New York Yankees Take Over First Place in American League East

The New York Yankees are now the first place team in the American League East. The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox on Friday night to take over sole possession of first place; putting even more pressure on Boston to win this weekend series. Coming into the three-game set at Fenway Park, the two teams had identical records of 68-42 for the season, meaning the winner of the series would leave Boston in first place.

According to ESPN, the Boston-New York game from Friday night was more of a pitcher's duel than expected. Bartolo Colon and Jon Lester both pitched pretty well, but neither starting pitcher made it to the seventh inning. Colon had to be spelled in the fifth inning after giving up two runs, basically giving a gift win to Boone Logan in relief. Lester picked up the loss, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks to drop his record to 11-5 on the year.

Timely hitting by the Yankees coupled with a great night from the bullpen was the key to this victory. The Yankees really had only one good inning on offense (the sixth), where the team mustered three runs with Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher coming through in the clutch. The bullpen then shut the door; going 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball where the pitchers only gave up two hits combined. Without giving up a single walk and striking out five batters, the bullpen proved to be a huge asset on this night.

With the win in Game 1 of the series, New York now has the best record in the American League. The Yankees trail only the Philadelphia Phillies (73-39) for the best record in baseball, but that comparison probably isn't necessary. No matter how the teams finish the regular season, the National League will get home field advantage in the 2011 World Series after winning the All-Star Game back in July. What is more important for the Yankees is to put together a nice win streak to hold back the Red Sox in the East.

Game 2 of the Red Sox-Yankees series takes place on Saturday, August 6, with CC Sabathia taking the mound for New York and John Lackey taking the hill for Boston. On Sunday Game 3 will be broadcast live on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, with Josh Beckett going up against Freddy Garcia. For those fans of the two teams, this is billed to be a great weekend series, especially with two Cy Young candidates (Sabathia and Beckett) going in Games 2 and 3.