Surprise, surprise: cold Stanks knock off hot Sox

New York 5, Sox 3
WP: Pettitte (12-7)
LP: Matsuzaka (13-11)
SV: Rivera (21)
HRs: BOS-Varitek (12), Manny (20); NYY- Jeter (9), Demon (9)

SUMMARY
To the surprise of absolutely no one on either side of this storied rivalry, the Stankees, coming off their worst road shutout loss in franchise history, defeated the Red Sox, who were coming off an historic 4-game sweep of the White Sox.

Non-surprise #2: Former Sox idiot Judas Demon hit the game-winning homer.

#1 STUNNER Demon 2-4, 2R, 2BI, HR
As much as it pains me to bestow the shaved rat with this honor, the guy had a whale of a game; he played excellent defense in left field, scored the first run of the game after a leadoff single, and then provided the winning margin with a 2-run homer of Daisuke Matsuzaka in the 7th.

PAN's FAUN Matsuzaka 6.1IP, 6H, 5ER, 3BB, 2K, 2HR
The backsliding rookie lost his third straight start when he twice allowed New York to score after Boston clawed back to tie the game. He's now surrendered 20 homers on the season and it appears that the heavy US workload might be getting to the Japanese hurler.

RECAP
This is what we get for feeling so giddy.

Riding high on the strength of that Chitown beatdown and a cushy 8-game division lead, the Sox strolled into the Bronx with all the confidence of Brad Pitt on the Dating Game, secure in the knowledge that even a sweep by New York would still leave them in solid shape to win the AL East.

And then the game began.

Before most of the late-arriving Stadium crowd had finished swilling its pregame meal, the Stanks had put two runs on the board, the chants of Boston sucks were already in full throat, and Nation members were mumbling "all we have to do is win one of these games and we'll be alright."

The trouble is, whenever these two meet with anything on the line (with the exception of 2004), Boston shrivels up quicker than George Costanza at an icy lake, and no matter who's in first or how poorly or well the other team is playing, a large percentage of people involved on both sides know that somehow, some way the Stanks are going to get over on the Sox again.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not whining or complaining or asking fans of any other lesser teams to feel sorry for us, but merely stating an obvious fact: everyone in the Nation knew, in the back of their minds, that Boston was not going to sweep this series, and in fact might get swept themselves.

But the benefit of jumping out to that ginormous division lead early in the year gave us the luxury of not having to worry too much about it (for a change.)

Lose three here, they're still up five, move on and continue the march to the division title like nothing's happened.

And I was prepared to handle it that way.

In fact during the 6th inning, with Boston trailing 3-2 and looking as lively as one of Mike Vick's pets, I thought to myself, "even if they lose this game it's no so bad, it's not a horrible painful loss, just another loss in a season full of them."

And then, wouldn't ya know, it got painful.

Matsuzaka started the night by loading the bases in the first inning on a single by Demon, a one-out walk to Bobby Abreu and then plunking A Rod with his first pitch he threw him.

Hideki Matsui then hit a hard grounder to second to nab A-Rod, but Demon crossed the plate with the first run just minutes into the game, and Jorgie Posada followed with a double to left that plated Abreu with the second run before Robinson Cano launched a fly ball to deep center to end the frame.

Manny Ramirez (2-3, R, BI) would slice that lead in half when he led off the second inning with an opposite field homer off Andy Pettitte, his 20th of the season and 52nd against New York in his career, but his night would come to an unexpected early conclusion just a few innings later.

After Dice-K tossed a 1-2-3 third inning, Boston tied the game in the top of the third when Julio Lugo led off with a triple to the wall in left center, then came home on a sac fly by David Ortiz (0-3, BI) two batters later.

Handed a new lease on the game Matsuzaka, who was behind hitters all evening and did not look sharp despite retiring 12 of 13 batters at one point, could not hold the Stanks, who had lost 5 of 7 on its last road trip including 3 of 4 in Detroit, at bay.

In the fifth Dice retired the first two batters before Derek Jeter ripped an opposite field homer of his own, his first longball in 87 at bats and second of his nine this year off Matsuzaka, and the momentum had swung back to New York's favor with the 3-2 lead.

That's when I said to myself "hey, it's been a good game, nothing too horrible to bemoan, if it ends like this I'm okay with it."

Unfortunately it was about to get much, much worse.

Ramirez led off the sixth with a solid single off the pitchers mound, but as he left the box he grimaced and briefly grabbed at his side, then trotted to first. J.D. Drew (0-4, 2K), who had a horrid evening, ended the frame with a double play, and Manny came out to the field for the bottom of the inning.

Dice-K recorded two quick outs before Posada lofted a soft fly ball to left, and as Manny gingerly jogged in to retrieve the ball it casually slipped under his glove as Posada took second on the left fielder's error.

Another incident of Manny Being Manny?

Hardly.

Matsuzaka got Cano to strike out to end the inning, and when Jason Varitek, a.k.a Captain Clutch, lifted a solo shot that barely eluded Demon's mistimed leap and landed in the first row of seats in the left field stands, it seemed as if things were looking up for the Boston boys.

I repeat, hardly.

When Boston took the field for the bottom of the seventh, Bobby Kielty had replaced Manny in left. It appears that the "minor" back spasms that plagued Ramirez in Chitown flared up again, and he had to be removed from the game.

Gulp.

It was as if a karmic shift had occurred on the club, and just to confirm this eerie, all-too-familiar feeling, Andy Phillips led off with a single to left and after he was replaced by pinch runner Wilson Betemit, Melky Cabrera sacrificed him over to second and the wheels were in motion for an awful ending to this entertaining game.

One pitch later the wheel spun like a friggin top as Demon placed a blast just fair and just over the fence in right for a soul-crushing, crowd-erupting, in-your-shaved face 2-run homer that earned him a curtain call from the suddenly ignited crowd and sent millions of heads into millions of pairs of hands all across the Nation.

Why oh why did it have to be him who did us in -AGAIN!?

Pettitte (7IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 6K) was removed for rookie sensation set up man Joba Chamberlain to start the eighth, and although the beefy flamethrower allowed a pair of baserunners on a walk and a single, he also blew away Eric Hinske, who had to pinch hit for Kielty as he suffered a back injury as well, on three pitches, then froze Drew on a wicked breaker after blazing a 99 mph heater past him on two other pitches.

From there it was all over but the crying as Mariano Fossil Rivera retired all three batters in the ninth including two strikeouts, and a game that began with such high hopes ended in a depressing, injury-plagued loss that gave the Stankees some much-needed hope in the race for the playoffs.

So ends another chapter in Red Sox/Stankees lore, one in which Boston's heralded rookie hurler could not come up big when we needed him to but New York's did, two of Boston's players were lost with injuries that could prove costly, and a player who used to be a beloved hero but is now a reviled zero caused more heartache and pain for a Nation that has already seen its fair share.

We can only pray that Josh Beckett can best Roidger Clemens on national TV tomorrow night, or else this seemingly insurmountable lead could suddenly appear very slim.

And the chants of 1978 & 2006 will be ringing in our ears until the teams meet again next month in Fenway.