Red Sox looking to survive New York

By: Tyler Walters

The Boston Red Sox dropped their second straight game to the Yankees in New York last night.  Boston blew a lead in the 8th inning and the Yankees went on to win 9-6.  

The Yankees are now a game ahead of the Red Sox in the A.L. East standings and now hold the best record in baseball (26-10).  

To be honest, I felt like my dog died after the Sox lost last night.  These games between the Sox and Yanks have meant more this year than they have in the past decade, but it's only MAY.  

We aren't even close to the All Star break and I'm as tense as I normally would be in August.  

The bullpen has been the nail in the coffin for the Red Sox this week.  Heath Hembree blew game one by juicing the bases in the bottom of the seventh and leaving Joe Kelly to try to get two outs and give up no runs in that situation.  

Last night Matt Barnes blew the game in the eighth inning by giving up two quick runs before Craig Kimbrel gave up another two.  

The last matchup of the series will pit Eduardo Rodriguez against CC Sabathia.  

This is the game that I have the least amount of confidence in the Red Sox because they are sending E-Rod to the bump.  E-Rod has a 3-0 record with a 5.29 ERA so the Sox are going to have to score runs if they want to win.  

CC is currently 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA so the Boston lineup has their work cut out for them.  

Everyone who is losing their mind over this series though, whether it be Boston fans moping or New York fans celebrating way too hard, needs to chill out.  As I said earlier, it's May.  

Even though the series does matter because every game matters, a May series is not the same as an August or September series.  

Another point of interest in the series is that we have yet to see any sort of poke back at the brawl that happened a few weeks ago in Fenway.  Other than Joe Kelly getting booed (which had to be an awesome moment for him), there has been nothing to really happen.

I can't say that I'm surprised.  I think both of these managers reminded their players that getting a suspension isn't really worth it because it hurts the rest of the team and no one wants to sit out for 6 games.

We could see a little something in game 3 in New York tonight, but I doubt it.  It will be interesting the see if the Red Sox can pull it together and get out of the Yankee series with a share of first place.  

Follow me on Twitter: @tylerwwalters