Revenge, Broomsticks in the Bronx

This past Sunday the New York Yankees got their revenge on the Boston Red Sox with a four game sweep in the Bronx. This coming after Boston had won all eight previous meetings this season.

The much anticipated series opened up Thursday and didn't fail to disappoint. The Yankees, who were on a three game winning streak opened up with their young gun Joba Chamberlain while the Sox, who were on a two game losing streak brought out veteran John Smoltz.

Chamberlain came out pitching five innings allowing only six hits and four runs while the Yankees took advantage of the aging Smoltz limiting him to only three innings by getting nine hits with eight runs off him.

The Yankees went on to win the series opener 13-6 with four Yankees swinging over the fences, including one by possible A.L. MVP Mark Teixeira. Smoltz was designated for assignment the following day.

The following three games proved to be all about pitching. Game two featured an aces match up Between Boston's Josh Beckett and New York's A.J. Burnett.

Beckett threw and impressive seven innings allowing four hits and no runs. Burnett, the Yankees $82 million offseason aquisition gave them their money's worth by pitching an even better seven innings allowing only one hit with no runs. This is why the Yankees got Burnett, he can pitch against the A.L. East, and he can win.

Game two went on past midnight until A-fraud, also known as Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run bomb in the bottom of the 15th inning to give the Yankees a 2-0 walk-off win and their second win against Boston. Boston's bullpen, which was great at the begining of the season, has let down once again.

Game three showed off New Yorks other pitching ace, former Cy Young winner CC Sabathia going up against Boston's Clay Buchholz. Buchholz threw a decent six innings giving up six hits and two runs. Sabathia gave up only two hits with no runs while the Yankees rolled over the Sox 5-0 in a game where the Bronx bombers scored more runs then Boston had hits.

Game four was probably the most hyped up game for two reasons: 1) The yankees had a chance to sweep the Sox, something they haven't done this century, and 2) It was being televised on ESPN; everyone outside the Boston and New York markets were finally able to watch not just the highlights.

Sunday night showed Boston's 25 year old Jon Lester up against New York's 37 year old Andy Pettitte. They both pitched seven innings and gave up 5 hits. The only difference is, one of those hits lester gave up was a solo home run to Rodriguez.

The bullpens then came in and the game got exciting. In the top of the eighth, Boston's Victor Martinez hit a two-run homerun off Yankee Reliever Phil Coke. As Yankee fans were about to put away the broomsticks, with two outs Johnny Damon hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.

Two pitches later, before the fans could even sit down from celebrating the first, Mark Teixeira hits another homerun into the second deck that gives the yankees a 3-2 lead and sends the fans into an uproar of cheers ultimately summoning Texeira, who has played so well this season, up for a curtain call.

But the inning wasn't even close to being over. Still with two outs, Nick Swisher hits a two RBI single to bring in Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, and the Yankees now led 5-2. In the top of the ninth the Yankees brought in future hall-of-famer Mariano Rivera to close out the series. With cheers and chants of "Sweep Sweep" echoing throughout the sold-out crowd, Rivera got Jacoby Ellsbury to easily ground out to first and seal the deal.

So what did this series do for both of these teams? Well, it gave the Yankees and six and a half lead over the Sox in the division. The Sox were left tied for the lead in the A.L. wildcard race, and the Tampa Bay Rays are now within striking distance of taking second place in the division.

Did it have any mental affect on them? The Yankees probably feel more confident heading into the end of the season, it has to be a load off their shoulders knowings they won a series against Boston, heck, even winning a game probably felt like a big relief. Sox manager, Terry Francona, said his team will recover and is feeling confident in moving on.

There's still a whole lot of baseball to play and momentums shift, just like both of these teams have shifted since they last played in June. Who knows, these teams can end up meeting in October. The Sox know what October ball is all about. The Yankees have the weapons to go all the way. The only question is who can stay hot enough to get it done?