Bronx, N.Y., August 6, 2010 — On a night where Derek Jeter not only passed Babe Ruth in his hits total, but drove in three key runs as well, two relative newcomers largely carried the Yanks to a 7-2 victory over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. First, emergency starter Dustin Moseley proved he could more than pitch with Boston ace Josh Beckett. Then Yankee-for-a-week Lance Berkman showed a little of the bat speed the Yanks hoped they were getting when they acquired him from Houston.

Coming into the game hitting a paltry .105, Berkman keyed the two-run second-inning rally that got the Yanks started with a one-out double he pulled past first into the right field corner. He legged out an infield single past the pitcher’s mound in the fourth, then knocked in the second run of the five-run fifth that drove Beckett from the game with a one-out double to left. He scored when Boston second sacker Bill Hall threw Brett Gardner’s infield single away in the second, and again when Captain Jeter pounded the nail in the Beckett coffin with a two-run two-base hit to the wall in right center in the fifth.

Preventing the Red Sox from sharing in any of the offensive heroics early was righthander Moseley, who joined the rotation in Andy Pettitte’s spot, but was shifted into the Sunday night start when back spasms pushed A.J. Burnett from that role. Dustin retired 11 of the first 12 Sox around a Hall single in the third, got through six innings yielding nothing but Hall’s fifth-inning singleton home run, and helped his own cause by sprinting to first to finish off a nifty 3-6-1 double play to close the sixth inning. He did it the old fashioned way, getting 10 ground ball outs with an 88-mph sinking two-seam fastball, and striking out five along the way.

It wasn’t easy, however, as the Yanks outhit Boston 8-2 to forge an early 2-0 lead, but couldn’t score more in two-hit, but scoreless innings in both the first and third. Mixing a fastball that topped out at 89 mph with a curve and change, Moseley got Marco Scutaro and Ortiz to begin the fourth, but a single by Victor Martinez and two straight walks brought left fielder Ryan Kalish to the plate with the bases loaded. The rookie lefty hitting outfielder hit his first career home run in a Boston win Friday, but Moseley got him to bounce out to first to end the threat.

Beckett notched two Ks in the fourth and Bill Hall scored one for Boston with a leadoff fifth-inning drive to left, but much of the drama came to a close when the Yanks came to bat in the bottom half. Their 2-0 lead had been halved, but Mark Teixeira restored the two-run margin immediately, with a long drive to right center. Beckett walked A-Rod, then hit Cano with a pitch, and Berkman strode to the plate with one out. Wasting no time, he doubled to score one on the first pitch, then after a throwing error moved the score to 5-1, scored one of the Yanks’ last two runs on Jeter’s stinging drive to right center.

The game went on, and the Sox had one more chance. Boston managed a seventh inning run after a leadoff Adrian Beltre double, but Joba Chamberlain came on for one out and new bullpen stalwart Boone Logan retired four straight, starting with a bounce out of David Ortiz with the bases loaded that ended the seventh, and the visitors’ chances. Boone was great, Berkman had his first good Yankee game, and Jeter had one of his hundreds. But the big prize for this one goes to Moseley, who wasn’t supposed to pitch until Monday afternoon.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!