NEW YORK, N. Leodis McKelvin Jersey .Y. - Mike Napoli hoped Masahiro Tanaka would make a mistake. The New York Yankees ace sure did — he twice shook off his catcher, then threw a pitch the Boston slugger could handle. Napoli stung Tanaka by hitting a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting Jon Lester and the Red Sox over the Yankees 2-1 Saturday night. "What an idiot!" Napoli was heard exclaiming on Fox television microphones as he high-fived teammates in the dugout. Napoli later said he didnt mean any disrespect, adding he was "surprised" Tanaka didnt throw his tremendous split-finger fastball. Napoli had struck out in his previous two at-bats, was down 1-2 in the count this time and was having all sorts of trouble with Tanakas diving splitter. "He had me where he wanted me," Napoli said. Tanaka, however, preferred to throw a fastball. Napoli lined it the opposite way, into the first row of the seats in right field. Napoli, who also homered off Tanaka at Fenway Park in late April, raised his right arm as he rounded first base and clapped his hands as headed for second. Tanaka, the top winner in the majors and the AL ERA leader, turned to watch the ball sail, twisting his body when it cleared the wall. "It was the worst thing I couldve possibly done," Tanaka said through a translator. Tanaka wanted to take a different approach than catcher Brian McCann. "He asked for a splitter and for a slider, and I shook off both of them," he said. Tanaka said he intended to throw a fastball out of the strike zone to set up a breaking ball. Instead, Napoli hit it out of the park. His third home run in five games, and 10th shot overall, flew far enough reach the short porch. "Power hitters are going to have the ability to hit to all fields. We all know that right field here is not very forgiving," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Last night, they hit one in the first row. Tonight, we did." The Red Sox won for just the third time in nine games. The victory made the defending World Series champions 37-44 at the midpoint of the season — its the first time since 1997 that Boston has been under .500 at the halfway mark. Lester (9-7) held the Yankees hitless until the sixth. He gave up an unearned run and five hits in eight innings, striking out six and walking two. Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances. Tanaka (11-3) allowed seven hits in a complete game, striking out eight and walking one. The Yankees lost for the fifth time in seven games. Tanaka dropped consecutive starts for the first time in the majors. The matchup between Lester and Tanaka shaped up as a pitchers duel, and it certainly was. Lester improved to 13-6 lifetime against the Yankees, including a loss to Tanaka in Boston on April 22. Lester and Uehara came through for a Red Sox team that has scored three runs or fewer in 12 of its last 14 games. Napoli did his part, too, tagging Tanaka. "He pitched pretty well to Nap all night," Lester said. "Im guessing Nap put a pretty good swing on that ball right there. Luckily, were in Yankee Stadium and not anywhere else and that ball goes out." An odd sequence ended the Yankees eighth. Jacoby Ellsbury tried to steal second with two outs and the fans cheered when catcher David Ross throw skipped into centre field. As Ellsbury headed toward third, however, the crowd began to realize strike three had already been called on Mark Teixeira. Earlier in the inning, second baseman Dustin Pedroia made a nifty pickup and glove flip to start a double play on Derek Jeter. Ross homered in his second straight game, launching a drive far over the left-field fence in the third. Tanaka muttered to himself as Ross rounded the bases. Lester, who threw a no-hitter against Kansas City in 2008, held the Yankees hitless until Brett Gardner bounced a leadoff single up the middle in the sixth. Lesters bid was extended with two outs in the fifth when Yangervis Solarte was called out on a video review, taking away an infield single. Pedroia opened the next inning with a single, and tried to test the arm of Ellsbury, his former teammate. The Yankees centre fielder made an accurate throw and Pedroia was called safe, but he was ruled out after New York challenged the umpires decision. The Yankees scored in the third when Brian Roberts reached on shortstop Stephen Drews error, Solarte was hit by a pitch, Gardner sacrificed and Jeter had an RBI grounder. NOTES: Of Bostons last 14 games, 10 have been decided by one run. The Red Sox are 6-4 in those games. ... The Red Sox are 26-26 at the new Yankee Stadium. ... Boston OF-INF Mike Carp (right foot) has started his rehab assignment at Triple-A Pawtucket. ... Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (right knee) made his first rehab start, pitching 2 1-3 innings for Class A Tampa and giving up two runs on three hits and a walk vs. Dunedin. Dan Carpenter Jersey . The Denver Nuggets played as though they were already relaxing on a tropical beach. Love started practicing early for All-Star festivities, making six of 11 shots from 3-point range and totalling 32 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Timberwolves to a 117-90 victory over the Nuggets on Wednesday night. Andre Reed Jersey . They did take one chance on a free agent-to-be however, and it didnt pay off. Rory Kohlert, selected by the Redblacks in the expansion draft from Winnipeg, has signed as a free agent with the Blue Bombers.TORONTO -- Its Week 12 in Major League Soccer and Toronto FC is 4-4-0. The Philadelphia Union, FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo have played 13 games while New York and Seattle have had 12. Toronto and the Los Angeles Galaxy, with nine games, are the only clubs in the 19-team league not to have played at least 10 matches so far. "Its very frustrating because were in a false position," said Toronto captain Steven Caldwell. "A very big if in the MLS, but if we win all our games in hand, were on top of the league. "Were not denying weve had a little bit of an up-and-down start but weve shown glimpses of real quality and weve had games weve let ourselves down. If we had played similar games to the rest of the teams, Im pretty sure wed be very near the top if not on the top. So its slightly disappointing but well get our chance to address that when we play more games than other teams. Weve just got to be ready for that. "Weve had injuries and were losing Michael (Bradley to the World Cup) for a longish period. It might be a blessing in disguise." With 12 points, Toronto is currently seventh in the East -- two points and two places out of the playoff picture. But its rate of 1.5 points a game is good for third in the conference (and fifth in the leaguee). Fred Jackson Jersey. Torontos weather is part of the reason for the lack of early games. Toronto had a bye the opening weekend, for example. The Amway Canadian Championship also has not helped the calendar, taking up four midweek games. And television, no doubt, played its part in scheduling with more games saved for later on, when hockey is over. Including Friday nights game in Kansas City, Toronto has three more league games before MLS takes a two-week break in mid-June during the World Cup. When play resumes, Toronto has 23 league games remaining. In contrast, Philadelphia will have 18. For Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen, the schedule has pluses and minuses. Injured players have had a chance to heal. But a team that brought in a half-dozen starters during the off-season needs time to mesh on the field. "This team needs more games than anyone other team, to tell you the truth," said Nelsen. "Just because thats how you get to know each other. And a lot of players werent there in pre-season -- they were injured or hadnt arrived or different kind of stories. "So we kind of started our pre-season in away during the season. So we started a few steps back. The more games, the better for these guys. ... Thats what were looking forward to." cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
