| 23 September 2009
Well... that sucked.
We all knew that Zack Greinke was gonna keep the Red Sox in check last night, so it was up to Paul Byrd to keep it close for five or six innings.
But Byrd failed miserably, allowing five runs in the first inning.
To his credit, he did settle down and the Royals didn't score again in the game, but the damage was done. If you give a Cy Young candidate a 5-run lead in the first inning, you're goning to lose.
Greinke came into the game with a 0.31 ERA in his last four starts and actually managed to lower that to 0.26 with six shutout innings. His season ERA is now a ridiculous 2.08.
Greinke averages just about 7.0 innings per start, so the Sox did well to chase him after six, but he onlyhad 91 pitches, so it was more likely that the Royals shut him down thanks to the 5-0 lead. Jacoby made things interesting in the 8th with a walk, a forced balk, a stolen base and a run scored, but Youk flied out with two men on to end the threat.
Bottom Line: The Yankees won and clinched the first playoff spot, so the division officially becomes an afterthough at this point. The Rangers lost, so the magic number is 6.
Tito will likely begin resting guys for the postseason as early as tonight. Don't be surprised to see Beckett get shut down around 80-90 pitches tonight if the Sox have the lead.
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