By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com Red Sox InsiderFollow @sean_mcadam
NEW YORK -- While the Red Sox are threatening to make history in a negative way, center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury reached a milestone in a positive sense in the Red Sox' 6-2 loss to the Yankees in Game 1.
Ellsbury smacked two solo homers, giving him 30 homers and 100 RBI for the season. In so doing, he became the first Red Sox player to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season.
"I'm definitely really proud of reaching that mark," said Ellsbury. "That's a special group of guys in that class."
The RBI total, of course, represents a career high and is evidence of how Ellsbury has become a run producer.
"It's my job to create runs any way possible -- scoring runs or driving in runs," he said. "I'm definitely very proud of that accomplishment."
Ellsbury insisted that his breakout power numbers were not a surprise to him.
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"I've just been in a good position to hit in," he said. "Nothing's really changed -- just being in a good position to hit in and being consistent."
He also became only the seventh player in the baseball history to steal 30, hit 30 homers, knock in 100 runs, score 100 runs and collect 200 hits.
The others: Larry Walker, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Ellis Burks and Hank Aaron.
"I just go out, prepare and play the game 100 percent," said Ellsbury. "I know what I'm capable of doing. Everybody's surprised by the power numbers, but it's always been there. It hasn't always translated to the game. But every year, I've consistently gotten better."
"It's not the best time (to celebrate an individual achievement)," said manager Terry Francona, "but I should brag about him. That's a pretty amazing feat. This kid has turned into some kind of player and he's taken a lot of accountability.
"We used to talk about Johnny Damon being out there all the time. This kid has done some kind of job."
Scott Atchison had to come out of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning when, after his second warmup pitch, he strained his right groin.
"He tweaked it," said Fracona. "It's a mild tweak, but we certainly couldn't have him out there to pitch."
Atchison was pitching for the fourth time in five games, but wasn't sure the workload contributed to the injury.
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "Everybody's running pretty thin at this point. It's late in the year. You can't really attribute it any one thing. I didn't feel any problems earlier in the outing and hadn't really felt anything before.
"When it kind of popped up, it was a little strange. Hopefully, it's nothing too bad and we caught it before it got bad. It's kind of where you push, so if you don't have the strength there, it makes it kind of tough (to pitch)."
The first game loss was a messy one for the Red Sox, who made two errors, got picked off once and generally played sloppily.
"That part falls directly on my shoulder," said Francona. "When it doesn't go right, it's my responsibility."
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam.