WP: Beckett (19-6)
LP: Wang (18-7)
HRs: BOS-Hinske (6); NYY-Jeter (10)
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How many times you think this play will be favorited on YouTube by the Nation over the next few years?
SUMMARY
Afer suffering a gut-punch of a loss last night, today the Sox punched back. Boston rode the strong pitching of ML wins leader Josh Beckett, another impressive performance from the offesne, and an old-school catcher-crushing by Eric Hinske to knock off New York and push the division lead back to 5 1/2 games.
#1 STUNNERS (*big game, supersized results)
-Josh Beckett 7IP, 3H, ER, 2BB, 7K in a matchup of Cy Young contenders Beckett came out smelling like a rose, holding the explosive Stankee lineup to just three hits, setting down 12 batters in a row at one point including 5 of 6 by strikeout
-Jacoby Ellsbury 2-2, 2R, 3BI the phenom began the game on the bench but ended it circling the bases with a pair of hits and runs scored, a stolen base, a trio of ribbies, and more fanfare and phone numbers than he can shake a stick at
-Eric Hinske 2-4, 2R, BI, 2B, HR there's a reason I like to call this guy Big Hit Hinske, beacuase although he doesn't hit much, when he does connect it's usually for extra bases. Thrown in the fact that he went all Ronnie Lott on Georgie Posada in the sixth, and you've got the makings of a Dirt Dog for life
-Derek Jeter 2-4, R, BI the Stankee captain continues to blister Boston pitching, hitting .382 against them this year, and his first-inning home run was the fifth of his 10 this season that he has hit against the Sox.
-Big Papi 3-3, 2BI, 2BB, 2B if he's hurtin then don't let him heal. Ortiz continues to tear the cover off the ball, raising his average to .326 and his OBP to a scalding AL-leading .440 with this perfect performance
PAN's FAUNS (*ditto)
-Chien Ming Wang 5.2IP, 9H, 5ER, 3BB, 3K not exactly the effort you were expecting from the Stankee ace and co-leader in wins, but the wanger's sinker wasn't sinking, Boston eleveated the ball and worked the counts, and Chien can say ciao to the Cy Young now
-Judas Demon 0-4, K one day after sparking his club with another four hit game against his former mates, Demon came up empty when his team needed him most. Nice going, dickhead.
-ARod 0-3, 2K one day after recording the game-winning RBI in the NY comeback win, ARod came up empty when his team needed him most. Way to go, dickwad.
-Tek 0-5, 2K, 8LOB I hate to include the captain here, especially in a win, but his 0-5 showing included stranding 8 men on base, seven when he ended three innings, and striking out with a man on in the seventh and to lead off the eighth. Not good.
RECAP
A long time ago a wise coaching legend uttered the saying that the low of losing felt much worse than the high of winning.
In some respects I can see where that would be true, because even though the Sox took care of business today and dispatched with the Stankees in convincing fashion, running their divison lead back to a comfy 5 1/2 games with 13 left to play, I still found myself looking back to last night's epic meltdown and muttering "if only they had hung on to win that game..."
The divison race would be all but over today and those smarmy, smug pinstriped cockroaches would be getting ready to print their Wild Card-embossed ducats instead of hoping for a replay of 1978.
But that's how us diehards have been conditioned to behave with this club, one that teases us more than Hayden Panettiere in a cheerleader uniform yet always keeps us coming back for more.
And today I think I figured out why: because the high experienced when the Sox win, especially a big game against their hated rivals, feels much better than the low of losing, probably because there has been so much losing that it renders these sublime victories all the more enjoyable.
Okay, I'm doing being psuedo-philosophical now--how 'bout that upside down ass-kicking we laid on those losers today!
The game began under typical sunny-yet-chilly September skies but things turned black for the Faithful in a hurry when Dane Cook threw out the first pitch and then Derek Jeter shot Josh Beckett's 10th pitch of the game into the blacked-out seats in center for an early 1-0 New York lead.
And for a brief but bitter moment all you could hear in the entire Park was Stankee lovers cheering over the silence of the sullen Sox fans. I know, it gives me cold chills too.
When Beckett followed that miscue with walks to ARod and Posada, the mood quickly shifted from cautiously optimistic to "why the fuck does this always happen to us, can't we ever catch a fucking break?" in the blink of an eye.
But Becks got Hideki Matsui to ground out to second on the first pitch he saw, and little did we know that would be the last threat New York would mount against the tough-as-leather Boston ace until his final inning of the day.
The Boston batters wasted no time in getting that run right back when Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz singled off Wang in the bottom of the first, and when Mike Lowell ripped a drive off the left field box seats to drive in the tying run, not only did he notch his career-high-tying 105th RBI but he gave the Sox a much needed shot in the arm after Beckett's shaky start.
Both top-flite hurlers settled in and retired a combined 11 out of the next 12 batters before Wang inexplicably walked Ortiz, Lowell and Drew with two outs in the third to load the bases for Jason Varitek.
If you read above you already know what happened--Tek popped out to Robinson Cano at second to end the threat, and for the 357th time this season the sox came up empty in a bases loaded situation.
Ten more batters went down in succession, including a specatacular sequence when Beckett struck out Posada, Matsui and Giambi in the fourth inning, but that string would be broken up by a play that changed the complexion of the game.
Still smarting from the head-hunting exploits on Kevin Youkilis by both Joba Chamberlain and Scott Proctor this season, and nursing a bandage on his forearm for a recent HBP, the last thing anyone on the Boston side wanted to see was Youk get plunked again.
So when wang nailed Youk on the wrist so hard it looked and sounded as if the ball had hit the knob of the bat with one out in the fifth, let's just say the already tight & tense emotions in this series went to a ho...nuva...level.
Youk would have to leave the game and will presumably have to miss some time despite x-rays showing no signs of a break, but that bit of a bummer for Boston would turn out to be a major source of joy for the Nation in the very near future.
Like as soon as Jacoby Ellsbury began stretching at first base to pinch-run for Youk.
The speedster wasted no time doing something that Youk can only dream of--going from first to third on a single by Ortiz--and after Lowell lined out to Jeter at short, Ellsbury coasted home on a clutch two-out RBI single by J.D. Drew to give Boston a lead it would never relinquish.
Yes, you read that right, a clutch two-out hit by J.D. Drew ended up being the game-winning RBI for Boston.
It was that kind of day.
Reinvigorated by the prescense of the magnetic rookie and the resurgence of the previously fossilized Drew, the Sox would drop the hammer on Wang and the Stanks both literally and figuratively in the bottom of the sixth.
Eric Hinske, who started the game in left but ended up at first after Youk left, began the inning with a double off the Monster, and then Coco moved him to third when he lined a single into left center to set up runners at the corners with no outs.
Wang got Julio Lugo to fly out to shallow center field, and after Coco stole second base uncontested, Pedroia (1-5, 2R) bounced a grounder to second that should have scored the run from third base.
Except Cano decided to fire home to try and nail the sluggish Hinske, and although the throw got to Posada in plenty of time, the momentum of Hinske's mass plus his pigskin mentality caused an enormous collision at home plate as Hinske barrelled over the Stankee backstop in a play reminiscent of Pete Rose's crushing Ray Fosse in the 1970 All Star Game in both force of impact and lingering after effects.
As a dazed and confused Posada dragged himself back to battle, Boston made sure there would be no comeback today when Ellsbury singled to left to drive in Coco and pPapi doubled to deep center to plate Pedroia, and when Ellsbury motored all the way around from first, eluded a groggy Posada's tag and scored the Sox fifth run of the game, something told me there would be no repeat of yesterday's collapse.
Proof was provided in the top of the seventh when Beckett ran into his first spot of trouble since the first when he "accidently" pegged Giambi with a pitch with two outs in the inning, prompting a warning from both benches and a wry smile from Joe Torre, and then Cano reached on a bloop single to center that gave New york runners at first and third with one last hope to salvage another comeback.
But Beckett got Melky Cabrera to strike out on four pitches, and soon after that the game would get out of hand, in a good way.
Boston put it away in the seventh when four New York relievers combined to allow four runs on two hits and four walks, the highlight being a two-run single by Ellsbury (this guy can do no wrong right now) that ran the score to 8-1 to officially put the game out of reach.
Fittingly Hinske would close out the scoring when he blasted a solo homer off someone named Scott Ohlendohf with one out in the ninth, and by the time Bryan Corey got the Ball Stealer to ground into a double play to end the affair, the concentration of the Nation turned to Sunday night, as a decision had to be made as to which event was going to garner full screen statues on the PIP, Rocket/Schilling or Brady/Tomlinson.
Seems like the Sox provided an answer for that dilemma tonight.
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