Yanks in good shape despite loss to Red Sox

Strictly looking at the record, the 3-4 homestand wasn't terribly impressive.

But even after the Yankees blew three excellent scoring chances late in Monday's frustrating, 2-1 loss to the Red Sox, the week should be seen through the prism of the teams doing the chasing in the AL East.

And the Yankees certainly had a better week than the team directly behind them, the Rays.

The teams were tied atop the division when the Yankees started the homestand Aug. 2 against Toronto. The Yankees left for Texas early last evening, and when they take the field Tuesday night they'll lead the division by 1½ games over Tampa Bay, which ended a five-game losing streak last night.

Still, 3-4 didn't sit all that well with the manager.

"It's not what we wanted,'' Joe Girardi said, "but we move on."

After a two-game series against the Rangers, the West leaders, the Yankees will move on to Kansas City for four games.

The third-place Red Sox have been beat up all season, and they lost Kevin Youkilis for the season on the eve of the four-game series. They left town in the same spot they arrived, six games behind the Yankees, but with a pulse nonetheless.

"If their pitching staff is healthy, that's really all that matters," said Mark Teixeira, who hit his 26th homer in the eighth to cut the Yankees' deficit to 2-1. "You have that starting five and arguably the best eighth-ninth inning [combination] in baseball, that's a great team, I don't care how many injuries they have."

Phil Hughes took the loss, in large part because of what Teixeira referenced, and in many ways, Hughes' outing was the most encouraging aspect of the oppressively hot afternoon. Hughes (13-5) struggled to find the strike zone the first two innings, allowing two runs in a 37-pitch second inning that left him at 57 after two, but he still managed to give the Yankees six innings.

But Red Sox pitching, a disappointment much of the season, came through, starting with Jon Lester. He kept the Yankees hitless through 41/3 innings before Austin Kearns grounded a single up the middle.

Derek Jeter's two-out single put runners at the corners, but Nick Swisher struck out swinging at a 94-mph fastball, portending what would happen in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings when the Yankees had scoring opportunities.

The Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-17 with runners on base, though they nearly had a tying homer from Marcus Thames in the seventh. His drive with Jorge Posada on first hit off the top of the wall in right-center for a double.

Lester (12-7) hit Kearns with a pitch before striking out Curtis Granderson. Daniel Bard replaced Lester with one out and the bases loaded, and the hard-throwing righthander struck out Jeter and Swisher, needing six pitches - all fastballs 98 or 99 mph - to do so.

"I guess you want to tip your hat in that situation,'' Swisher said, "but we thought we should have at least tied that game."

Teixeira's homer to lead off the eighth made it 2-1, but that would be all. The Yankees left two on that inning, then failed to get Jeter home from second with one out in the ninth. Jonathan Papelbon completed a four-out save by striking out Swisher and Teixeira.

"We had our shots," Girardi said.

As for the division race, there's no time to look back.

"We know there's still a lot of baseball and we have to continue to try and win series," Girardi said. "I'm going to say it again, but no one said it was going to be easy. We're in an extremely tough division and we have another tough game tomorrow."