A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Red Sox come back with five runs
off Mariano Rivera in a 7-6 win

April 20, 2007 ... The Red Sox got to closer Mariano Rivera, in stunning fashion, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth to overcome a four-run deficit, then held their collective breath while watching Hideki Okajima, the stand-in for closer Jonathan Papelbon, solve A-Rod and save a 7-6 win before a delirious crowd of 36,786 in Fenway Park.

Terry Francona's first inclination was to send pitching coach John Farrell to the mound, armed with written instructions translated by assistant trainer Masai Takahashi, on how to keep Alex Rodriguez from adding to his epic home run tear. With two off Curt Schilling, A-Rod now has 12 in his first 15 games, a historic pace matching that set by Mike Schmidt of the Phillies in 1976.

Moments later, after Okajima had retired A-Rod on a full-count, soft liner to second and struck out Kevin Thompson, who had run for strongman Jason Giambi in the eighth when the Yankees seemingly had the game in hand, Francona was out of the dugout.

A rally that began with David Ortiz's double off former Sox lefthander Mike Myers to open the eighth ended with three straight run-scoring hits off Rivera from the bottom of the Sox' order, the supposed black hole of their lineup. Jason Varitek's RBI single, which followed Mike Lowell's RBI base hit off Luis Vizcaino, made it 6-4. Coco Crisp then scorched a ground ball down the right-field line into the corner for a triple, tying the score, and came home on Alex Cora's flare over a drawn-in infield.

This makes back-to-back shockers for Torre. In his last appearance, Rivera was beaten in Oakland last Sunday by a walkoff home run by utility infielder Marco Scutaro.

The Sox, of course, have had more success against Rivera, who will be going to the Hall of Fame someday, than any other team. No one who was there, including Rivera, will soon forget the standing ovation Sox fans gave the Yankee closer in the 2005 home opener, when the Sox received their World Series rings and Rivera was reminded that the Sox had gotten to him in two epic games in the ALCS. Since the start of the 2003 season, Rivera has blown 9 of 29 save opportunities against the Sox.

The winning hit was Cora's second in two games. He tripled home the go-ahead run Thursday in Toronto. He laughed uproariously when asked if he'd done that before.

Varitek had three hits, including a two-run home run off Pettite that was his first since Sept. 8, a span of 90 at-bats. Lowell also singled and scored twice.

Schilling was taken deep by A-Rod leading off the fourth ("0-and-1 fastball, middle, knee high, the only surprise is that it didn't land somewhere in the Bronx," said Schilling) and again in the fifth, after two-out singles by Derek Jeter and Abreu. That home run landed in the Sox' bullpen. So did center fielder Crisp, who landed on his head trying to make the catch. But Crisp got back up, and so did the Sox.

Jon Lester pitched last night for Single A Greenville against Savannah in the South Atlantic League and was touched for three runs on six hits, including two home runs, in five innings.  Lester, who did not walk a batter and struck out five, is scheduled to be in Boston tomorrow to meet with the Sox' staff, then is slated to pitch for Pawtucket Wednesday, the last start of a 30-day rehabilitation assignment.

Today was the 95th anniversary of the first game played at Fenway, the Sox winning, 7-6, in 11 innings over the New York Highlanders, the forebears of the Yankees.

With all 16 Celtics championship banners draped over the Green Monster, Bob Cousy threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Sox honored the Celtics and the late Red Auerbach for the 50th anniversary of their first NBA title.

Yankees catcher Jorge Posada left in the bottom of the fourth with an injured left thumb. X-rays were negative, and the injury, which occurred while trying to catch a pitch from starter Andy Pettite, according to a Yankees spokesman, was announced as a bruise. Posada, who doubled in the top of the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, was replaced by Wil Nieves.