By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — The Yankees' campaign for their 28th World Series title got off to a bad start on the opening night of the 2010 baseball season when they lost to their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 9-7.
Poor bullpen pitching and a passed ball by catcher Jorge Posada gave the game away after the Bronx Bombers lit up Sox ace Josh Beckett for five run and eight hits in the first 4 1/3 innings Sunday night.
"They won the World Series last year; everybody's going after them," said Dustin Pedroia, the Sox' second baseman who hit a two-run homer off reliever Chan Ho Park in the seventh inning to tie the game at 7-7, the New York Times reported. "We're just first on their schedule."
The Yanks sent their ace CC Sabathia to the mound and he pitched 5 1/3 inning. He blew an early 5-1 lead and left the game with the score tied 5-5.
Each of the four Yankee relievers who followed gave up a run. With the score tied 7-7, Posada couldn't hang on to a Damaso Marte pitch, allowing Kevin Youkilis to score the winning run.
"It's one game, you don't make too much out of it one way or the other," Yanks' manager Joe Girardi said, according to the New York Post. "It's one game. It's a long season."
But it wasn't all doom and gloom for the Yanks on opening night. Curtis Granderson, a key offseason acquisition, homered in his Yankee debut.
The Yankees have Monday off, and take the field again Tuesday in Boston, when they said A.J. Burnett to the hill.
