Thoughtful evening at the park

Dan Shaughnessy

September 02, 2011|By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist

Midnight confessions and random thoughts while watching the Red Sox and Yankees for that last time at Fenway this year (unless we get the overdue dream ALCS matchup) …

■The length of these games has become intolerable. Last night, it took the Sox and Yankees 4 hours 21 minutes to score six runs over nine innings. Jon Lester threw a whopping 43 pitches in the first frame of Boston’s 4-2 loss. Played to the tune of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,’’ the game ended at 11:32 when Adrian Gonzalez took a called third strike with the bases loaded. It was a very good game, but it was also longer than Albert Haynesworth’s rap sheet. Think about this for a second: On Sept. 12, 1979, the Sox beat the Yankees, 9-2. The game was halted for 15 minutes when Carl Yastrzemski recorded his 3,000th hit. Still, they managed to play nine innings in 2 hours 8 minutes. As Ned Martin would say, “Mercy!’’

■I want to declare that the Red Sox are simply better than the Yankees, but I can’t. Winning 11 of the first 14 head-to-head meetings would suggest that Boston is the superior team, but the Yankees have scored more runs (736-731) and allowed fewer (540-569) than the Sox. So, how do we dismiss the Bronx Bombers as inferior?

■Yankees phenom/prospect Jesus Montero went 0 for 4 in his big-league debut. The 21-year-old fanned on a 3-and-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in his first at-bat. Fortunately, there’s no pressure on Montero. Thursday’s New York Post hailed his arrival with the headline, “Jesus on the way.’’ Why can’t we write headlines like that?

■In the old days, it was Ted Williams vs. Joe DiMaggio. Then we had Carlton Fisk vs. Thurman Munson. Now we have a debate at three pivotal positions. Who would you take? Dustin Pedroia or Robinson Cano? Jacoby Ellsbury or Curtis Granderson? Gonzalez or Mark Teixeira? These are almost impossible choices. At this hour, I’m going with Cano, Ellsbury, and Gonzalez. But I might flip on all three as early as tomorrow. It’s certainly hard to vote against Pedroia after watching the little guy crush a two-run homer to center on yet another one of his patented violent swings.

■Is there anything more ridiculous than Bill James’s “temperature gauge’’ currently being forced on us by NESN? There’s not a man alive who can comprehend the formula. We’d have a better chance deciphering WWII transcripts of the Navajo Code Talkers.

■The Yankees can only be encouraged by the performance of piñata righthander A.J. Burnett. Pitching for his playoff life, Burnett was not terrible. He allowed two runs on five hits over 5 ⅓ innings. It’s inconclusive. Joe Girardi is still searching for playoff starters Nos. 2, 3, and 4.