Red Sox-Yankees: Slaughter in the Bronx as Red Sox Roll the Yankees, 11-3

"Must Win" changed to "Might Have Been" for the New York Yankees, as they suffered an all-out trouncing at the hands of the boys from Boston. A game that looked to be a close battle, with the Red Sox up by a mere two runs after seven innings, ended up anything but. 

By the time the Yankees got to begin their half of the eighth, the score had jumped to 11-2 after a merry-go-round that included the first career grand slam by Dustin Pedroia.  That was, by the way, the first grand slam by a second baseman that the Yankees surrendered in over 50 years!

Pedroia's shot was merely the icing on the cake for the Red Sox, in an inning that seemed more like and old Bugs Bunny cartoon than an at-bat against the Yankees (single, triple, walk, walk, sac fly, single, single, grand slam, single).

With a pitching matchup that had Yankee fans nervous from the get-go, Paul Byrd rose to the occasion and performed well, going six innings with only two runs surrendered and five strikeouts. Sidney Ponson was not so fortunate, giving up four runs in four-and-two-thirds innings.

The crowd, possibly brought back into reality by some reading done on Bleacher Report, decided that A-Rod is not quite the drag that they made him out to be the night before. Rather than booing, there were several moments in the game when they actually cheered for their best player.

Rodriguez was responsible for those first two runs for the Yanks, scoring one and knocking in another in his 2-for-4 night. A lone sign of life on a more or less lethargic Yankee squad.

The final New York run was picked up on a too little/too late home run by Jason "The 'Stache" Giambi off of Mike Timlin in the bottom of the ninth. Other notable performances included Jason Bay, who also went 2-for-4 and accounted for four RBI. 

Of course, the bigger picture is that of a New York team that is now seven games behind the Red Sox for the AL wild card with just 30 games to go. The Rays still hold a 3.5 game lead over the Red Sox for the AL East.