But in this three hour, 48-minute contest, there were several plays which could've been deciding factors. In the end, the Sox lost a battle of bullpens, one night after winning that same sort of struggle.
It leads us to the rubber match of the series Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. John Lackey makes his Red Sox debut opposite Andy Pettitte. We'll carry you through the contest right here.
Final, Yankees 6-4: As usual, few issues for Mariano Rivera in the ninth, although he did give up a double to allow the tying run to come to the plate.
We're off to get some reaction downstairs. Back in a bit with more.
Mid 9th, Yankees 6-4: Robinson Cano provides a little insurance for Mariano Rivera with a solo blast deep into the grandstand in right.
It is the first home run Scott Atchison has allowed in a major league uniform since Sept. 4, 2007, which also happens to be the day my sister turned 37.
Rivera will face Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro and Jacoby Ellsbury.
End 8th, Yankees 5-4: And that's why the Yankees feel pretty good about moving Joba Chamberlain back to the bullpen.
The burly right-hander gets both Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew swinging to end the eighth and strand Kevin Youkilis at second.
In case you've lived under a rock for the past 15 years, New York will give the ball to Mariano Rivera in the ninth. That is unless the Yanks happen to break things open in the top half.
10:33 p.m.: The wheels keep turning here. Damaso Marte gets his man, David Ortiz, after throwing a pickoff attempt away and allowing Kevin Youkilis to scamper to second. Joba Chamberlain is on to face Adrian Beltre.
10:28 p.m.: David Robertson's night lasts one batter. He is relieved by Damaso Marte after giving up a leadoff single to Kevin Youkilis.
On another note, tonight's announced attendance is 38,000. Exactly.
Mid 8th, Yankees 5-4: After a double, groundout, single, flyout and a throwing error by Marco Scutaro, the Yankees still had not scored a run in the eighth.
But then Nick Johnson managed to work a bases-loaded walk to finally get the run across. It goes in the books as an unearned run, but Hideki Okajima didn't do himself any favors.
Okajima had to throw 11 pitches to Nick Swisher in the middle of all of that.
10:18 p.m.: It took almost everything possible for the Yankees to finally get a run in in the eighth (we'll explain later), but they did on a bases-loaded walk by Hideki Okajima. Scott Atchison will make his Red Sox debut in a 5-4 game with the bases loaded and two outs.
End 7th, 4-4: Alfredo Aceves really developed into a versatile weapon for the Yankees last season, and manager Joe Girardi called on him in a number of roles.
He does the job in this one by rolling through two frames. The only base runner came on an error with two outs in the sixth.
This battle of the bullpens is now in the hands of Hideki Okajima, the fourth Red Sox pitcher of the night.
Mid 7th, 4-4: Daniel Bard gets Alex Rodriguez looking at a slider and jams Robinson Cano to get an inning-ending grounder to second. Another impressive frame for Bard.
The inning could've been a bit more difficult to traverse if not for a nice sliding catch in left field by Jacoby Ellsbury. Had Ellsbury not made the catch it would've been first and second with no outs.
Alfredo Aceves is out for his second inning of work for the Yanks.
End 6th, 4-4: Alfredo Aceves works around a two-out throwing error by Derek Jeter. Daniel Bard has relieved Manny Delcarmen for the Sox.
The line on A.J. Burnett:
5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Mid 6th, 4-4: The way Manny Delcarmen struggled down the stretch last season and had a patchy spring training in which his velocity remained down, it looked bad when Nick Swisher doubled inches from the top of the Green Monster to start the sixth.
But Delcarmen works around the double. Kevin Youkilis makes a diving stop of a line drive off the bat of Curtis Granderson to help the cause.
Alfredo Aceves has taken over for A.J. Burnett, and Daniel Bard is warming up in the Red Sox bullpen.
End 5th, 4-4: Looks like we have another see-saw affair on our hands. With A.J. Burnett on the mound, a comeback is just a few pitches away.
Burnett is not a bad pitcher, but he can dominate one hitter and look horrendous against the next, so losing a lead with him on the mound might not mean much 15 minutes later.
The fifth inning was a great example. Burnett gave up a hard single to Dustin Pedroia and a booming RBI double to Victor Martinez before throwing a bevy of filthy curveballs to strike out Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz.
Manny Delcarmen is on for the Sox. Lester threw 94 pitches, 53 for strikes.
The line on Lester:
5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HBP
Mid 5th, Yankees 4-3: I hate to say "I told you so," but it's rare that the opportunity presents itself. So, I told you so. Jon Lester lost it in the fifth, and another close play that went against the Sox didn't help.
Three close plays at first base have gone against Boston in the first two games, and all three may have been incorrect.
This time Mark Teixeira is called safe on what could've been a double play. The Yankees had the bases loaded and nobody out so a run would have scored either way, but it left runners on the corners with one out rather than a man on third and two down.
Alex Rodriguez followed with a ringing double off the Green Monster and Robinson Cano drove in Teixeira with a sacrifice fly.
Manny Delcarmen is warming for the Sox and that might be it for Lester, who has thrown 94 pitches.
End 4th, Red Sox 3-1: A twin killing stifled a Yankees rally in the top of the fourth, and did the same to the Sox in the bottom half.
Boston had two on and one out when Marco Scutaro grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
By the way, Jon Lester has thrown 75 pitches. It was about this time that Josh Beckett started to lose it, and it was not long after that point that CC Sabathia fell apart. These early-season outings can see starters hit the wall a little bit earlier, so keep an eye on Lester in this frame.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Jorge Posada has had some great moments in this park, but his speed, or lack thereof, became a subject of ridicule in the fourth.
After a leadoff walk to Robinson Cano, Posada hit into a 6-4-3 double play that seemingly took hours to develop. Jon Lester hits the next man, Nick Swisher, on the right foot before freezing Marcus Thames on a curve to end it.
End 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: "Just put him in the third spot and let him do his thing." Those were Terry Francona's words after Victor Martinez hit a grand slam and a two-run homer in a Grapefruit League game 10 days ago.
He did his thing in the third inning, crushing an A.J. Burnett fastball that didn't get inside enough. It caught a few inches of the corner and Martinez parked it in the Red Sox bullpen.
Mid 3rd, 1-1: No issues for Jon Lester in the third, thanks in large part to Adrian Beltre's right arm.
Beltre, who was a treat to watch take hundreds of ground balls every day in Fort Myers, took a chopper down the line and nailed Alex Rodriguez at first.
End 2nd, 1-1: Adrian Beltre singles and steals second base, but there is no damage done. A.J. Burnett bounces back to strike out J.D. Drew and Mike Cameron and gets Marco Scutaro on a pop to Mark Teixeira.
Mid 2nd, 1-1: The way Jon Lester threw in the first inning, the last thing any of us expected was what he showed in the second. He gets credit, however, for limiting the damage.
With one out, Robinson Cano singled. After a walk to Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher doubled in a run.
Another walk to Marcus Thames, who had a miserable spring with the Yankees, loaded them up before Lester got Curtis Granderson on a ball in the dirt and Derek Jeter on a grounder to short.
Lester threw 31 pitches in the inning, just 17 for strikes.
End 1st, Red Sox 1-0: As smooth as Jon Lester's first inning was, A.J. Burnett's was equally rough, although not all of it was his fault.
Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single that fell in shallow left field between three Yankees. It appeared as if left fielder Marcus Thames was the one who got the slowest jump on it.
Ellsbury then attempted to steal and catcher Jorge Posada's throw sailed into center for an error, pushing the runner to third. After a walk to Victor Martinez — which featured another of about five fastballs that Burnett threw a foot over a batter's head — Kevin Youkilis brought in Ellsbury with a fly to center.
The run was unearned.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Terry Francona said that the word that popped into his head regarding Jon Lester this spring was "powerful." He gets Mark Teixeira looking on a 97 mph fastball on the corner. I guess Francona knew what he was talking about.
Lester also got Derek Jeter on a 95 mph heater. Safe to say the lefty has his fastball working.
7:04 p.m.: Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney, a fellow Vermonter, is here to throw out the first pitch. Kearney is apparently a huge Jacoby Ellsbury fan and she just got to throw to her favorite player. Now we're ready to go.
5:57 p.m.: It's amazing how different the vibe is from one game to the next. Without dozens of media outlets who were here for the opener but have now moved on, it is a bit more like a standard Tuesday night at Fenway.
That can all change when these two teams get together.
One thing to watch for is if/when we see Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek. Terry Francona has talked a bit the past few days about striking a balance between playing the regulars every game so that they do not get rusty (there are three days off in the first 10 days of the season), and getting some of the subs a look.
His line to each of them has been: "Be patient".
Also, flip-flop Nick Swisher and Marcus Thames in the Yankees lineup. Swisher will bat seventh.
5:07 p.m.: First, here is the Yankees lineup against Jon Lester. After that will be a few tidbits from Terry Francona, who offered up a few zingers.
Derek Jeter, SS
Nick Johnson, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Jorge Posada, C
Marcus Thames, LF
Nick Swisher, RF
Curtis Granderson, CF
The version posted in the Red Sox clubhouse had Swisher batting before Thames, so there may have been a switch. Either way, the lineup features three lefties against Lester.
As for Francona, he discussed everything from Josh Beckett's extension to Neil Diamond's appearance Sunday night.
On Beckett: "I thought they handled it so well. For that to get done the way it did, I thought it was really professionally done. I remember back when we signed Lackey, Theo giving Josh a call and [I was] thinking, 'Good move,' and they did a really good job together. In a place like this, it's hard to get a deal done like that without stuff being said. … There's not one person around here that doesn't want Beckett, I can tell you that."
On the front end of the rotation being set for years: "Hopefully that ends up being a great thing. We don't look much past today, let alone years down the road, but finding pitching that can go through the AL East is not an easy thing to do."
Francona referenced the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s, a team that featured Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine at the front end of the rotation:
"They were really good. They consistently threw good pitching out there every day. Hopefully that's what we can do."
On Jon Lester: "The word I've used this spring is powerful. Right from the get-go he was out there grunting. His expectations of himself are really high. What we need to do is get him into the groove where he feels good about himself. Once he gets in that, he's one of the best in the game. … Sometimes it's easy to forget he's a fairly young pitcher. He's been through a lot and he's got a lot of experience. We rely on him a lot and we're OK with that."
And finally, on playing tonight after Sunday night's festivities and all that went with it (note the Neil Diamond reference): "It's nice to get into a little routine, Everybody had to check the board [Sunday] to see when there's a flyover, [batting practice is] at a different time, we had what's his name singing the song. I don't know if the Red Sox want to hear it, but I actually thought it was Dick Vitale."
Diamond and Vitale don't look a thing alike and certainly don't sound the same, so the comparison brought the house down in the media room.
Francona added that Clay Buchholz will throw in a simulated game Wednesday. That will count for his preparation for a start Sunday in Kansas City.
There are no updates yet on Junichi Tazawa's elbow surgery, which was scheduled to be performed Tuesday in Alabama.
3:23 p.m.: Before we head down to catch the vibe before the second game of the series, here is the Sox starting lineup for this one.
There are no differences from the lineup put out there for the opener, which saw Boston hammer out nine runs on 12 hits.
Jacoby Ellsbury, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Marco Scutaro, SS
8 a.m.: Following a memorable Opening Day win and an off day which saw their ace sign a four-year contract extension, the Red Sox host the Yankees in the middle game of their three-game set.
Jon Lester goes for Boston opposite A.J. Burnett for New York. Lester is looking to build on a 15-8 season in which he struck out 225 hitters, third in the American League.
NESN will carry you through the affair and we will offer up our own take on things right here so be sure to follow along. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
