Back to the Boston Red Sox Newsfeed

Buckley: This rivalry lacks punch

It didn’t take Alex Rodriguez long to put the Fenway Park masses to sleep last night.

Booed mercilessly as he arrived at the plate, baseball’s preeminent lightning rod rifled a 2-1 pitch from Clay Buchholz over the Monster Seats for a first-inning home run, quieting a Fenway crowd that’s been hungering for a great Red Sox-Yankees summertime showdown for what seems like forever.

And then, with one out in the fourth inning, Buchholz delivered a pitch without zip. Buchholz knew it. His catcher, Sandy Leon, knew it.

Buchholz summoned Leon to the mound, and told him something was wrong with his elbow.