NEW YORK - Billy Traber on the mound. Kevin Youkilis in left. John Smoltz in the showers, possibly contemplating retirement.
And the Red Sox sinking like a stone in the American League East.
Not exactly what you had in mind for Boston’s big August series at the new Yankee Stadium, is it?
The Yankees presented Muhammad Ali with an award before last night’s game, and if the champ stuck around, he was probably reminded of his bloodbath victory over Ernie Terrell in the Astrodome in 1967.
Zero for 8 against their division brethren this year, the Yankees pummeled Smoltz and broke through with a 13-6 victory over the unraveling Sox.
Josh Beckett will be asked to stop the madness tonight. The Sons of Tito are 3 1/2 games behind the Bombers and only 2 1/2 ahead of Tampa Bay. Pass the brown paper bags. The Hub is on the brink of panic.
“We’re playing like [expletive] right now, that’s obvious,’’ said AL MVP Dustin Pedroia. “We’ve got to play better.’’
Clearly it’s time for Theo and the minions to Just Say No to the admirable Smoltz experiment. We’ve seen eight starts and Smoltz is 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA. The Yankees roughed him up for eight runs on nine hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. Lefty batters went 9 for 13 against Smoltz with three walks.
It doesn’t sound as if Smoltz is going to make it easy for the brass.
“It’s correctable,’’ said the 42-year-old righty, while admitting, “Time may not be on my side if this continues.’’
Continues? That would indicate that he’s getting another start. Though the alternatives are not good (Michael Bowden?), it’s hard to imagine the Sox sending Smoltz back to the mound Tuesday at Fenway against Detroit.
“We have a lot of things to talk about,’’ said Terry Francona. “I don’t think five minutes after a game we need to come to a conclusion.’’
On paper, the Sox’ only hope to win this game was wrapped in the “reverse lock’’ theory. Popularized by Earl Weaver in the golden days of the Orioles, the reverse lock holds that on a night when a team has no chance to win, said team will prevail precisely because of that. This was certainly the Sox’ plight last night.
The Yankees had the momentum, the hot starting pitcher (Joba Chamberlain was 3-0 with a 0.83 ERA since the break), home field, and a scalding lineup packed with lefthanded punch. The Sox were coming off two horrible losses in Tampa, were without Jason Bay (hamstring), started Youkilis in left field, and had Smoltz (2-4, 7.12 ERA) on the mound.
Smoltz gave up only one run in the first three innings, a homer by Johnny Damon. But there were trouble signs when the first four batters of the third hit fly balls that traveled an aggregate 1,550 feet. Jacoby Ellsbury looked like he was training for the Penn Relays.
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