NEW YORK - The Red Sox are a team oozing frustration. You can see it in their body language, and hear it in their comments. They are not hiding it well. How could they?
We knew Friday night’s 15-inning, 2-0 loss would be demoralizing.
Clay Buchholz threw a curveball behind Alex Rodriguez in the first inning (A-Rod beat the Sox with a two-run homer the night before) only to hit his bat instead of his body. Guess that’s what happens when you’re going bad.
Ramon Ramirez threw a high, hard one at Mark Teixeira, then drilled A-Rod on the left triceps in the seventh inning. Ramirez was ejected by umpire Jim Joyce, in spite of Terry Francona’s protests.
After the game, Francona said he didn’t understand the ejection.
“I just think there are a lot of reasons there why we would want to try to keep the game close,’’ he said. “I just didn’t understand.’’
Nobody understood what Ramirez was doing, either. He claimed he was merely coming inside to try to get a double play, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, “We expected something to happen and it did.’’
CC Sabathia, the lefthander signed by the Yankees in the offseason, continued to throw zeros at the Red Sox, just as A.J. Burnett and 7 1/3 innings worth of relief had done the night before. The Yankees’ 1-2 starters combined for 15 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Sox offense? Twenty-four straight innings of nothing. Fit to be tied? You bet.
Frustration was evident after the game. Nah, the Sox didn’t try to hit A-Rod.
After Ramirez got tossed in a 2-0 game, the Sox had to use Enrique Gonzalez, a call-up from Pawtucket because the bullpen is spent. Gonzalez walked Nick Swisher with the bases loaded to make it 3-0 and allowed a two-run homer to Derek Jeter in the eighth.
The Sox don’t have enough outfielders, so Kevin Youkilis made his second start in left field (Josh Reddick was available) but misplayed two balls hit by Johnny Damon, one for an error in the first and the other for a double in the fifth. Youkilis shouldn’t be blamed, but he took umbrage with reporters questioning the route he took on Damon’s double.
“I am not an outfielder,’’ he said.
The Sox really needed righthanded-hitting Jason Bay and Rocco Baldelli but both are injured, adding to the glum scenario.
And there is no major league starting shortstop on the team.
The silver lining is that Buchholz pitched well for six innings, but the Yankees misfired with men on base, leaving 11 on. But Buchholz kept the Sox in the game, minimized the damage, as pitching coach John Farrell has been preaching, and overcame poor defense behind him.
This series has proved that spending a zillion dollars on pitchers can help.
This is precisely what two top-of-the-rotation pitchers can do. Imagine if the Red Sox had Roy Halladay?
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