Brian McCann takes Wade Miley deep. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

We’ve reached the unofficial halfway point of the season, and unfortunately the Sox will go into the All-Star break on a little bit sour note, dropping the rubber match of this series 8-6.

It started out promisingly: A-Rod didn’t go deep in the first inning.

But McCann went oppo for a two-run job in the bottom of the 2nd, putting the Red Sox in an early hole.

The Sox’ offense was up to the challenge and unleashed a squall of singles (5) in the third, grabbing a 3-2 lead.

The game turned in the top of the 5th when Miley surrendered the game-tying run on a questionable balk call by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Miley has one of the best pickoff moves in the game and, like all lefties with great moves, he flirts with a balk on every attempt (see: Pettite, Andy). On the pitch in question he might have stepped at an angle greater than 45°, and it looked like his body may have been moving towards the plate before he threw over but it wasn’t even clear on the replay; there’s no way Hernandez could clearly see it was a balk.

As we’ve seen in the past, Miley is a bit of a hothead, but he had every right to be upset here. The real issue is that Angel Hernandez made the call from behind the plate and would have no way of seeing the angle in question. Hernandez has shown time and again that he is both 1) awful and 2) way too eager to insert himself into the game story.

Miley would get touched for 3 runs in the 6th, and after a Shane Victorino RBI single in the bottom half of the frame the score stood at 6-4.

Alexi Ogando initially pitched well in relief, stranding inherited runners from Tommy Layne in the 7th, then tossing a 1-2-3 8th. But Farrell brought him back out in the 9th, which would prove to be costly. He gave up a leadoff walk, then Rob Refsnyder’s first major league homer, which expanded the Yankees’ lead to 8-4. The Red Sox pushed two runs across in the bottom of the 9th thanks to an awful defensive display by the Yankees, and would have tied the game at 6 had Ogando not given up that gopher ball.

Notes:

–De Aza joined #TeamHighSocks.

-Although losing this series at home leaves a little bit of a bad taste in your mouth, winning 10 out of 15 heading into the break is good no matter how you slice it. Maybe this loss will make them hungrier. I think Andrew Miller of all people said it best:

“They’re never going to quit. They have expectations of winning a World Series just like we do over here. I’m not going to give up on them until there’s an X next to their name, or whatever they do when somebody’s out of the standings. They’re too good, there’s too many veteran players that have experienced too much. You’re not going to count them out ever. They’re a good team.”