-1, as Jon Lester defeated Phil Hughes. The Yankees had major opportunities to score in the last three innings, but Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon came up big in big spots to earn the series split.
• Mark Teixeira hit his team-leading 26th homer — accounting for the only Yankee run — and he’s on an absolute home run tear lately. Six of his last 10 hits are home runs.
• Unfortunately, Tex made the last out of today’s game, stranding Derek Jeter at second base.
• Tex stayed behind for the flight to Texas, as the team gave him permission to wait in New York with his wife. They’re expecting a baby to be born Tuesday. This is bad news for the Yankees, as they have four lefties ahead and Tex’s absence means Lance Berkman most likely will be playing first. The Yankees benched Berkman today because they faced southpaw Jon Lester.

Red Sox avoid sweep with easy 9-3 victory

A.J. Burnett’s woes against the Red Sox at Fenway continued on Sunday Night Baseball, as he was rocked for nine runs (eight earned) and ate his first loss of the year. Red Sox starter Jon Lester finally quieted the Yankees’ high-voltage offense, as he turned in an impressive seven-inning performance in the 9-3 win.

Quick ‘Cap:
This really was one of the most boring games to watch because the Red Sox took control early. In the third inning, Boston rallied for five runs to make it 6-0. Kevin Youkilis had an RBI double in the fourth and Jeremy Hermida ended Burnett’s day with a two-run homer in the fifth.

On the bright side, recent call-up Romulo Sanchez saved the bullpen with 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief. He used a 95 MPH fastball, an 82 MPH changeup and occasionally an 84 MPH curveball to blank the Sox. J.D. Drew had the lone hit off him.

Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez hit solo shots in the fourth inning, but that was all Lester allowed. Jorge Posada struck out in the eighth to end the final push at a comeback. Yankees-Red Sox box score.

Thoughts:
Burnett has now allowed 31 runs in 22 innings pitched at Fenway as a Yankee. Ouch! His ERA for the season almost went up a run and a half (1.99 to 3.40).

Line of the Night:
Sanchez: 3 2/3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 3 K.

Up Next:
The Yankees take on Johnny Damon, Austin Jackson, Phil Coke and the Detroit Tigers on Monday to open a four-game set. Should be fun.

Yankees take first game against Red Sox

The Yankees (98-56) beat down the Red Sox (91-62) 9-5 last night, led by Joba Chamberlain’s quality start and Alex Rodriguez’s perfect night at the plate. The magic number is now down to three.

Quick ‘Cap:
A-Rod drove in Derek Jeter in the first inning on a single, and then cranked a two-run homer into the second deck in left in a four-run third inning that also saw Jon Lester leave the game. Melky Cabrera smoked a line drive right back at Lester’s knee, but luckily he was able to slowly walk off the field.

Chamberlain was perfect for the first three innings, but Victor Martinez broke his bid up with a homer in the fourth. Chamberlain went on to finish six innings, and allowed a two-run homer to David Ortiz.

Joe Girardi, once again, had to use three pitchers in the eighth inning after Jon Albaladejo was ineffective and allowed two runs to score. Damaso Marte and Phil Hughes recorded the last two outs, and Phil Coke pitched an easy ninth. Full box score here.

Thoughts:
The story of this game was supposed to be Chamberlain, but it really spun around toward Lester and Jason Varitek. Lester left most of his fastballs high and the Yankees took advantage. The Yanks stole seven bases off Varitek, including three from A-Rod and two from Jeter. I wasn’t aware of this weakness for the Red Sox until last night. One would think Varitek would have to be very good defensively in order to keep his job with a  .208 batting average.

Line of the Night:
A-Rod: 3-for-3, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SB. A perfect night and a triple shy of the cycle. And against the Red Sox? Who says he’s not clutch?

Up Next:
The series continues today at 4:10 p.m. with CC Sabathia (18-7, 3.31) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-5, 6.80) going at it.