No 'Sweep II', but 5 out of 6 ain't bad

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)

Look closely, Alex; you should be able to see a starting job in the near future

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:

1. 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


2. 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


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:

1. 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


2. 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


3. 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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Don't let the score fool ya- this one was close

Sox 6, Baltimore 1

WP: Schilling (3-1)
LP: Cabrera (1-2)
HRs: BOS- Cora (1); BAL-Tejada (2)

Alex Cora's 3rd inning blast put him just 723 homers away from Hank Aaron; watch out Barry!

SUMMARY:
After all the offensive fireworks of the past week this one was a good old fashioned 1-1 pitcher's duel through 6 innings.

But when the Sox chased Oriole starter Daniel Cabrera from the game in the 7th, Boston broke the game open with 5 runs in the final 3 innings to turn a nail biter into a rout.

HERO: Schilling 7IP, 5H, 1R, 2BB, 3K, HR
On a night the Sox needed a dominant performance from its starter to stem a 2-game losing streak, it got one from the ace of the staff.

Schill rebounded from a shaky start against New York to shut down the explosive Orioles lineup, allowing just the 1 run while throwing only 90 pitches in seven strong innings of work.

GOAT(s): Oriole's 1st 2 batters
Leadoff man Brian Roberts and super soph Nick Markakis combined to go 0-8 with 2 Ks and 4 LOB; not exactly the way to set the table for the heart of the order.

RECAP:
This game was just what the doctor ordered after that depressing 2-game against the Jays. Boston got a quality start and then some from Curt Schilling, offense from sources both likely (Papi & Manny went 3-7 with 2 runs and 3 RBI) and not (Cora's homer and 3 hits from a slumping Youk) and blew open a close game late to register a much-needed victory.

Don't be fooled by the 5-run win, though- as the old saying goes, the game was much closer than the score indicated. Schill and the electric-but-erratic Daniel Cabrera (6.2IP, 5H, 3ER, 5BB, 5K, WP, HR) were locked in a classic pitcher's duel, both of them allowing just a solo shot-Cora's in the 3rd and Miguel Tejada's in the 6th- for the only scoring in the game thru six innings.

As has been their pattern of late, Boston got men on base early on yet could not drive them home; the Sox left 6 men on in the first six innings, including 2 in the 3rd & 6th, and stranded an exasperating 21 men in the game.

Luckily those missed opportunities didn't come back to haunt them as Boston finally got to Cabrera in the 7th and then feasted on the Baltimore bully, another of the team's fortes of late. Ironically it was Willy Mo Pena, subbing for the still-injured Coco, who got the winning rally started. I say ironically because WMP had been striking out more lately than Anthony Micheal Hall in 16 Candles. But this time he patiently drew a walk, and after Cora sacrificed him over to second, Youk worked an 0-2 count into a walk and Cabrera's night was over.

Jamie Walker came on to face Big Papi, and Ortiz calmly went the opposite way and blooped a double into leftfield, scoring Pena and giving Boston the lead for good, 2-1. Just for shits and giggles Manny added and RBI single off Chad Bradford and after J.D. Drew walked (0-2, 3BBs), Bradford walked Lowell to force in Papi and push the score to 4-1.

The way Schill was pitching you knew that would be enough and it was. The veteran had complete command of all his pitches tonight and was extremely efficient in dispersing them; after averaging 103 pitches in his last three starts he needed just 90 to complete his 8 innings of work.

Emerging cult hero Hideki Okijima came on in the 8th and struck out two of the three batters he faced, including Aubrey Huff looking at a nasty yakker to end the inning. Huff complained to home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, to no avail, and Okijima's breaker is so nasty I've decided to give it a name: I thought The Oki-Doke would be an appropriate moniker.

Boston piled two more runs onto the lead in the 9th when Youk and Ortiz singled and Manny hit a deep blast to left center that centerfielder Corey Patterson tracked down and made a spectacular leaping catch at the wall to rob Manny of extra bases, then Black Donnelly got a 1-2-3 9th to finish it off.

All in all it was a great way to get back on the winning track, and with Josh Beckett going tomorrow night the chances are good that Boston could have a modest 20game winning streak heading into the Bronx.

NOTES:

-After slamming New York pitching for three games, some of the Boston hitters are re-entering the freeze zone:

• Cap'n Tek is in the midst of a horrid 1-7 stretch with 6 Ks, and although he singled and walked tonight, he left 5 men on base and made an error for the 2nd game in a row (catcher's int.)


• Julio Lugo may have had 2 hits last night to halt a 2-23 skid, but with his 0-5 tonight he is now mired in a deep 4-31 slump which has dropped his average from .304 to .247. Ouch.


• Willy Mo did draw a walk and scored the go-ahead run tonight, but he also struck out three more times; the beefy centerfielder is now in a 1-15 skid in the last five games with an astounding 10 of the outs coming on strikeouts

-On the other end of the spectrum, Cora continues to hit the cover off the ball: in the last six games he's played in, he is 7-15 with a 2B, 3B, HR, 3 runs scored and 4 RBI. I smell the beginning of the end of the Pedroia Era, although Dusty has been coming alive of late.

-Coco is still suffering from that oblique strain but is expected to be back in the lineup in the next day or 2

-Cabrera fell to 1-7 vs. the Sox in his young career

-Manny, WMP & Tek combined to leave 13 men on base

-Okijima recorded his 3rd "HOLD" and saw his ERA drop to a minuscule 0.93; he has struck out 12 batters in 9.2 inn ings of work and he hasn't allowed a run since serving up a homerun to Kansas City's John Buck on his first pitch in the major leagues

QUOTES:

-"This was a good win. We lost two in a row, and when you are in a rotation like this something you do not expect to see are losing streaks." - Schill on the recent stretch of poor starts

RECORD: 13-7

AL EAST: UP 2 1/2 on BAL

UP NEXT: Thu @ BAL 7P

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Sox salvage series thanks to Manny & Cora

Sox 5, Toronto 3

WP: Timlin (1-0)
LP: Marcum (1-1)
SV: Papelbon (4)
HRs: BOS-Manny (1); TOR-Rios (3), F. Thomas (2)
Sox box

This is the brand of MannyBeingManny Red Sox Nation likes to see

SUMMARY:
The Sox caught a break on getwaway day in Toronto when Blue Jay skipper John Gibbons mysteriously pulled Roy Halladay, who was cruising with a 3-1 lead, with one on & one out in the 8th inning.

One out and two pitchers later Manny Ramirez blasted his first home run of 2007 to tie the game, and the next inning Alex Cora tripled in pinch runner Julio Lugo to give Boston a 4-3 lead. The Sox would tack on an insurance run and hang on for the win.

HERO: Alex Cora 2-4, 3B, 1R, 1 huge RBI
Not only did the seldom-used utility player knock in the winning run in the 9th inning on an opposite-field triple, he made the defensive play of the game an inning earlier as well.

With men at 1st & 3rd and one out in the bottom of the 8th, Cora snagged a wild toss to second base from Mike Timlin, vaulted over a sliding Lyle Overbay and threw a dart to first base to complete the double play and help the Sox escape from a potential game-losing situation.

GOAT: Jays mgr. John Gibbons
Prepare to be 2nd, 3rd, & 4th guessed for days, Gibby; why would you take out your ace pitcher, who had been dominating the Sox hitters all day long, with one out and one on in the 8th inning when he had only thrown 95 pitches? I mean Halladay had just thrown a 10-inning complete game in his last start, in which he only threw 107 pitches.

Is it any wonder that last year this bozo had one player write inflammatory sayings on a chalk board in order to get traded away from this team and another whom he attempted to fight in the dugout tunnel during a game? What a classless, clueless clown.

KEY MOMENT: 1 on, 2 out, top of the 8th
With Gibbons pulling more switches than a gangbanger in a lowrider and slumping Manny at the plate it looked like the Sox were going to go down without a whimper in this one.

But Gibbons made one move too many, and as soon as he brought in Shaun Marcum to face ManRam, the GrillMaster deposited the ball in the rightfield stands for a game-tying, monkey-lifting homerun that made John Gibbons look like the dumbest man in Canada.

RECAP:
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: Julian Tavarez is NEVER going to win a pitcher's duel with Roy Halladay. Got me?

That being said, the guy can get some fortuitous breaks, a couple or three clutch plays and one boneheaded managerial move and worm his way out of losing to the former Cy Young winner.

How do I know this? Because that's exactly what I saw happen today at Rogers Centre. For 5 1/2 innings Tavarez & Halladay played a game of hardball chicken, with both of them blinking just once each: Doc when he allowed a run on a walk, single & sac fly in the 2nd, and Julie when he returned the favor and gave up a leadoff homerun to Frank Thomas in the bottom of the inning.

And it stayed that way for the next few frames; the aged, veteran journeyman who never met a lead he didn't want to blow squaring off against the in-his-prime, lifelong Jay who makes his hay defeating scrubs like Tavarez in close games like these.

It was just a question of when Julie would blink again, it didn't take long to find out. RSN's fears were confirmed in the bottom of the 6th when the Jays touched Tavarez (5IP, 6H, 3ER, 0BB, 4Ks, 2HRs) for a pair of runs, the first on a blast by nemesis Alex Rios and the next on a Vernon Wells double that followed Adam Lind's single.

Just like that a tight, tied contest was "blown open" with the way Halladay was pitching, and it didn't look good for the Bosox to head into the New York series on a winning streak. But quicker than you can say "how do I manage a pitching staff?", Gibbons decided to send the Sox an early Christmas present, lifting Halladay in the 8th inning despite the low pitch total and his absolute domination up to that point.

To say Boston took advantage of the opportunity handed to them would be a major understatement. You could almost feel the weight being lifted of the Sox shoulders and small smiles creeping onto the Boston batter's faces knowing they would get a chance to mount a comeback against somebody other than one of the best pitchers in the major leagues.

The beginning of the end started innocently enough, with Coco Crisp (2-4, R, RBI) beating out his second bunt single of the game to lead off the 8th. Youk (1-5) quickly popped out to short, and it looked as if it would be up to Boston's best batters to get the better of Toronto's best pitcher if the Sox were going to pull this one out. Halladay (7.1IP, 6H, 2ER, 3BB, 2Ks) was able to induce Papi (1-3) into striking out, but that's when Gibbons made the move to the pen and 33,000+ at SkyDome stared, moths agape.

The rest, as they say, is history. Manny crushed a 2-1 offering from Marcum into the stale, Molson-scented dome air to tie the game, and after Cora's circus play saved a run in the bottom of the 8th, he tripled in the winning run in the top of the 9th to cap a terrific afternoon for himself and the Sox. Papelbon sealed the deal when he struck out two of the three batters he faced in the 9th, and the Sox packed up and headed home, ready to take on the Evil Empire for the first time this season.

NOTES:

-Tito tinkered with the lineup again, expected with a day game after a night game, and once again he saw mixed results:

• Lugo got the day off so Coco moved to back to the leadoff spot and responded with 2 bunt hits, a run and a run batted in.
• Youk played 3rd base and moved back up to the two-hole; he had 1 hit in 5 trips and left 3 runners on base
• Hinske got the start at first base and despite going 0-2 he knocked in the first run with a sac fly and also drew a walk
• We know what Cora did

- Cap'n Tek had another terrible day at the plate, going 0-4 and leaving 5 men on base to drop his average to a minuscule .189

-Not to be outdone at the bottom of the stats sheet, Dustin Pedroia pulled an o-fer-4 as well to see his average plummet to .167, same as Coco's

-Papelbon appeared on consecutive days for the first time this season and showed no ill effects; although he did allow a walk and struggled a bit with his control, he still fanned two batters, didn't allow a hit and has not allowed a run yet this season (shades of 2006)

-J.D. Drew had a single and two walks and has reached base in all 14 games this season

-The three relievers who followed Tavarez, Pineiro, Romero and Timlin, didn't exactly post stellar numbers- 3 2/3, 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 K -but managed to come through the fires without allowing a run

-Manny's homer was # 471 of his career, and if it gets him cranked up for the season we can expect to see #500 by late August

-Alex Rios absolutely owns Julian Tavarez; after his 2-3 showing against Gascan today, Rios is a stunning 7-9 with a double, triple, homer, walk, run, and rbi against him. Yikes!

QUOTES:

-"The location was terrible. I think my little sister probably could have hit it just as far, if not further."-Marcum on the gopherball he served up to Manny

RECORD: 9-5

AL EAST: Up 1 on NY

UP NEXT: Fri. vs. Stankees, 7PM ESPN

Pettitte vs. Schilling

Let's get it ON!

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