New York Yankees’ 2011 MLB Regular Season journey – Part 3
The New York Yankees had won two back-to-back series but their biggest challenge was to beat their old rivals the Boston Red Sox in a three-game series. The Yankees flied to Fenway Park in Boston for their first road trip of the 2011 regular season. It was
not an easy job to overpower the Red Sox at their home ground and the Yankees were aware of the strength that their opposition had in their line-up.
For the first outing on April 8, the Yankees landed Phil Hughes with an idea to put early pressure over the opposition. However, the move worked against them, Hughes yielded six runs and seven hits over his first two innings and the Yankees lost 6-9.
As he gave away a home-run to Dustin Pedroia in the first inning, the Yankees felt a little disturbed but their 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning was a relief generator.
Hughes gave five runs in the second inning and sent his club down to a 6-3. Yankees tied it at 6-all until the top of the fifth inning, but Bartolo Colon, who until then was brilliant, gave away two runs in just over four innings for his first loss of the
season.
However, the overall performance of the Yankees’ batting was at top. Alex Rodriguez launched his second homer of the season and Swisher made another RBI.
Losing in the opening game was a serious blow for manager Joe Girardi, but his only hope, the batting line-up, worked in the second outing. Yankees’ batting launched four home-runs and overthrew the opposition 9-4 to take some revenge. Russell Martin hammered
two of the four homers, each in the fourth and the seventh inning. Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson also opened their arms.
Martin told the reporters after the outing. "I'm healthy. I have been healthy since the beginning of the season, so it definitely is a good feeling. I feel like it's been a while."
Girardi had no words to praise his young hitter, who launched a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
"I saw him as a very productive player," Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi expressed his pleasure. "I wasn't saying he was going to hit 30 homers and 120 RBIs, but I thought he'd be a productive player in our line-up, because he could do so many things."
Now the series was tied at 1-all and the last game had turned into a finale. The Yankees landed with the same ambition but their batting momentum shattered when they faced the unplayable pitching of the Red Sox starter Josh Beckett. He was fast and the Bronx
Bombers were struggling to touch a ball even for a single run.
Red Sox were destructive and the Yankees lost 4-0 for their first shut-out of the season. Sabathia could not help the batters as he gave away nine hits and one run in just over five innings. Joba Chamberlain yielded two runs and Freddy Garcia allowed one
to help the Red Sox win the game 4-0.
This game also recorded the Yankees first series loss of the season. The Yankees fans were not expecting this from the healthy batting line-up, but there were various outings to come. Yankees now had to host Baltimore Orioles for the three game series from
April 12 to 14.
Continued in Part 4
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