Sox 7, New York 4
WP: Tavarez (1-2)
LP: Wang (0-2)
SV: Papelbon (8)
HRs: BOS: Papi (7), Cora (2), Manny (3); NYY- Ball Stealer (2), Jeter (2)
SUMMARY:
Another game, another come-from-behind Sox victory over the sinking ship known as the New York Stankees.
Boston trailed 3-2 after Doug Mientkiewicz hit a 3-run homer into the right field seats off Julian Tavarez in the 3rd inning. But just like they did in their 4 previous wins over New York, the Sox hitters pecked away at the Stankee starter, then hammered away at the fledgling bullpen, leading to another satisfying comeback win over the hated Stanks.
HEROES:
- Cora: 2-4, 2R, 3RBI, 3B, HR- his 2-run shot in the 5th game Boston the lead it wouldn't relinquish and his triple in the 7th off Scott Proctor unofficially brought an end to the Dustin Pedroia Experiment
- Manny: 2-4, 1R, 2RBI, HR- after being robbed of extra bases by Bobby Abreu in the 6th, ManRam teed off on Sean Henn for a 2-run blast in the 8th that put the game away, 7-3
- Tavarez: 5IP, 3H, 3ER, 2BB, 2K, HR- not exactly Cy Young stats, but he held the dangerous Stankee lineup to 3 runs in 5 innings and held the fort until the offense could get to the NY pen
GOATS:
- Wang: 6IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 1K, 2HRs- I know he just got off the DL last week, but when Doug Freaking Mientkiewicz hits a 3-run jack to give your team a lead, you don't blow that rare gift from the heavens
- Matsui: 0-4, K, 5 LOB- another recent DL member who is struggling to find a groove; his DP in the 4th, when NY had men on 1st & 2nd with no outs and a 1-run lead, really came back to haunt them
- Judas Demon: 0-4, K- the $13 million dollar man went 2-11 with 2R, 2BB, 3Ks and 2 RBI in the series; supposedly he's got back problems; I guess carrying around all that blood money takes its toll
SUMMARY:
After experiencing a mild blip in the aura surrounding the 2007 edition of Sox v. Stankees yesterday, things got back to normal today as Boston completed a stunning 5-out-of-6 blitzkrieg of the Stanks with yet another come-from-behind win.
From the Red Sox perspective you have to know things are going your way when your worst starter-who is headed back to the bullpen in a matter of days-shuts down New York's potent lineup, and on the flip side things couldn't be any worse for the Stanks when its best starter from a year ago can't keep little Alex Cora from going deep and crushing the spirit of an Empire.
The day started off looking like the Sox would have an easy time winning the last game of this split weekend, 6-game series. David Ortiz, who had been in a power drought, took care of that problem with a majestic, towering drive into the third deck in right off Chien-Ming Wang with two outs in the first for a quick 1-0 Boston lead. In the third Coco (1-3, 2R) led off with a triple and Cora got him home on a groundout to make it 2-0, and RSN had to start thinking maybe the Sox could take one game without having to stage a comeback.
Not so fast my friend. Any thoughts of a quick, painless win were wiped away with one swing of a Stankee bat in the bottom of the third, and wouldn't you know it was old friend Dougie the Ball Stealer Mientkiewiecz who did the damage to his old mates. Tavarez walked Posada & Cano to start the frame, then after a botched bunt led to a passed ball by Varitek, Ball Stealer swung at a 3-2 offering from Julie and parked it in the rightfield seats for a 3-2 New York lead.
Did I mention he was batting .142 with 1 homer? Friggin' ex-players will do it to ya every time.
Not to worry though, because this is Sox/Stanks '07, where the Boston comeback is all but guaranteed. And wouldn't you know it was that diminutive dynamic duo of Coco & Cora (they sound like a pair of mini-Shelties for cryin' out loud) would be the ones to get the game back into Boston's hands.
In the top of the 5th Crisp was hit as he was attempting to bunt, and with visions of another Coco injury dancing in our heads, Cora came up to face Wang. The little guy has hit 4 homers in the past 3 years and has 32 career longballs in 9+ years in the bigs. But for a Punch & Judy hitter he sure didn't waste any time jumping on a 2-0 offering from Wang, sending a drive into the stands for yet another back-breaking, lead-taking homer for Boston.
For all intents & purposes the game was over right there, but since they had to play a few more innings, why not tack on some more runs? Wang left after six innings as much from the humiliation as from a blister on his hand, and when Scott Proctor made his daily appearance out of the New York bully, the Sox batters eyes had to light up. And wouldn't you know it Cora was right in the middle of the next scoring play, too.
He sent a drive high off the rightfield wall, over an outstretched but out-of-position Bobby Abreu's glove, and raced into 3rd with a triple. Lugo hit a sac fly to score the all-important insurance run, 5-3, but Manny would then make like Aflac, providing all the insurance the team would need with a 2-run bomb off of Sean Henn in the 8th; it was his 50th career jack against the Stanks, putting him into some rare company (more later) and putting enough distance between the two teams to ensure there would be no come-from-behind win for NY.
That's because Boston now has two weapons in the pen- Papelbon & Okijima. The Japanese lefty with the devastating curveball is suddenly one of the best parts of this team, and if he's not careful he might begin to overshadow his more famous countrymen. Oki came on in the 6th and struck out Abreu & Giambi, then got Matsui to ground out with a man on to end the inning, and he retired Posada and pinch-hitter Josh Phelps on strikeouts in the 7th before exiting.
After Timlin allowed a homer to Jeter in the 8th, Paps came on in the 9th and despite allowing a leadoff double to Giambi, got three quick outs from there to complete the satisfying near-sweep.
So that's all we get to see of New York for a while, until a rare mid-week, 3-game set at the end of May.
By that time who knows where both teams will be.
All I do know is that there is a definite atmosphere change about this series this season. I think it's called the smell of success.
NOTES:
-Slumping J.D. Drew got the day off; Eric Hinske started in his place and went 0-4
-Papi's homer was his 23rd vs. New York, a great feat but still less than half of Manny's total against them. Oh, and the players ManRam joined in the 'Over 50 HRs vs. NY' club? Guys named Foxx, Williams, Greenberg & Yaz; ever heard of 'em?
-Oki has 17 Ks in 12.2 innings and a 0.71 ERA; Papelbon has 15 Ks in 9.1, an ERA of 0.00 and has allowed 2 hits all season; pretty nice 1-2 punch, huh?
-Mike Lowell's hit streak ended at 14 games, but Derek Jeter extended his to 17 games with the homer
-A-Rod did get 2 hits, but he grounded into a DP to kill a potential rally in the 8th and is in a 3-18 (.167) slide with no homers or RBI in his last 5 games; looks like Mr. April is about to turn nto Mr. May (day)
QUOTES:
-"I think today was one of the very, very important starts for me. I felt it was like the last start of my life."- Tavarez; we can only hope so, Julie.
RECORD: 16-8
AL EAST: Up 4 gms on TOR
UP NEXT: Off Mon; Tue vs. OAK
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