Terry Francona raved about Clay Buchholz's performance.
"Buch was tremendous," he said. "Any time you look up and you're that deep into the game you're doing something right."
Buchholz, whose wife had a baby just the other day, admitted to having fatigue. But it wasn't the sleepless nights, but the Yankees' lineup.
"It was exhausting," he said of the outing.
Finally, Kalish, with the home run ball in his locker, described his emotions when he saw it disappear into the Yankees bullpen.
"When I hit it I knew it had a chance and then when it got out I remember saying to myself, 'Is this real?' Just for a second it kinda felt unreal."
It was real, though, and the finishing touch on Boston's eighth win in 11 games. Coupled with a loss by Tampa Bay, the Sox enter the weekend trailing the Rays by 4 1/2 games and the Yankees by five.
John Lackey opposes CC Sabathia in a 4:10 p.m. game Saturday. We will be at Yankee Stadium to carry you through. Thanks for following along.
Final, Red Sox 6-3: Jonathan Papelbon manages to get past a 12-pitch walk to Derek Jeter and some displeasure with home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman to finish a fantastic win for the Red Sox, who start the four-game series and their 10-game road trip in fine fashion.
As expected, Clay Buchholz outdueled Javier Vazquez and Boston took advantage of a bad Yankees error in the second to plate three unearned runs. Those end up being the difference, although Ryan Kalish's two-run homer in the sixth was pretty special and gave the Sox a nice cushion in the late innings.
We will head down and talk to the fellas. Back to wrap it all up in a bit.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 6-3: And here comes Jonathan Papelbon to face the bottom of the Yankees' order. Papelbon is 26-for-31 in save opportunities, one of the five blown saves coming here in May.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-3: With help from a diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury in center, which had a few people cringing in New England I'm sure, Daniel Bard gets out of the eighth.
The last out caused a mass exodus here at Yankee Stadium. Shocking, really. It's a three-run game and the Yanks have come from behind over and over again in this park, including against these very same Red Sox in May.
Strange. The aisles were literally packed with people leaving. Unless they all had to pee at the same time.
9:50 p.m.: Robinson Cano doubles with one out in the eighth and that'll do it for Clay Buchholz. Daniel Bard is on. Another exceptional job by Buchholz, who overcame some early issues to give the Red Sox a great chance to take the opener.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-3: This one seems to be headed down the path to Jonathan Papelbon, and who can forget his last visit to Yankee Stadium.
After giving up the tying and winning home runs in the opener of a quick two-game set here, he nearly blew a second straight save before finishing a dramatic comeback win in the game that saw Josh Beckett get hurt.
Daniel Bard is warming in the Boston bullpen. Perhaps he will get the call instead. Papelbon did throw 14 pitches Thursday night.
9:40 p.m.: With two outs in the top of the eighth and Jed Lowrie on first, Kerry Wood is removed. Boone Logan is coming on to face Jacoby Ellsbury, still hitless in 11 at bats since his return.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-3: Wouldn't be a Red Sox game without a visit by the trainer, would it? Clay Buchholz, after getting glanced by a sharp single by Nick Swisher, is the latest to get a house call. He's just fine, and proves it by striking out Mark Teixeira to end the seventh.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-3: Clay Buchholz has tossed just 73 pitches as he heads out to begin the seventh. He will face Brett Gardner and then the top of the order.
In case you had not heard, the Red Sox Media Team defeated the New York contingent this morning at Yankee Stadium, avenging a loss in Fenway Park earlier in the year.
Yours truly contributed with an RBI groundout and then some other stuff that I'd rather not get into. The final was 12-3.
End 6th, Red Sox 6-3: Just a small smattering of boos when Lance Berkman grounded out in the sixth. The Yankees' prize acquisition at the trade deadline is now 2-for-17 since joining the club.
Another new New Yorker is Kerry Wood, your pitcher to start the top of the seventh.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 6-3: Joba Chamberlain cleans up Javier Vazquez's mess but not before we were treated to a nice moment there for Ryan Kalish. He told me Thursday he would have some family and friends here from his nearby hometown of Shrewsbury, NJ. Quite a homecoming.
8:58 p.m.: A single, home run and a walk spells the end of the night for Javier Vazquez. Joba Chamberlain is on in relief with Jed Lowrie at first and one out.
8:55 p.m.: Ryan Kalish has just gone deep for the first time in his short, but spectacular, career. It was a two-run shot into the Yankees bullpen.
End 5th, Red Sox 4-3: Clay Buchholz plunks Derek Jeter, which usually serves to awaken the Yankee ghosts. Said spirits then help Alex Rodriguez drive in Jeter with a base hit to left.
Clay Buchholz has been very economical so far, throwing only 65 pitches through five. Javier Vazquez is at 95. The games between these two teams so often come down to who can get to the bullpen first. Sox winning that race.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-2: Javier Vazquez made Adrian Beltre look silly with a 65-mph curveball. So what does he do for an encore? Throws him one at 63 mph, making him look even sillier.
Vazquez has set down eight in a row and 10 of the last 11.
End 4th, Red Sox 4-2: The Red Sox missed out on a double play on a bad flip by Marco Scutaro that goes into the books as his 14th error, tied for second in the AL among shortstops. They get one on the very next pitch, however, and Clay Buchholz finishes the inning off with a strikeout of Francisco Cervelli.
I said this the last time I was here. It's a wonderful place, but the between-inning announcements and scoreboard games and all that are overwhelming. The volume is out of control. That would be my only complaint. And yes, I'm getting old.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 4-2: It's safe to say Javier Vazquez needed a quick inning. Eleven pitches ought to do. Jacoby Ellsbury is now 0-for-10 since coming back. His last hit was on May 23 and the one before that came on April 11.
End 3rd, Red Sox 4-2: Nice to see Jacoby Ellsbury racing into the gap to track down an Alex Rodriguez drive. Now if he could just get a hit. Ellsbury is up second in the fourth, 0-for-9 since returning.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 4-2: A brilliant play by Mark Teixeira helps Javier Vazquez get through a scoreless inning for the first time. Ryan Kalish, who is having a bit of a homecoming, has struck out twice.
End 2nd, Red Sox 4-2: Two innings done in just under an hour. Sounds about right. Clay Buchholz works around a one-out single in the second inning to put the first zero on the scoreboard.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 4-2: The Sox were given a big gift in the top of the second. Then another. And another. And after that they kept on taking. An error, three walks and a big two-run double by Marco Scutaro leads to three unearned runs.
Adrian Beltre deserves credit for two things. One, he led things off with a double to extend his hitting streak to 12. Two, he alertly took third when catcher Francisco Cervelli dropped a pop and then loafed after it as it rolled into foul territory.
That put Javier Vazquez in some hot water with just one out. After a strikeout of Ryan Kalish he walked Jed Lowrie to load the bases and Jacoby Ellsbury to force in the tying run. Scutaro then doubled into the corner in left to make it 4-2.
End 1st, Yankees 2-1: The Red Sox saw their third hitter in the lineup crush his 24th home run of the season. So did the Yankees. The only difference is that Derek Jeter was on ahead of Mark Teixeira's 24th blast, the difference early on.
Clay Buchholz gave up three hard hits in the inning. One came on a curve, another on a slider and one on a fastball.
The Yanks have hit a two-run homer in the first inning of four straight games.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 1-0: The last time we saw Javier Vazquez he got a win against Boston in relief on May 17. That was part of a turnaround for the righty that dropped his ERA from 8.01 after that relief outing to 4.61 entering this one. Speaking of turning things around, David Ortiz just did that to a Vazquez fastball for his 24th home run of the season.
Ortiz positively crushed the offering to straightaway center. He is now batting .346 (9-for-26) with three home runs against Vazquez and has 19 dingers all-time in New York.
6:39 p.m.: "As long as our starting pitching is OK, we'll be fine." Those are the words of Terry Francona when the rash of injuries just barely started to hit a couple of months ago. It is that same logic that gives Boston a reason to be confident entering the set in New York.
Clay Buchholz is all the way back and throwing like he did before the hamstring injury at the end of June. He is an easy choice over Javier Vazquez in the opener.
The Yankees figure to have the edge in the CC Sabathia-John Lackey matchup Saturday, but Lackey has plenty of experience facing New York and dominated them at Fenway earlier in the year.
Game 3 features former teammates Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett. Although he is just three starts removed from the DL, advantage Beckett. Burnett is just too much of a wild card right now.
Finally, Sunday will see Jon Lester face Dustin Moseley square off. You make the call.
Here is the Yankees lineup for the opener:
Derek Jeter, SS
Nick Swisher, RF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Lance Berkman, DH
Curtis Granderson, CF
Francisco Cervelli, C
Brett Gardner, LF
Back in a few for first pitch.
5:30 p.m.: So by now you've likely been updated on the Hideki Okajima news, as he becomes the 15th player sent to the disabled list this year by the Red Sox. As difficult as every injury is, Okajima has been battling a lot lately and needed to be sat down. Plus, we get to see Felix Doubront respond to his new role in the Boston bullpen.
Before we get to the updates, just wanted to let you know we are partnering with yesnetwork.com, which will allow myself and members of the YES team to share blogs, interviews and other features focusing on the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. We will try to get you the link to a quick interview I just did with YES broadcaster and former Orioles great Ken Singleton.
In addition to the Okajima news, there are a few other developments.
– Dustin Pedroia did some jogging Friday at Yankee Stadium. Terry Francona said he still showed signs of not wanting to push it, perhaps still feeling something in there. So, the broken left foot has not completely healed. There was hope in the past week or so that Pedroia could make a return early in the road trip, but he seems to still need some time.
– Mike Lowell talked about a number of topics with reporters earlier. He said he is getting more accustomed to his first base role. We'll have some of his comments in a bit.
– Mike Cameron is with the team but still very limited in what he can do. He's hoping to get some activity on the trip.
– Kevin Youkilis's surgery was this afternoon and Francona had yet to receive a report. We should have word that that went OK a little later on.
OK, time to transcribe some stuff for you. Back in a bit.
3:36 p.m.: Greetings from Yankee Stadium, where the Yanks are beginning batting practice under some suddenly cloudy skies. Headed to the clubhouse and then to hear from Terry Francona. For now, here is your starting lineup:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Marco Scutaro, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Lowell, 1B
Ryan Kalish, LF
Jed Lowrie, 2B
8:10 a.m.: With the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays locked in a battle atop the AL East, the Red Sox are suddenly the dark horse team at the beginning of August.
Despite an onslaught of injuries, the Sox remain in contention, entering Thursday six games behind the Yankees for the divisional lead and 5 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card.
The next four games for the Red Sox will be crucial, to say the least. With a strong showing against the Yankees, the Sox could jump back in the thick of the playoff race. If they falter, though, it could become even more difficult for them to overtake their AL East foes down the stretch.
Clay Buchholz and Javier Vazquez are set to square off the in the opening game of the four-game set. Buchholz is 0-2 against the Yankees in his career, so what better time than the present for him to right the ship?
