Red Sox Sweep Yankees, Recover .500 Record for Season

The Boston Red Sox just finished sweeping the New York Yankees in a three-game series. The wins were not only great for the psyche of Red Sox fans, but it got the team back to a .500 record for the first time this year. It appears that the Yankees are now heading in the opposite direction, though, as New York has now lost seven of its last 10 games.

Yahoo! Sports reported that the Red Sox won Game 3 of the series Sunday by the score of 7-5. It was a great game for those who tuned in to watch it on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, and ended up being a hard-fought victory for the Red Sox. The Yankees had been able to take a 4-1 lead off of Boston starting pitcher Jon Lester, but that lead wouldn't hold up for long. In the top of the third inning, Kevin Youkilis wound up hitting a three-run homer off Freddie Garcia to tie the score at four.

The Red Sox would tack on three more runs before the game was over, and Jonathan Papelbon would come on in the ninth inning to slam the door. The win for the Red Sox brought them to 20-20 for the season, while the loss dropped the Yankees to just 20-18. Lester picked up his fifth win of the year, but, more importantly, the Sox completed the sweep in style.

According to the MLB standings, the American League East has become one of the most competitive divisions in all of baseball. Even the worst team, the Baltimore Orioles at 19-20, is just three and a half games behind the first place Tampa Bay Rays. Every other team is at .500 or better, setting up what could be a great race to the finish for the East. This was supposed to be a division completely controlled by the Red Sox, but a slow start has allowed teams like the Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays to really shine.

For the New York Yankees, it might be time to set off the warning bells; their current five-game losing streak couldn't have come at a worse time. Not only did they lose three straight to their chief rival, but in-house problems with Jorge Posada could threaten to cause controversy for the rest of the season. Questions about when the veteran should call it quits, and if that moment has arrived already, will be asked for the rest of the year.

Did the Red Sox just get the burst of momentum they needed? It will be interesting to see in the coming week if this is a team that is finally ready to contend for the 2011 American League title.