Swish & Tex Prove Nine-run Deficits Mean Nothing, Obliterate Red Sox 15-9

It sure did not start out well for the Yanks, but their biggest comeback since 2006 assured another disappointing evening from the Fenway crowd in Boston. The nine-run rally tied for their biggest comeback in team history, and out of the five occasions it's occurred, three have been against the Red Sox. Are you really surprised?

Freddy Garcia turned in another stinker today to put the Yanks in a deep hole, as the Red Sox knocked him out of the game in the second inning. "Sweaty Freddy" gave up seven hits in just 1.2 innings, including four doubles. His pitches were flat, and good-hitting teams like the Red Sox are not the type to let pitchers get away with that crap. Doubles in the first inning from Ryan Sweeney, Adrian Gonzalez, and David Ortiz made the score 2-0, and Garcia left the game in the middle of the second after a disastrous half-inning. He induced a groundout from Saltalalalala, but four hits and a sac fly later, the score was 5-0 and Freddy was gone from the game.

The bullpen did not supply much relief, either. "LOOGY for Life" Clay Rapada got out of the inning by getting a flyout from the lefty Gonzalez, but he led off the third inning by giving up a single to Ortiz. Rapada did half his job, and he really needs to be getting almost all lefties out to validate his spot on the team. David Phelps relieved him, but he must have caught the Garcia bug since he allowed the Red Sox to score twice on two hits, a hit by pitch, and a sac fly to make the deficit 7-0. Phelps pitched a scoreless fourth, but a Saltalalalala double and a Cody Ross two-run homer made the score 9-0 in favor of Team Chowdah. It was not looking great for the Yankees, but baseball doesn't end after five innings.

Follow the jump to see just how the New Yorkers managed to rally.

Mark Teixeira frustrated a lot of fans in the early going, but he seems to be heating up, wouldn't you say? He provided the first dent in the nine-run hole by blasting a solo homer to left off starter Felix Doubront. On a related note, Doubront really deserved a better fate for his performance. He got out of the top of the sixth after the Teixeira homer, and his final line was quite good against the formidable Yankee lineup: six innings, four hits, one run, and seven strikeouts. He walked three, but they did not tarnish his performance. The kid was very good today.

Unfortunately for Doubront, the Red Sox bullpen is not a fan of actually preserving leads. I present to you as evidence the absolutely wonderful performance of the Boston 'pen. "Sweaty Freddy" wannabe Vicente Padilla struck out Andruw Jones to start the frame and the Yankees were down eight runs with eight outs to go. Suddenly, the Humiliation Conga Line began: Russell Martin and Eduardo Nunez singled, and Derek Jeter walked to load the bases. Nick Swisher declared that the Yankees would be back in the game by launching a pitch over the left-center field wall for a grand slam to make the score 9-5. Padilla gave up a double to Robinson Cano and was removed from the game in favor of Matt Albers. Regardless, it was a four-run lead for Boston, and a better pitcher was on the mound. FanGraphs estimated that Boston still had a 94.6% chance of winning the game.

No one told Albers that he was supposed to be decent though; A-Rod reached on an error, and Tex, now batting from the left side, lined a three-run homer to the opposite field over the Green Monster to make it a one-run game. Franklin Morales relieved Albers and helped Boston escape the inning with the lead. Rafael Soriano gave up a double in the bottom of the seventh, but he got the next three hitters out to get the Red Sox back out in the field, where they would soon surrender the lead. Nunez singled off of Morales, and Bobby Valentine (who was booed mercilessly today) brought on his closer, Alfredo Aceves, in the hope that Ace could stop the Yanks' hitting assault. No such luck: a walk to Jeter and a two-run double by Swisher officially made Boston's lead history. The Swisher double was the biggest WPA swing of the game, good for 31.1% in the Yankees' favor. The Humiliation Conga Line struck again, as the Yankees tacked on five more runs against two more Red Sox pitchers (highlighted by a three-run double from Tex and a two-run double from Martin). The inning officially reached ridiculous levels when the Yanks' 15th run of the game scored when Mike Aviles fell down at shortstop. It was the Yanks' second consecutive seven-run rally, and it effectively ended the game. Boone Logan and Cody Eppley provided scoreless relief to end the shenanigans and secure the 15-9 victory.

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Comment of the Game: Since this game basically had two halves, we'll give two CoGs. The first goes to Chuck Burly for informing ZigKitsune what McCarver and Buck were saying. The second goes to Kevin L. for providing a classic animated representation of the Yanks' two seven-run rallies.