Rocket schools Beckett, Stanks win again

New York 4, Sox 3
WP: Clemens (6-5)
LP: Beckett (16-6)
SV: Rivera (22)
HRs: BOS-Youk (14), Papi (25); NYY-ARod (44)

"Hey Boston, you can't close shit, so hits the bricks! What, you think this is verbal abuse? Ask my daughter about verbal abuse, pal!"

SUMMARY
Josh Beckett allowed a career-high 13 hits while his idol Roidger Clemens surrendered just two in his six innings of work, and Beckett's final pitch of the night, a two-out solo home run by Alex Gonzalez in the seventh, wound up being the difference in the game.

#1 STUNNER Clemens 6IP, 2H, 1ER, 5BB, 2K, HR
For the second night in a row a former member of the Sox came back to bite his old team in the ass, and although Clemens wasn't dominant, he was plenty good enough as the gigantic jackass didn't allow a hit until Papi's moonshot with one out in the sixth.

PAN's FAUN Beckett 6.1IP, 13H, 4ER, 1BB, 6K, 1HR
Squaring off against his boyhood idol on the mound where he recorded his Series-clinching victory with the Marlins, Josh Beckett came up with a performance reminiscent of Miss Tenn South Carolina--erratic, incoherent, and painful to watch in many spots.

RECAP
Raise your hand if your surprised the game turned out like this.

Wait a minute, let me rephrase that: raise your hand if you're surprised Clemens didn't get the no-hitter.

Because the way things have gone for Boston in these two games with the Stankees, a no-no by the man who has been the cause of so much adulation, ridicule and hatred for Boston fans would have made perfect sense.

The only thing missing was Bucky bleepin Dent at short and Aaron bleepin Boone at third and the ghosts of Red Sox past would have engulfed the souls of Red Sox present.

Fortunately for Boston and its ever-fragile Nation it didn't get as ugly as that this evening, but for 6+ innings the game was going about as bad as it possibly could for the boys from Beantown.

Clemens was making his first start against the team he began his career with since October 2003, after Boone torched Wakefield to send Clemens & New York back to the World Series, and the irony of who his mound opponent was tonight was twofold, as Josh Beckett not only grew up idolizing Clemens, but went on to defeat Rocket's Stanks on this field in Game 7 of that 2003 Series.

It's like the six degrees of Red Sox Nation.

It was quickly evident what type of game this was going to be when Clemens nailed Dustin Pedroia with his 5th pitch of the game, to get all the "this is for the Japanese dude nailing Baby Blue Lips the last couple of games" shit out of the way early, followed by Giambi robbing Lugo of extra bases on a "look what I found" snag.

In the bottom of the first, after retiring Judas Demon on a groundout, Beckett allowed a deep shot by Jeter that skied over the head of J.D. Drew for a one-out double and served notice that the Bronx rottweilers were not going to let up in their pursuit of the superior Sox.

Beckett would escape that jam, and Clemens one of his own when he walked Drew and Varitek with two outs in the second then got Coco to tap out to first, but in the bottom of the second the rank sight of the Stanks taking another lead would rear its ugly head again.

Jorgie Posada lined a one-out single past Pedroia into center field, and after Giambi fouled out to Youk, Robinson Cano drew a walk to set up a scoring situation for underrated Melky Cabrera (3-4, R, BI).

After running the count to 2-2 Cabrera pushed a slow roller past Pedroia and into right center that scored Posada from second with the first run of the game and who was up next but the hairless wonder, Judas Demon.

A wild pitch by Beckett moved both runners into scoring position, and Demon battled Becks for seven pitches before squirting a single to left that scored both runners, and once again the little cocksucker had succeeded in twisting the dagger he stuck in the Nation's heart a little bit further.

Saddled with a 3-0 lead the Rocket turned on the wayback machine and pretended it was 2003 all over again, when he had a 17-9 record, a 98-mph heater, and pitching as if the playoff hopes of his team were riding on his shoulders.

Mind you this was definitely not vintage Rocket, as the five walks and 91 mph fastball can attest to, but the desire and competitive fire was still alive and kicking inside the battered 45-year-old body, and it was on full display for much of the night.

While the Stanks pecked at Beckett by putting batters on base in every inning (the only time he had a 1-2-3 inning was when Rodriguez grounded into a double play in the fifth), he somehow managed to evade further run damage; trouble was, Clemens' bend-but-don't-break gameplan was working as well.

Boston's fortunes finally changed when David Ortiz, needing to take up the slack with Manny out of the lineup, blasted a 1-0 pitch from Clemens in the sixth high and deep into the New York night, ultimately landing a few rows up in the third deck, putting an emphatic end to the no hitter and the shutout with one swing of the bat.

The opportunity was there to get tie the game up when one out later Youk (1-3, R, 2BI) walked and Drew singled, but Clemens got Varitek to ground harmlessly to second, ending his evening and what looked like any chance of Boston getting back in this game.

Beckett pulled another Houdini act in the bottom of the inning when he allowed three hits, including New York's fourth infield single of the game, yet got out of the inning unscathed when he beat Demon to the bag on a slow roller to Youk, a play he failed to make just two innings earlier.

Poetically, Tito then channeled Grady Little when he let his struggling ace come out for the seventh, a move he had to regret when Rodriguez reached down for a slider in the dirt and popped it over the wall in left for his 44th longball of the season and what would turn out to be a very important run.

As Rodriguez (2-4, R, BI) took his curtain call Francona removed Beckett, and even though Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin finished the inning, after Youk jacked a two-run homer to left off Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth the damage A Rod's homer had done became painfully more apparent.

When the embattled Farnsworth walked Tek one out later, and with coddled phenom Joba Chamberlain unavailable to pitch tonight, Joe Torre called on his weathered closer, Mariano Rivera, to get the rare four-out save.

Of course he did, retiring all four batters on harmless infield grounders, including Pedroia to A Rod to end the game with Big Papi praying he would get a shot to go retro himself and tie the game with a titanic ninth inning blast.

But alas this was the Stankees nights to relive the past, as Beckett crumbled on the site of his greatest glory in the face of his greatest idol, Demon continued to tear into his old team like Survivorman on a squirrel, and Roidger Clemens showed that eleven years after his initial departure, he's still creating moments for Red Sox fans to remember.

The bastard's just making sure they all suck.

NOTES:

--Injury to insult: Manny's injury could keep him out of the lineup for possibly a week or more, he was quoted as saying today; Kielty's doesn't seem as serious but he could be out a few games. Luckily the rosters expand on Saturday.

--Silent bats: after mashing 52 hits and 46 runs in four games in Chicago, Boston batters have mustered just 11 hits and six runs in two games here, including a measly four base knocks tonight

--Star gazing: the game was so unwatchable for a while that ESPN entertained viewers with the always fun 'spot the celebrity' game. Some of the luminaries on hand included Paul McCartney, Lorne Michaels & Alec Baldwin, who must have been shooting an episode of 30 Rock; Penny Marshall; Billy Crystal (Stanks this week, huh Billy?) and John Madden.

I know, it was that bad.

QUOTES:

--"Stupid pitch, stupid spot." --Beckett on the pitch ARod hit out

--"I wasn't facing him. My guys were facing him."--Beckett on the matchup with
Clemens

--"Everything's in our grasp, the wild card and the division."--Farnsworth, hopefully providing bullpen material for Schill & the Sox tomorrow

RECORD: 80-53
AL EAST: Up 6 on NYY
STREAK: L-2
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Thu @ NYY 105