September 14, 2007
...
Five runs ahead and six outs away from taking a decisive step to
their first division title in a dozen years, the Red Sox were brought
to their knees by a hail of Yankee hits in a six-run eighth inning
that leveled Hideki Okajima, and most shocking of all, closer
Jonathan Papelbon, in an 8-7 loss that seemingly turned in a New York
minute.
Down, 7-2, to start the eighth, the Yankees first unloaded on Okajima, with
Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano hitting consecutive home runs, neither one cheap.
Giambi's cleared the Yankees' bullpen, Cano the wall in dead center field.
Okajima then walked Melky Cabrera and gave up a double scorched into the
left-center-field gap by Johnny Damon, with four hits an irritant to his former
mates all night.
It was 11:09 p.m. when Francona summoned Papelbon, as close to a sure thing
in the AL this season, to face Derek Jeter. The Yankees' captain, who made an
error in the first inning and struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth,
flared Papelbon's first pitch into right field for a single, scoring Cabrera to
make it 7-5 and sending Damon to third. Bobby Abreu took a strike, then lined
Papelbon's next pitch off the wall in center, scoring Damon and Jeter to tie the
score. Abreu moved up to third when Dustin Pedroia's relay to the plate bounced
away from Varitek.
Then it was Alex Rodriguez's turn to undress Papelbon. The consensus MVP took
a strike, then ripped a 96-mile-per-hour fastball into center for the hit that
made it 8-7. A sellout crowd of 36,590, which had spent much of the long evening
in high spirits, suddenly had about as much reason to celebrate as Bill
Belichick.
Papelbon finally got out of it, but as he walked off the mound, he cursed
violently into his glove, knowing that if he had held service, the team's first
division title since 1995 was practically a foregone conclusion. In one inning,
the Yankees collected more hits against Papelbon (3) than he had allowed since
Aug. 1. He had retired 31 of the last 34 batters he faced, and had not allowed
an earned run in his last 15 2/3 innings (16 appearances). It was also the first
time Papelbon has allowed three straight hits in his career.
The Sox put the tying run on base against reliever Luis Vizcaino in the
bottom of the eighth when Mike Lowell reached on a third-strike passed ball by
Jorge Posada, but pinch runner Coco Crisp, a scratch from the starting lineup
because of a sore left hip, was cut down attempting to steal with J.D. Drew at
the plate.
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JONATHAN PAPELBON |
They did it again in the ninth when Drew led off against Mariano Rivera with
a ground single under the glove of second baseman Cano. But Rivera whiffed
Varitek, retired Bobby Kielty on a fly to center, then struck out Jacoby
Ellsbury on three pitches, the last on a half swing, spoiling what had been a
promising baptism into the rivalry for the rookie.
How shocking was it to see the game turn as quickly as it did? From the
start, this game was messy and frequently tedious, but one tilted heavily in the
Sox' favor. Ellsbury, who didn't join the club until Sept. 1 and wasn't in the
starting lineup until an hour before the game, made his first appearance in the
rivalry one to remember. Playing center field because Crisp was hurt, Ellsbury
singled home Boston's first run, then blooped a single in his second at-bat and
transformed a pickoff into a stolen base during Boston's three-run fourth.
The big hit in that inning was a two-run single delivered by another rookie,
Pedroia has thrived in the white-heat atmosphere of a rivalry. Pedroia came into
the game batting .356 against the Bombers, an average eclipsed by just two
players: Lowell, who returned to the lineup after missing a game with intestinal
distress, and Manny Ramirez, who remained inactive despite a third straight day
of batting practice.
Daisuke Matsuzaka was more survivor than symphony conductor, pitching out of
a bases-loaded jam in the first and a first-and-third, no-out quandary in the
fourth. Matsuzaka, who had won just one of his previous six starts (four losses
and a no-decision), handed over another mess to Mike Timlin in the sixth, when
Posada doubled and the Japanese right-hander walked Hideki Matsui, who had
tripled in New York's first run in the fourth, and Cabrera to load the bases.
With Matsuzaka at 120 pitches, summoned Timlin. He gave up a chopped single over
the mound to Damon to make it 5-2 and bring Jeter to the plate, but the Yankees'
captain swung and missed at a full-count splitter to end the threat.
Matsuzaka gave up just four hits and struck out seven, but his five walks and
a hit batsman (he plunked A-Rod in the thigh to load the bases in the first)
kept him in constant peril. But he looked in great position to win, as the Sox
ran up Andy Pettitte's pitch count to a staggering 101 in just four innings, by
which time they had a 5-1 lead. The Yankees, meanwhile, were victims of their
own sloppiness, errors by Jeter and Giambi helping the Sox to open their big
lead.
Another bit of Yankee sloppiness helped the Sox extend the lead to 6-2 in the
bottom of the sixth. Right fielder Abreu had Ortiz doubled off first on Lowell's
liner to right, but Giambi could not hang onto his throw from the outfield. No
error was assessed, but it kept the rally alive. Kevin Youkilis hit a soft
single to center to score Lugo, who had singled, taken second on an infield out,
and stolen third.
Torre, who had replaced Pettitte with Jose Veras after the fourth, made
another pitching change, bringing in lefthander Sean Henn to face Drew. The Sox
rightfielder, who had surprised onlookers by throwing his bat and helmet after
striking out with two on to end the fourth, lined a single to right, scoring
Ortiz to make it 7-2.
The Yankees sent an unmistakable message that even if they don't overtake the
Sox in the American League East, they will be a force to be reckoned with if
they are still playing in October. With the regular season due to end two weeks
from tomorrow, the Yankees drew to within 4 1/2 games of the Sox in the AL East,
while remaining 3 1/2 games ahead of Tigers in the wild-card race.
