Results tagged ‘ Jason Varitek ’

Bosox Just Finding Out Valentine Is Big Scumbag

It did not take the new manager of the Boston Red Sox, Bobby Valentine, to show that he is an ego-driven a–hole.

On Tuesday, Valentine was discussing relay throws at the team’s spring complex in Fort Myers, FL, and he just happened to take a shot at the Yankees’ Derek Jeter and his celebrated “flip play” in Game 3 of the ALCS against Oakland.

For those of you unfamiliar with the circumstances, the Yankees were down 2-0 in the series to the Athletics and leading Game 3 by a 1-0 score in the seventh inning. Terrence Long of Oakland doubled to right-field and Yankee right-fielder Shane Spencer missed two cutoff men and Jeter seemingly came out of nowhere to grab the overthrow in foul territory and flip the ball to catcher Jorge Posada to nab Jeremy Giambi at the plate.

The Yankees won the game and rallied to win the series. The play has become a treasured piece of Yankee lore.

Valentine said that the Red Sox would never practice that play. He then went on to thoroughly expose his hindquarters by saying, “And I think (Jeter) was out of position and I think the ball gets (Giambi) out if he doesn’t touch it, personally.”

Switch scenes to Wednesday at the Yankees’ spring complex in Tampa, Fl, and Jeter and the team just happened to be, in fact, practicing that very play during their fielding workouts. Oops!

Seems like Booby, er huh Bobby, spoke without actually having the facts. For those of you Red Sox Nation brethren unfamiliar with Mr. Ego’s act you had better to get accustomed to it. It will be happening a lot more during the course of the season and his stupidity will not always be aimed at the Yankees. Bobby V. is an equal opportunity man who will rip into his own players if it suits him.

Give credit to Jeter for not taking Valentine’s bait, either. When asked about Valentine’s comments, Jeter restated that the Yankees have always practiced the play since he has been in the minors. He actually pointed out out he was lining up in the same position in Wednesday’s workout.

“I don’t think anything. I really don’t. I have no thoughts whatsoever,” Jeter said. “Who cares? Why are we talking about this? They must be bored over there, huh? I don’t understand.

“Think about it. We don’t practice it? We do. You guys see it. What else can I say. I was out of position? I was where I was supposed to be.”

When apprised of his verbal heap of smelly manure on Wednesday, Valentine did what he always does: He apologized and then said it was interesting because “why are we going to practice a bad throw?’”

Apparently Valentine realized he needed to chow down on some crow after asking Red Sox catching instructor Gary Tuck, who used to work with the Yankees, if the team did indeed practice the play. Tuck assured him the Yankees did practice the play.

But then Valentine had to sharpen the knife one more time. “And he said that when they practiced it, Jeter always got there late in practice. In that game, he got there on time.”

What an a–hole.

Congratulations, Red Sox, on hiring the complete opposite of a classy and knowledgeable baseball man in Terry Francona. I am now counting the days Valentine will be the manager when the Red Sox finish third and about three Red Sox guys are grousing under the cloak of anonymity about what an idiot Valentine is as a manager.

Trust me, the day is coming. Bobby V. has a way of wearing out his welcome with the players, management and the fans. Why else would it have taken him this long to get an offer to manage? Boston needed a name manager and Bobby was out there self-promoting himself for the job before the ink was dry on Francona’s walking papers.

To show even further what a senseless scumbag Valentine can be just listen to this quote praising Jason Varitek: “”He was a big hitter when needed. He was a leader of the pitching staff. He was able to beat up Alex [Rodriguez]. All that stuff is good stuff. He was exactly what he was supposed to be.”

Before the Yankees and Red Sox have even played one Grapefruit League game, Valentine is already taking shots at Jeter and Rodriguez. This is something Francona refused to do during his entire tenure with the Bosox.

Ironically, Francona was at George M. Stienbrenner Field on Wednesday as part of his duties as an analyst for ESPN. Though not taking on Valentine’s comments per se, Francona did say that he used to hold back on some of his thoughts to the media when the Red Sox were playing the Yankees, claiming that things often were sensationalized.

Well, that points out the difference between Francona and Valentine out perfectly. Francona is willing to hold back. Bobby not only ignores the possibility things can blown out of proportion, he is out making sure he is fanning the flames himself.

Oh, and just to set the record straight on this so-called Varitek beating up Rodriguez, watch the videotaped replay and notice that Varitek “bravely” took on A-Rod with his mask, chest protector, glove and shin guards on. Rodriguez had dropped his bat and only had his batting helmet to protect him.

That is like a football player beating up a coach on the sideline with his helmet and pads on. It is not exactly what I would call a fair fight. I assure you if Varitek was not in his gear he would not get anywhere near a fight.

That would be similar to Valentine. Without a microphone in front of his pompous mouth, he is just a another hack who thinks he can manage because he knows how many outs there are in an inning and some of the rules. He, at the same time, will break all the rules of baseball decorum to cover up for the fact he is just a spoiled brat who really don’t have a clue on how to act in front of the media.

Team president Larry Lucchino better have an interim manager stashed away on standby somewhere. The team will need him before too long.

 

2012 Looks Like More Trouble For ‘Red Flops’

As spring training camps open it is time to look at the American League East competition for the New York Yankees. How will the other teams fare as they gear up to dethrone the 2011 division champions? Do these teams have the pitching? Is there enough offense? Let’s see.

PART 4 – BOSTON RED SOX

A fellow Yankee fan once called the Red Sox the Red Flops because of their penchant for running out to big leads in the American League East and fading badly in the second half. After the famous “Collapse of 2011″ the term seems apropos.

On Sept. 3, they were 84-54, a half game behind the Yankees and nine games up on the Tampa Bay Rays. They finished the season with a dreadful 6-18 record and missed the playoffs by a game. In Boston that is not an oops, it is an eruption and it cost manager Terry Francona his job and general manager Theo Epstein fled to the Chicago Cubs.

Looking to 2012 the Red Flops hired ego-driven Bobby Valentine as manager. Ben Cherington, an Epstein assistant, took over as GM. They even dismissed first-year pitching coach Curt Young in favor of Bob McClure to keep their starting pitchers from getting bagged in the clubhouse on Samuel Adams.

Of course, that is odd because McClure pitched most of his career with the beer capital of the world in Milwaukee.

There is no doubt the starting pitching let the Red Sox down in 2011. They scored runs and the bullpen was good until it got overtaxed. But has this team addressed the areas of weakness enough to win the division in 2012?

Well, it does not look good.

STARTERS

The Red Sox were unable to acquire any starter of significance this winter because they had to re-sign free agent David Ortiz and the team was already perilously close to the salary mark that would incur the luxury tax.

So they return to the field with two of the pitchers who aided in the collapse (Josh Beckett and Jon Lester), one pitcher who was hurt most of the 2011 season (Clay Buchholz) and two big question marks behind them. That seems hardly like a recipe for success.

Beckett, 31, returns as the team ace after a season in which he was 13-7 with a 2.89 ERA. But an ankle injury late in the season forced him to fade like a typical Red Flop in September. He posted a 5.48 ERA in September. He also was in the center of the beer issue that drew the ire of teammates and the front office.

If Beckett wants to remain the ace he better start showing some leadership by example.

Lester, 28, is starting to look like the Red Sox version of Mike Mussina. He has all the talent and the pitches to be successful but he never takes that big step forward to be an elite pitcher. He was 15-9 with a 3.47 ERA but he also slid in September. He had only two quality starts from Aug. 27 to the season finale and was 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in the final month.

Buchholz, 27, made only 14 starts last season before ending up on the disabled list with what was eventually diagnosed as a stress fracture in his back. He finished with a record of 6-3 and a 3.48 ERA. There is no doubt he was sorely missed last season because Epstein failed to stock the Red Sox with any depth and the team floundered after he was shelved on June 16.

The Red Sox other two starters were veteran right-handers John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

If Lester is like Mussina then Lackey is looking like the Red Sox version of A.J. Burnett. Signed as free agent before the 2010 season, Lackey has done nothing but disappoint Red Sox Nation with bad pitching. He was 14-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 2010 but he got much worse in 2011 with a 12-12 mark and 6.41 ERA.

Red Sox fans have taken to calling him “Lacking.”

But there is good news for RSN, Lackey, 33, will not pitch at all in 2012 because he had to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. There is no real guarantee Lackey will be any better in 2013, which will be the final year of his four-year contract. His days in Beantown look to be limited at this point.

Speaking of that, Red Sox fans also would like to see Matsuzaka, 31, gone after three injury-filled seasons in which he was a combined 16-15 with a plus 5.00 ERA in only 44 starts. Last season, he was shelved in June with a 3-3 record and a 5.30 ERA. Like Lackey he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

He possibly could return late in the season but there is no one banking on him coming back pitching like in he did in 2008 when he was 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA. He is in the final year of lucrative six-year contract and the Red Sox seem to be counting the days they can part with him.

With Lackey and Dice-K on the shelf, the Red Sox have to come up with two starters and one of them is Daniel Bard, the team’s setup man the past two seasons. Bard, 26, does throw hard and he has two breaking pitches to mix in his arsenal.

But Bard also was the poster boy for the Red Sox collapse. Forced to pitch a lot to cover for weak starting pitching, Bard got hit hard and often in September, finishing the season 2-9 with a 3.33 ERA and five blown saves. Only July 31, Bard had a 1.76 ERA.

Now the question is can he be an effective starter? It has not worked for relievers lately. It did not work for Joba Chamberlain and Brandon Morrow of the Blue Jays has struggled to get past the fifth inning with the Blue Jays. Usually it works better when a starter becomes a reliever as it did with former Red Sox right-hander Dennis Eckersley.

Until Bard proves he can pitch deep into games consistently and does not fade late in the season as the innings pile up, he is big question mark in 2012.

For the fifth spot, the Red Sox issued an open casting call much like the Yankees did in 2011 with Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia.

They are looking at holdovers Alfredo Aceves and Andrew Miller as possible candidates. Aceves, 29, was 10-2 with a 2.61 ERA but made only four starts. He is better suited as a reliever, as he proved with the Yankees. Miller, a 26-year-old left-hander, was 6-3 but he had a horrible 5.54 ERA in 12 starts.

The Red Sox also signed former Yankee right-hander Ross Ohlendorf and three other right-handers including Aaron Cook, Vicente Padilla and Carlos Silva to compete for the job this spring.

None of these candidates are going to impress the Red Sox faithful. They all have a lot of mileage on them and they all have not had much success in recent years.

This might be one of the weakest Red Sox rotations in many years and the lack of depth in it is the major problem. If Beckett, Lester or Buchholz are hurt, who steps up to replace them?

BULLPEN

The Red Sox allowed Jonathan Papelbon leave for the Philadelphia Phillies rather than pay him what he was worth as a closer for them over the past six seasons. The conventional wisdom was Bard would take over as the closer.

But the Red Sox made him a starter instead and opened up the job. They decided to fill it with 27-year-old right-hander Andrew Bailey, who was acquired in a trade with the Oakland Athletics.

Bailey is coming off two injury-plagued seasons but is pretty darn good when he is healthy. Bailey is 7-10 with a career ERA of 2.07 and 75 saves in 84 chances.

There is no doubt Bailey is an excellent closer. The only question is of the Red Sox can keep him healthy and can Bailey adjust to the very small dimensions of Fenway as opposed to the expansive Coliseum.

The Red Sox also traded with the Houston Astros for yet another former Yankee reliever in Mark Melancon. (Can the signing of Tanyon Sturtze be far behind?). Melancon, 26, was 8-4 with a 2.78 ERA and saved 20 out of 25 games for the lowly Astros last season. Melancon, who was touted years ago as the eventual successor to Mariano Rivera when he was in the Yankees’ minor-league system, will set up Bailey and can close if Bailey should revert to past form and pull up lame.

Speaking of lame, the Red Sox suffered a huge blow to their bullpen before pitchers reported to camp on Sunday because 30-year-old right-hander Bobby Jenks will miss more time when a pulmonary embolism was discovered in his lung. This was discovered after he had two back surgeries after pitching only 19 games last season. He is on the 60-day DL and he will be on a long road back to health.

Aceves also figures in the late innings because he is much more valuable in that spot.

The Red Sox got some use out of 29-year-old right-hander Matt Albers, who was 4-4 with 4.73 ERA in 56 games last season. The lefty specialist was 26-year-old Franklin Morales, who was 1-2 with a 3.69 ERA in 50 appearances. The Red Sox are hoping Rich Hill will come back from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow sometime this season.

The Red Sox think 24-year-old lefty Felix Doubront can take the second left-hander spot in the bullpen. He had no record and 6.10 ERA in 11 appearances last season. Doubront could also get a chance to start and he has some upside.

This bullpen is definitely in a state of flux. New personnel, new roles and there are some pitchers coming off injuries or currently rehabbing injuries. It is not a recipe for success.

Valentine and McClure have a lot of decisions to make in the spring. For the Red Sox to succeed they need an excellent bullpen. For now, it looks just mediocre.

STARTING LINEUP

The Red Sox were largely a four-man offense – a very good four-man offense but a four-man offense nonetheless – in 2011.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez was as advertised. He hit .338 with 27 home runs and 117 RBIs and played Gold Glove defense. The Red Sox hope Gonzalez, 29, is the fulcrum of the Bosox attack for many years to come.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia bounced back from an injury-plagued 2010 season to re-establish himself in 2011. He hit .307 with 21 homers and 91 RBIs and also won a Gold Glove. Pedroia, 28, remains the spark-plug in the Red Sox engine. His grit and determination makes him the heart and soul of the team.

Designated hitter David Ortiz followed up a bounce-back 2010 season with another solid campaign in 2011. Ortiz, 36, hit .309 with 29 home runs and 96 RBIs. He is not the same feared hitter he was in his steroid days hitting behind Manny Ramirez but he is still good enough to help the offense.

The big surprise was center-fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who played only 18 games in 2010 and was accused of milking his rib injury by some teammates. Ellsbury, 28, must have been angry because he came back with a vengeance in 2011. He hit .321 with easily a career-high 32 home runs and 105 RBIs from the leadoff spot. He also stole 39 bases.

To most Red Sox observers, Ellsbury was the team’s MVP and would have won the American League MVP if Justin Verlander of the Tigers had not.

The big disappointments in this lineup were Kevin Youkilis and Carl Crawford.

Youkilis, who will be 33 when the season starts, still has not played any more than 147 games in a season. Last season, the combination of bursitis in his left hip and a sports hernia limited him to 120 games. He hit a disappointing .258 with 17 home runs and 80 RBIs and he did not play third base as well he played first base. Youkilis must stay healthy and return to form if the Red Sox are to make a move in 2012.

Left-fielder Crawford, 30, arrived in Beantown with 409 career steals and .293 career batting average. His seven-year, $142 million contract was the signing that limited the Red Sox from adding pitching this winter. He also proved he did not fit in well at Fenway. He hit .255 with 11 home runs and 56 RBIs and only 18 stolen bases. He also proved weak in the field despite having won a Gold Glove with the Rays in 2010.

More bad news about Crawford: Late in the winter Crawford realized his left wrist required surgery and he is not likely to be able to play on Opening Day. Crawford will either turn his game around or become one of the biggest albatross signings in baseball history.

The Red Sox have shuffled the deck in right-field and shortstop this season.

The Red Sox released aging outfielder J.D. Drew and they used promising youngster Josh Reddick in the Bailey trade.

The Red Sox did obtain outfielder Ryan Sweeney in the Bailey deal and he is a left-handed hitter like Reddick. However, the 27-year-old has been a huge disappointment in Oakland. He is career .283 hitter but he lacks both power and speed.

Holdover Darnell McDonald, 33, was brought up last season and he hit .236 with six home runs and 24 RBIs in 79 games. He could figure in an early platoon with Sweeney or win the job outright. Ryan Kalish, 23, hit .252 in 53 games and he will get a look also.

The Red Sox also picked up Cody Ross from the Giants. Ross, 31, bats right-handed and he figures to start n left-field until Crawford returns to health. Then he will shift to right in a platoon with either Sweeney or Kalish. Ross hit .240 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 2011.

Shortstop also was shuffled for 2012. Starter Marco Scutaro was shipped to Colorado for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen. Backup infielder Jed Lowrie was used in the Melancon trade with the Astros.

That leaves former Royals infielder Mike Aviles to start at the position. Aviles, 31, is a career .288 hitter but he hit only .255 with seven home runs and 39 RBIs in 91 games with the Royals and Red Sox.

The Jason Varitek era in Boston is officially over. Varitek was not re-signed and Jarrod Saltalamacchia enters his second season as the unquestioned starter for the Red Sox. Saltalamacchia, 26, is coming off a so-so 2011 season. He hit .235 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs. He also struck out 119 times in 358 at-bats so he is not exactly a selective hitter. The Red Sox also wish he would continue to improve his defense and throwing.

BENCH

The Red Sox will likely keep Ross, McDonald and either Sweeney or Kalish as backup outfielders. McDonald is valuable because he play all three spots and he is better in center.

The Red Sox picked up former Twins infielder Nick Punto as a reserve at second, short and third. Punto, 34, hit .278 with one home run and 20 RBIs with the Cardinals last season. Having Punto means the Red Sox can allow 22-year-old shortstop Jose Inglesias another season to develop at Triple-A. Inglesias can field but has not developed much as a hitter.

The team also picked up former Red Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach from the Rays. Shoppach, 31, hit .176 with 11 homers and 22 RBIs with the Rays and he replaces Varitek as the backup catcher. He is solid defensively.

This is a serviceable bench but I would hardly call it talent-laden or special.

ANALYSIS

The Epstein-Francona era is over. The main architects of the only two World Series championships in the last 96 years have fled. They left a financial constraint on the team that prevented them from addressing their crisis in starting pitching, the bullpen and in right-field.

The Crawford and Lackey signings along with the trades for since-departed Victor Matinez and Gonzalez left this very dollar-rich team weak in minor-league prospects and unable to find enough wiggle room to sign what they needed without breaking way past the level where the luxury tax kicks in.

This limits what the Red Sox will actually do this season. This is team that already is beset by injuries (Lackey, Dice-K, Crawford, Jenks) and they are severely lacking in depth before spring training has even started. It is hard to see how they find the money to fix what needs fixing if the ship should begin to flounder.

The Red Sox will only go as far their offense and their top three starters take them this season.

With the Rays a bit flawed it is easy to see both the Red Sox and Rays battling for second place behind the Yankees in 2012. Because of what happened to the Red Sox last season it hard to see how it could happen again. But that is what I am predicting.

I just have a sneaking suspicion that the Rays pitching will be the reason the Red Sox will finish third. The only question is can Valentine get out of town before RSN tries to lynch him. Good luck, with this bunch, Bobby. You are going to need it – along with a lot of Maalox.

Just call them the Red Flops.

 

Beckett Unravels In Sixth As Yanks, Hughes Cruise 10-3

GAME 28
YANKEES 10, RED SOX 3

By the time Josh Beckett walked off the Fenway Park mound in the sixth inning he had gone from the sublime to the ridiculous in one short inning.
When his night was through he had set a record for most strikeouts in a start against the Yankees while at the same time surrendering nine earned runs — six of them in the sixth inning.
The New York Yankees took advantage of the unraveling of Beckett and cruised to a 10-3 victory over the Red Sox on Friday behind the mature beyond his years pitching of Phil Hughes.
Hughes (4-0) outdueled the so-called Boston ace by giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk in seven innings and remain undefeated on the season. He kept the Red Sox off-balance at the plate all night and finished with seven strikeouts.
Beckett (1-1) pitched four innings in the game in which he had given up just a single and struck out six batters. But the other 1 1/3 innings he gave up eights hits, three walks, hit two batters and was victimized for nine earned runs. His ERA this season after six starts is now 7.46.
So much for the Red Sox Nation claim that their heartthrobs have the best rotation in baseball. If Beckett is their best they are in big trouble, judging by his meltdown in the sixth inning.
The victory for the Yankees gave them a record of 20-8 and they are 1 1/2 games in back of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox, who came into the game hoping to get back into the A.L. East race, fell to 15-15 and 7 1/2 games out of first place and fourth in the division.
YANKEE POSITIVES

  • Hughes was in command all night and showed no signs of being intimidated by the Red Sox, unlike his mound opponent Beckett, who did not handle adversity very well. Hughes’ ERA did rise from 1.44 to 1.69 but I do not think Hughes cares since he outdueled Beckett and sent a message that he is to be reckoned with in future games in this rivalry.
  • Nick Swisher started the unraveling of Beckett in the fourth inning. After a one-out walk to Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez singled and Robinson Cano struck out. But Swisher battled Beckett back from an 0-2 count to 2-2 and deposited a hanging breaking ball in the deepest part of center-field over the wall for his sixth home run of the season. He now has 20 RBIs on the season.
  • Francisco Cervelli, starting his third straight game in place of the injured Jorge Posada, was 2-for-3 with a two singles, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. The RBI really seemed to particularly unnerve Beckett. With one out and Rodriguez and pinch-runner Ramiro Pena moving up to third and second, respectively, on a passed ball, the Red Sox chose to intentionally walk Bret Gardner to pitch to Cervelli. Cervelli had been pitched inside his last at-bat after he stepped out on Beckett. Cervelli did it again in the sixth and Beckett’s inside pitch nearly hit him. However, it came on a 3-2 pitch and Cervelli got an RBI for walking with the bases loaded. Beckett’s descent from there was precipitous.
  • Randy Winn, playing in his second game as the platoon left-fielder, contributed two hits, including a big single to left in the sixth after Cervelli’s walk. Winn’s RBI made the score 5-1.
  • Derek Jeter kept his cool and the Yankees did too after Jeter was struck on the back with the first pitch from a visibly angry Beckett after Winn’s single. Jeter drove in his team-leading 22nd run the hard way.
  • Marcus Thames, pressed into service when Nick Johnson was injured, continued Beckett’s nightmare sixth with an infield single to shortstop Marco Scutaro. It drove in another run and made the score 7-1.
  • Teixeira came up with the frosting hit that sent Beckett out of the game for good with his single to right to score Winn and the make the game a laugher at 8-1. Rodriguez would add a sacrifice fly off reliever Hideki Okajima to plate the ninth run charged to Beckett — the sixth run of the inning.
THE NEGATIVES

  • David Robertson came in to the game with a 10-2 lead in the eighth inning to work on his mechanics. Though he did strike out Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz in his inning of work, he also walked seldom-used bench player Jonathan Van Every and Kevin Youkilis. Those walks set up an RBI single by Adrian Beltre. Robertson did pitch better but he still needs to work on getting control of his pitches.
  • Strikeouts early killed the Yankees. Jeter, Swisher and Cano each struck out twice. Beckett’s other two victims were Johnson and Teixeira. 
  • The Yankees were not real aggressive on the bases. Of course, with the barrage of hits, Beckett’s walks, a wild pitch, two hit batters and a Jason Varitek passed ball they really did not have to be that aggressive with the running game.
DIAMOND NOTES

The Yankees had two starters leave the game with injuries. Johnson left the game in the fifth inning with soreness in his right wrist. It appears that Johnson, who has had a litany of injuries over the course of his career, is headed to the 15-day disabled list. He is flying back to New York for an MRI. In the sixth inning, Cano was struck on the left knee by one of the many errant missiles thrown by Beckett. Cano left the game is not likely to be in the lineup on Saturday. He is listed as day-to-day.  . . .  The Yankees also announced that Andy Pettitte will not pitch in his scheduled start against the Tigers in Detroit on Tuesday. The Yankees are being cautious because Pettitte left his last start against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium with a mild inflammation in his left elbow. Sergio Mitre will start Monday and Javier Vazquez will pitch on Tuesday, the Yankees announced.  . . .  Jorge Posada took batting practice and did some light jogging but manager Joe Girardi said he would hold the veteran catcher out of the lineup for another day. Posada likely will be in the starting lineup for Saturday’s game.  . . .  The Yankees were short one position player Friday night because of their decision to recall right-hander Romulo Sanchez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and send down outfielder Greg Golson. Sanchez, a right-hander, was 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA at Scranton.  . . .  Chan Ho Park, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring, threw 45 pitches in a bullpen session in Tampa, FL on Friday. He will pitch another session on Sunday.
THE NEXT GAME

With the Red Sox hopes of a sweep of the weekend series dashed by Hughes, the Yankees will have a chance to really place a another nail in their May coffin with a victory on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees will have a good chance of doing it with their ace CC Sabathia (4-1, 2.74 ERA) on the mound. 
Sabathia pitched eight innings of six-hit, one-run baseball in his last start on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium against the Orioles. In was his fourth win in his last five starts. Sabathia is 5-5 with a 6.62 ERA in 12 career starts against the Red Sox.
The Red Sox will counter with No. 5 starter Clay Buchholz (3-2, 2.97 ERA). Buchholz labored and was tagged in his last start for four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings but he got credit for the victory against the Los Angeles Angels because the Red Sox scored 17 runs. Buchholz is 0-1 with a gaudy 5.74 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 3:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally on FOX.

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