The Beatdown in the Bronx

It really doesn’t get any better than this. After dropping their first eight games against the Red Sox this season, the Yankees have put a stranglehold on the American League East. Behind stellar contributions from A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Alfredo Aceves, Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and just about every other member of the 25-man roster, the Yankees now sit comfortably in front of the Sox by a whopping 6.5 games, with about 50 games to play. The Yankees, who have won 31 of their last 41 and now enjoy the best record in the Majors, are finally firing on all cylinders. They look excited. They look locked in. They look impressive. They look, in a word, unbeatable.

More impressive than the four-game sweep, though, was the way in which the Bombers thoroughly dismantled the Red Sox. In the first game, on Thursday night, when Joba was far from dominant, the Yanks knocked John Smoltz out of the game, off the Red Sox roster, and possibly clear out of baseball. On Friday night, Burnett matched Boston ace Josh Beckett pitch for pitch, while the Yankee bullpen held the Sox scoreless for six more innings, until Rodriguez deposited Junichi Tazawa’s pitch into the right field seats in the 15 th inning, for a dramatic, walk-off win, five-and-a-half hours after Burnett’s first pitch. The next day, about 16 hours later, CC Sabathia made do on his promise of greatness, and dominated the suddenly anemic Red Sox offense, taking a no-hitter into the 6 th and giving the Yankee bullpen a much-needed rest.

As telling as the first three wins were, however, last night’s victory was by far the most satisfying, and most complete. The Yankees simply demoralized the Red Sox. They countered Victor Martinez's much-needed and much-celebrated two-run homer. They knocked around the highly touted and fan-favorite Daniel Bard, who, despite his ungodly talents, looks a lot more like Kyle Farnsworth or Craig Hansen than Goose Gossage or Joba Chamberlain. In coming back to win last night, the Yankees knocked the Sox out of contention for the American League East, sending them spinning and defeated back to Boston. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

I’m not the only one turned on by this Yankees team. Every beat writer in the country, it seems, also likes what they see. Except for those writers who live north of Hartford.

Ted Keith, SI:

But the Yankees did more in the last four days than they did in their first four months of the season combined to establish their preeminence as the best team in the game. While the hitting was impressive (a .299 average and nine home runs) and the defense solid (only one error) it was the starting pitching, that most significant of October variables, that is most responsible for the sweep, and for their status as front-runners. For the first time in 36 years, the Yankees got three consecutive starts of at least seven scoreless innings, and they came from three men -- A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte -- who will figure prominently in the Yankees' postseason plans. 

This series, then, and perhaps the entire division, may have been won as much in December and January as it was in August. That was when the Yankees signed all three of those pitchers, at the cost of $36 million, to beef up a starting rotation that had sprung a series of question marks in a disappointing third place finish the year before. And while all three have had various moments of success to date, this was the first time all delivered the kinds of sterling efforts on consecutive days that would make the Yankees heavy favorites in any postseason series.

Tom Verducci, SI:

Make no mistake, the Yankees are the best team in the AL right now. Yes, the Angels match up well against them and the Red Sox still have time to fix their flaws, but at the moment, New York is a ferocious offensive team that simply wears down opponents -- not so much with its ability to draw out at-bats, but with the constant threat of power.

Amy Nelson, ESPN:

In the end it was a 5-2 win for the Yankees, a four-game sweep of the Red Sox, and a 6 ½ game division lead -- their biggest in three years. Even more ominous, New York has never lost a division lead of six or more games.

Now, the Red Sox head home having designated a future Hall of Famer in John Smoltz for assignment, carrying an injury list that continues to expand, and the task of trying to dent the Yankees' new lead. This, after Boston had suffered the indignity of not scoring for 31 innings, until Martinez's shot.

Pete Abe, Journal News:

Meanwhile, the Yankees now lead the AL East by 6.5 games. In the long history of this franchise, they have never lost a lead of more than six games at any point of the season.

John Harper, Daily News:

Whatever [the Red Sox] do, this is more about the Yankees now. How long has it been since we've seen them play this kind of baseball for such a sustained period, getting dominant starting pitching, mostly excellent defense and the timely hitting that reminds you of the late '90s championship clubs.

Joel Sherman, New York Post:

Maybe life could be better for the Yankees than it is right now. But please send in postcards to explain how.

Humiliating the Red Sox is usually enough to turn the Bronx into nirvana. But the latest version of a Boston Massacre is just one slice of the Yankees' current heaven.
Let us count the ways: The Mets stink. The Joe Torre Dodgers are faltering, and so are the Yankee-tormenting Angels. A few weeks ago it was inconceivable that the AL playoffs could be held without both the Angels and Red Sox. But now the Rangers are within 3½ games of the Angels and are tied with Boston for the wild card lead.

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe:

The Red Sox can’t worry about the Yankees now. They can only worry about themselves and the fact that they are now officially embroiled in a three-team wild-card race. There’s a lot of time left, anything can happen, yada yada yada, but what it comes down to is the Red Sox must start playing better baseball.

Steve Buckley, Boston Herald:

Now, the Yankees are practically unbeatable. By the time they had completed their four-game humiliation of the Red Sox last night, croaking the visiting team’s bullpen en route to a 5-2 victory that had a packed Yankee Stadium roaring with delight, the Bombers’ record since June 24 had improved to 31-10.

Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy:

OK, this is devastating. Bard was my favorite subplot of the season. I can't even type.

Seriously, it doesn't get any better than this.