In Boston over the weekend, the Yankees failed to clinch the AL East title and managed to lose two games to the Red Sox. In yesterday's series finale, Kevin Brown managed only two outs in his start, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs in the first inning. His Boston counterpart, Curt Shilling, only allowed 1 hit and 2 runs in seven innings of work. Boston won the game 11-4 (box score).
Not everything went so smoothly though. As is becoming the norm in this series, tempers rose during the game, resulting in ejections and bench clearing. First came Kenny Lofton and Doug Mientkiewicz in the third inning. The two had some issues as Lofton grounded out and Mientkiewicz supposedly didn't get out of Lofton's way quickly enough. Then, in the 8th, Pedro Astacio threw the ball behind Lofton, which got him ejected. In retaliation, Brad Halsey threw a ball high and tight to Dave Roberts, which got him and Joe Torre ejected. The benches cleared and words were exchanged, but there were no fisticuffs.
With the season series now over, the Red Sox have won 11 of the 19 games between the two teams. Despite that advantage, the Yankees have a 3.5 game lead for the Pennant. With a week left in the regular season, the elimination number for the Yankees is 4 games.
