Last night, the Yankees began their 1st series of the year at Fenway Park, home of their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
Where to begin? I could quote Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
Or, I could paraphrase Prince Boromir (Sean Bean) from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: "One does not simply walk into Fenway. Its black gates are guarded by more than just ticket takers. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with chowder, beer, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly."
But I could also quote both Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) from the original Star Trek series and Batman (Adam West) from the superhero TV show that aired at the same time: Each man, on his show, had once used the words, "Risk is our business."
Domingo Germán started, and he was off. He allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning.
The Yankees tied the game in the top of the 2nd, but the Red Sox jumped ahead again in the bottom of the 4th. Germán doomed himself with a walk, a wild pitch, and his own error.
Lucas Luetge pitched the 5th and the 6th, and Jonathan Loáisiga the 7th, and they kept it at 4-3 Boston.
Adam Ottavino, awful during his Yankee tenure, pitched the top of the 8th for the Red Sox. If you can't score runs off Adam Ottavino in Fenway Park, you're not going to win the ball game.
Zack Britton, his season's debut long delayed by injury, started the 8th, but didn't finish it. He injured his hamstring and had to leave the game. He'll probably go back on the Injured List, diminishing the Yankees bullpen again. Aaron Boone had to bring Luis Cessa in, and he, as he so often does, allowed another run.
The Yankees did put up a fight in the top of the 9th. Gio Urshela led off with a single, and Miguel Andújar hit another. The tying runs were on. But Clint Frazier struck out, and DJ LeMahieu grounded into a double play to end it.
Red Sox 5, Yankees 3. WP: Garrett Whitlock (3-1). SV: Matt Barnes (16). LP: Germán (4-5).
The Yankees are now 5 games out of 1st place. They are 0-4 vs. the Sox on the season. The last time that was true was 2009, when they started out 0-8, and then won the last 10 and went on to win the World Series.
But that was a very different Yankee team. It had not just talent, but the guts to back it up. When one guy went into a slump, somebody else made up for it by raising his game. We have seen precious little of that from the Yankees the last few years.
The series continues tonight. Jordan Montgomery starts against former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi. Don't get your hopes up.