My wife and I had just come back from a nice relaxing vacation in the Bahamas on Friday and I was looking forward to sitting back and watching game 1 of the Yankees-Red Sox series. Little did I know that these past 3 games would leave me so frustrated and discouraged by late last night.

Friday, Red Sox 7 Yankees 6
This game started out great. Red-hot Alex Rodriguez hits 2 monster blasts off Curt Schilling to up his home run total to 12 and Andy Pettitte was great going 6 plus innings and only giving up 2 runs. I felt real confident when the Yanks had a 6-2 lead in the 8th and felt even better when Mariano Rivera was called in to pitch when the bullpen got into trouble. But Mo gave up 3 consecutive hits and just like that the Sox had tied the game and then taken the lead 7-6. I was completely shocked at what I had just seen. It happened so fast I didn't even have a reaction. My buddy Mike immediately called me and was ranting (note, he was definitely under the influence of a few too many Coors Lights!) and going nuts. He was a lot harsher on Rivera than I was. Rivera has not looked sharp this season at all. He has no saves and 2 losses. He was coming off a spring where he didn't allow a run, but it seems as if there is some velocity missing his fastballs and cutters. But let's not worry yet about the great Rivera, he did the same thing 2 seasons ago and he rebounded just fine.

Saturday, Red Sox 7 Yankees 5
Well the Sox definitely had the pitching advantage going into this one sending in Josh Beckett against Jeff Karstens, but right away in the first inning the Yanks grabbed a 2-0 lead. I thought this was promising like they are rebounding from the heart-breaking loss from the night before. But David Ortiz (of course) tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Yanks then got 2 more runs right away in the second, only to have the Sox tie it again in their half of the inning. Karstens was ineffective and gave up a home run later in the game to Big Papi. The Yanks cut it to 7-5 and in the 9th, Jonathan Papelbon came in for the save. The Yanks actually had the tieing run up at the plate, but Papelbon completely overpowered Derek Jeter. It looked like Jeter had absolutely no chance in making contact. His swing was very late. Papelbon looked and was untouchable.

Sunday, Red Sox 7 Yankees 6
The Yanks scored first again in this game, but then the nightmarish 3rd inning happened. Chase Wright (who is this guy!) became only the second pitcher in Major League history to give up four straight home runs! (How do I know this fact? Well ESPN's Jon Miller only said it 100 times during the broadcast!) Manny-Drew-Lowell-Varitek is now an answer to a trivia question that I would like to forget. It looked like Wright was one of those pitchers at the All-Star game during Home Run Derby because the Sox were hitting rockets off of him. They weren't just clearing the fence, they were all leaving the Stadium. I would say that kid's confidence is shot for a while. He was wild and his batting practice pitches were very unimpressive. I sure don't want to see him on the mound again. But with all this drama, the Yanks fought back against Daisuke Matsuzaka. Jeter homered for the first time this season and the Yanks scored another run to make it 5-4 in their favor. But Scott Proctor comes in and gives up another moonshot to Lowell and the Sox have the lead for good. Papelbon pitched the 9th again and totally over matched Jeter...AGAIN! This is a concern for me. I have never seen Jeter look this beaten facing any pitcher before. They did get A-rod up with a man on, but he ended the game by hitting into a fielder's choice.

This was a lost weekend for the Yankees and me. It was a lost opportunity for them. They could have won all three of the games despite the pitching heavily favoring the Sox. They absolutely should have won on Friday and had leads in both Saturday and Sunday as well. The Sox have put 4 games between themselves and the Bombers, and get this...the Orioles are in seconds place!

It was also a lost weekend for me because I wasted too much time watching and listening to these frustrating games! Well at least we get a chance at redemption when the Sox come to the Stadium for this weekend. Come on Yanks, don't let me lose another weekend!