Yankees' Wright had the wrong stuff
Ten pitches.
That's all it took for Chase Wright to switch from anonymous rookie starter to footnote in history.
With just 10 pitches in a third inning in which he had already gotten two outs, the Red Sox mashed and smashed their way to four consecutive home runs, a back-to-back-to-back-to-back feat off one pitcher that had been matched only one other time in baseball history (Paul Foytack, 1963).
It was not the kind of history he wanted to make, especially coming in the third and final loss, this time 7-6, in a Red Sox sweep that sent the Yankees below .500, and on their way to some (hoped-for) TLC in Tampa Bay.
"You never want to be swept," Alex Rodriguez said. "Any time. You don't feel like that's acceptable. Those guys played well.
"They pretty much took it to us."
It could have been worse. New York came into Boston having just swept host Cleveland. And with two rookies in line to start in Boston, it didn't look very promising. Not that the Yankees expected a blown save by Mariano Rivera and a home run barrage derail two of the three games, especially when the sweep was the first in Fenway Park for the Sox over their rivals in a series of more than two games since 1990.
"I just tried to stay calm and cool," Wright said about the homers. "We were still in the game. I still wanted to attack the hitters and go after them.
"I don't have any negative thoughts up there on the mound. I keep it positive, try to stay calm.
"Basically you have to work ahead. You can't work behind these hitters. They'll make you pay. You know you have to hit your spots."
None of the wins was dominating. Not one was a blowout.
Even after the homer-happy Sox took a 4-3 lead after their electric third inning, the Yankees came back to take the lead at 5-4. But, typical for this weekend, they lost it again when the home team came back with three more runs in the seventh inning on -- what else? -- a three-run shot by Mike Lowell, who also took care of homer No. 3 in the third (along with Manny Ramírez, J.D. Drew, and Jason Varitek).
"You hate to think it's a great ballgame when you lose," manager Joe Torre said.
But, of course, it was.
It got so bad for the Yankees that, in the sixth inning, the crowd watched Andy Pettitte -- yup, the one who started Friday night's heart-stopper -- emerge from the bullpen for an inning of desperate relief. He managed to get the New Yorkers out of the inning facing the minimum (the only one of the night, though he did walk Kevin Youkilis).
So Pettitte relieved. Josh Phelps made his first catching appearance since Oct. 5, 2001. Those aren't occurrences that usually lead to good things.
Even at the end, with Bobby Abreu drawing a walk off Jonathan Papelbon, the Yankees had almost exactly the situation they wanted -- the winning run represented by the hottest hitter in baseball, Rodriguez, at the plate. Perhaps jammed, he acknowledged, he sent the ball to Lowell at third for the out at second that ended the game and the series.
"It hurts to lose three games regardless of who it's against," said Doug Mientkiewicz. "Let alone this."
New York, of course, has a chance for revenge as soon as next weekend, as both Hideki Matsui and Chien-Ming Wang are expected to return to the active roster during the Devil Rays series. And the pitching rotations don't quite match up as well for the Sox in the Bronx, with Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Julian Tavarez as probables.
But the injuries for the Yankees aren't going away. Johnny Damon's hurting, even though he started last night.
Jorge Posada was injured enough to miss starts the last two games.
Wil Nieves's dislocated thumb was popped back in during the night's action -- and he continued catching.
So there they went, these Yankees, limping out of Fenway Park. In more than one way.
"I've been doing this a long time," Torre said. "You learn very early on when we put a lineup down, this is the club you have. You don't sit there and bemoan what you don't have or what if. I've never done that. I'm lucky. I'm lucky I feel that way.
"Strange things happen in this game."
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 