G112: Red Sox 10, Yankees 4

Yankees - 000 210 010 -  4 10  0
Red Sox - 002 500 03x - 10 11  1

Jacoby Ellsbury drove in six runs, Carl Crawford went 4-for-4 and scored three times, and the Red Sox scored more runs against CC Sabathia (6-9-7-1-6, 94) in the fourth inning than the hefty lefty allowed in the entire month of July (39 innings).

John Lackey (6-6-3-2-5, 115) wriggled out of serious jams in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fifth, after being handed a 7-2 lead, Lackey allowed three base runners (and a run) on only three pitches: Francisco Cervelli singled, Brett Gardner was plunked, and Derek Jeter singled. The bullpen got busy, but Lackey made quick work of the Yankees' 3-4-5 hitters: Curtis Granderson struck out swinging (on four pitches), Mark Teixeira struck out swinging (on four pitches), and Robinson Cano grounded an 0-2 pitch to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who flipped to Lackey for the out.

I'll take Lackey's line against the Yankees every time out, but it wasn't pretty. His only 1-2-3 inning was the first. In the third and fourth, he threw a total of 59 pitches. The dread of a meltdown is so strong that when Lackey strands a runner or two, the pervasive feeling is relief that he made it through another inning instead of realizing that he pitched all right except for a hiccup (or two).

Ellsbury became the first Red Sox leadoff hitter to knock in at least six runs in a game since Ellis Burks had seven RBI against the Orioles on June 10, 1987. Ellsbury is the seventh Boston leadoff guy to do it since 1919.

Ellsbury now has 72 RBI, third-best on the team, and one more than #5-hitting David Ortiz. Gonzalez has 91 RBI (best in MLB) and Kevin Youkilis has 76.

Crawford began the third with a double. Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked and Marco Scutaro bunted the runners up. Craw scored on Ellsbury's sac fly and Salty scored on Dustin Pedroia's double off the Wall. Gardner made a nice throw to Cano, and Pedroia was nearly out at second, but FY slid to the infield side of the bag and the tag was late. However, the head-first slide took him past the bag a little bit and as he tried to turn back towards it, his left hand came off the bag. Cano tried to put another tag on Pedroia's right hand, but Pedroia pulled it back behind him while also getting his left hand back on the base.

In the fourth, Sabathia pitched about as well as any other 300-pound guy the Yankees could have found outside the park. Youkilis doubled. Ortiz struck out. Mike Avilies dropped a single into right on an 0-2 pitch. Crawford lined a run-scoring single into left field. Salty fouled out to first, but Scutaro singled up the middle for another run. Then Ellsbury crushed a three-run bomb to right.

Sabathia has a 2.11 ERA this year against all non-Boston teams. His ERA against the Red Sox is 7.20.

Facing Hector Noesi in the eighth, Boston added three more runs. Josh Reddick walked on 10 pitches, Crawford singled to right, Salty walked to load the bases. Scutaro popped to second, but Ellsbury drove in two runs with a single to right-center. Pedroia's sacrifice fly scored the 10th run.

Crawford now has four four-hit games this season. Four other players have also accomplished that: Adrian Gonzalez, Jeter, Granderson, and Jose Reyes. ... And he has hits in his last six plate appearances.

The two teams are once again tied (69-43) for first place in the East.

CC Sabathia / John Lackey

In Sabathia's last eight starts, he has a 1.01 ERA; in three of those starts, he has struck out 11, 13, and 14 batters. Prior to his last start, River Ave Blues noted that CC was on the best seven-start run of his career. Today, they wonder about his 2011 workload, which is high, even by his standards.

Lackey is ... well, he's Lackey.

Re David Ortiz's interruption of Terry Francona's post-game interview on Wednesday to complain about an official scoring decision, the Herald's John Tomase notes that the two men "were later seen laughing about it in the manager's office". Peter Abraham adds that Ortiz was "egged on by mirthful" Dustin Pedroia. And as far as the cursing, PeteAbe calls Tiz "the William Safire of obscenity".

Kevin Youkilis - the controversal R who was BI - says Ortiz should get two RBI, and thinks MLB will reinstate the original decision.

David has every right to be upset. It doesn't matter what the third base coach does. ... If the runner never breaks stride, that's what matters. ... I was running as hard as I could. ...[T]o have the pitching coach from the other team call ... makes zero sense. I know I was running as hard as I could and never stopped. You can't assume an error.

Mike "Overheated" Vaccaro, Post:

It could mean nothing, OK? We've seen enough baseball games, you and I, heard ourselves proclaim far too often that this is the game you'll remember come October ... this is the moment that'll turn the whole season on its head. More often than not, we deal in hype and hyperbole when we do that.

Maybe that'll be the case with this. ...

Maybe it won't mean anything in the big picture.

But it sure felt like it meant something. ...

It sure felt like the Red Sox walked onto the field last night, just after seven o'clock, looking just a little bit different than the one that walked off just past 10:30. Swaggering just a little more subtly. Looking just a tad less bulletproof.

Looking, in fact, like a second-place team for the first time in a month.