Yankees 10, Red Sox 7
Comments Off The Red Sox did not have a base-runner until the seventh inning and received by far the worst outing of Curt Schilling’s time as a Red Sox and still had the tying run on third base in the top of the eighth inning. It was a loss, a big loss for sure but not one without a silver lining for Sox fans.
The Yankees’ supporting stars were Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and Mariano Rivera. Matsui had 5 RBI, Sheffield was on base 4 times and scored 4 runs and Rivera cooled off a ferocious Red Sox rally by recording the final 4 outs of the game. In a moving scene, Rivera appeared in the Yanks’ bullpen in the fifth inning after flying in from Panama and all of his teammates welcomed him warmly while the fans in the bleachers chanted “MA-RI-A-NO”.
But unquestionnably the night’s biggest star for the Yanks was Mike Mussina, who was downright untouchable for six innings. He was literally perfect and aside from a line drive right at Bernie Williams in the first off of Mark Bellhorn’s bat, the Red Sox didn’t even make any good contact. The Sox did get to Mussina in the seventh but by then, the damage was done. The Yanks had staked their ace to an 8-0 lead.
The Red Sox would mount a charge over the seventh and the eighth, keyed by a two-run home run by Jason Varitek and a two-run triple by David Ortiz that was about a foot from tying the game. That the Red Sox were able to put together the rally, after being dormant for much of the game, spoke not necessarily of their resolve and character as many will say, but rather of their sheer ability to put crooked numbers up quickly. The Red Sox pounded a theretofore brilliant Mussina, the new and improved Tanyon Sturtze and MLB’s best reliever, Tom Gordon – all pitchers the Yanks will be relying heavily upon all series. This was not the mop-up squad the Sox did their damage against.
There were three subtle matters that I thought tipped the balance in this game. I am never, okay rarely, one to criticize umpiring but I genuinely felt Moose’s strike zone last night was a good 3-5 inches wider on each side of the plate. Curt Schilling, who was awful – don’t get me wrong, repeatedly had balls called against him on pitches on or just outside the corners. Curtis Leskanic threw a breaking ball that, to this minute, I have absolutely no idea where the umpire could have even thought the ball missed. Meanwhile, Moose repeatedly worked the corners without fear. In back to back 3-2 called third strikes to Johnny Damon and Mark Bellhorn in the third, Mussina got calls that not one Red Sox pitcher got all night. That’s two outs instead of two baserunners with the Sox heart of the lineup coming up. Big difference. The home plate umpiring wasn’t anywhere close to solely accounting for the result last night. But it was bad, unfairly bad, and it did affect the game’s outcome.
Another factor in determining the game’s outcome was Manny Ramirez’s awful play on both Hideki Matsui’s first inning, um, double and Bernie Williams’ eighth inning triple. For Matsui’s, Ramirez has to be able to be more decisive. A balls-out effort with a bit of a dive catches that ball in the air if you ask me but I understand if you want to play it cautiously to keep the ball in front of you. What I absolutely fail to comprehend is a half-assed effort followed by some bizarre lunging backhand dance-step that looked like something out of a P-Diddy video. The play not only allowed Sheffield to score the game’s first run but also Matsui to reach second base. He would score on Bernie Williams’ ensuing ground ball through the middle. On Williams’ eighth inning shot, Ramirez just failed to get back on the ball quickly enough. If he reads it right off the bat, Ramirez catches that eye-high with the ball in front of him.
The final matter was Tito’s pitching pattern. If he was trying to win the game, it was indefensible. If he was trying to get various pitchers some work because the game was out of hand, given Boston’s offense, it was also indefensible. Curtis Leskanic’s stuff looked unhittable and yet he threw just 22 pitches. Ramiro Mendoza too looked good and yet he only stayed in the game for 17 pitches. Tim Wakefield pitched the sixth and promptly yielded two runs, no problem if it’s mop-up time but a big problem if yours is the kind of offense that can get you back in a ballgame quickly. So I don’t know what Francona was thinking. Either he stupidly implemented a wrongheaded strategy to win the game or he appallingly thought the game to be out of hand.
Nonetheless, as I said earlier, the Sox almost won a game in which they saw the best the Yanks’ bats and arms had to offer while they were about as bad as they could be for 3 innings on the pitching side and 6 on the offensive side. Tonight, the Sox will be able to “Trot” (wink) out a lefthanded laden lineup against Jon Lieber, a guy who has always struggled to get lefties out. In 2003, they hit Lieber to the tune of an .881 OPS. The Sox will counter with a guy named Pedro Martinez.
