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April 27, 2007
The Yankee party line -- at least as put forth by their fans and media sympathizers -- is that last weekend's Red Sox sweep at Fenway Park was meaningless. The Yanks' starting rotation was depleted by injuries and many of their regulars were sidelined. Wait 'til we're healthy, they all said.
Interesting to see what they'll be saying tomorrow.
With their everyday lineup in place and their best starter, Andy Pettitte, on the mound, the Yankees seemed poised to snap their six-game losing streak tonight at Yankee Stadium. Instead, Pettitte was gone by the sixth inning, Mariano Rivera was again routed by the Red Sox in the late innings, and Boston coasted to an 11-4 victory tonight, handing New York its seventh straight loss.
The fans and sympathizers were also crowing about how the Yanks weren't shut down by Daisuke Matsuzaka last weekend and that he wasn't as good as advertised. They may be saying the same thing again; after all, he almost imploded in a four-walk, three-hit fourth inning.
But when the game was in the books, Matsuzaka had his second win in five days against the Yankees. Unlike all the Yankee pitchers, he was at his best when he got the lead; after falling behind 4-2, he retired the final seven batters in faced and turned the game over to his bullpen in the seventh with a 6-4 lead.
Leading 2-0, Matsuzaka opened the fourth by walking three consecutive batters -- Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui -- loading the bases with no out. Jorge Posada blooped a single to left field with no out, and Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter delivered two-out RBI singles, putting the Yankees in front, 4-2.
It had appeared Matsuzaka might escape with minimal damage when, after Posada's single, Robinson Cano struck out swinging for the first out and Doug Mientkiewicz popped out for the second out. But Damon took a defensive half-swing on a 3-and-2 pitch and dropped a soft liner into right field in front of a charging J.D. Drew, scoring two runs and making the score 3-2.
Derek Jeter followed with a ground single to right, driving in Posada and making it 4-2.
Thankfully for Matsuzaka and the Red Sox, the next batter was the struggling Bobby Abreu. He flied out to Manny Ramirez in left field on a 2-and-0 pitch, ending the inning. After making that out, Abreu was 1-for-his-last-21.
Matsuzaka threw 41 pitches in the torturous 35-minute half-inning.
The Sox came right back in the top of the fifth against Pettitte, though. Julio Lugo walked with one out and stole second. He moved to third on a single to left by Kevin Youkilis and scored on a single to center by David Ortiz. Ramirez then walked, loading the bases.
Drew struck out for the second out, but Lowell walked on five pitches, tying the score at 4-4. Then, with Jason Varitek batting, a pitch by Pettitte in the dirt got past Posada, allowing Ortiz to score with the go-ahead run.
Varitek eventually walked, re-loading the bases, and manager Joe Torre lifted Pettitte in favor of Scott Proctor. Proctor retired Coco Crisp on a fly to center for the final out.
Matsuzaka had had a similarly rough inning recently in Toronto, walking three batters and allowing two runs in a 2-1 loss, but he had bounced back in that game with three final, dominant innings. And, similarly, he retired the side in order in both the fifth and sixth innings after his teammates had given him the lead.
The Red Sox increased their lead to 6-4 when Lugo homered over the left-field fence with one out in the top of the sixth.
Matsuzaka was lifted after the sixth, having thrown a season-high 117 pitches. He allowed five hits and four runs in his six innings, with four walks and seven strikeouts.
He was replaced by Mike Timlin, who held the Yankees scoreless despite a one-out single by Jeter.
The Sox added on against the fourth Yankee pitcher of the night, Jose Vizcaino, in the top of the eighth on back-to-back, one-out doubles by Dustin Pedroia and Lugo (third hit of the night), making the score 7-4.
Hideki Okajima came on in the bottom of the eighth. He allowed a single by Giambi, then bobbled a potential double-play grounder back to the box by Matsui. He was able to get the out at first, as Giambi took second. Posada struck out on a sharp breaking pitch for the second out, and Cano flied out to end the inning.
The Yankees turned to Rivera in the ninth and he was just as ineffective as he was last Friday night, when he blew a 6-3 lead as the Red Sox rallied to win the opener of the three-game weekend series. He was touched for three consecutive one-out singles, by Lowell and Varitek and Crisp, as the Sox added another run and made it 8-4, then walked Pedroia to load the bases. He was lifted after his 21-pitch performance in favor of lefty specialist Mike Myers, who was brought in even though the Sox had a right-handed hitter, Lugo, at the plate.
Myers walked Lugo, making it 9-4. Another run scored on an infielder grounder by Youkilis, giving the Sox a 10-4 lead. Ortiz, whom Myers was acquired to retire, singled to left, driving in another run, making it 11-4. The few remaining Yankee fans at Yankee Stadium gave a large mock cheer when Myers retired Ramirez on a grounder to short, ending the inning.
Youkilis had blasted a two-run home run to left field in the top of the third, giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. The homer followed a leadoff single to right by Lugo.
The Red Sox put a pair of runners on base in the top of the first against Pettitte (one-out walk to Youkilis, two-out single by Ramirez) but failed to score.
Matsuzaka sandwiched strikeouts of Damon and Abreu around a one-out single by Jeter in the bottom of the first, then retired Rodriguez on a dribbler to third for the final out.
Crisp, returning to the lineup after five games off because of a strained oblique muscle, singled to left with two outs in the second in his first at-bat.
Giambi singled to left leading off the second inning for the Yankees, but Matsuzaka stranded him there by retiring Matsui (fly to center), Posada (liner to center) and Cano (strikeout).
The Yankees made a mini-run at Matsuzaka in the bottom of the third, putting runners on first and second after a one-out walk to Damon and an error by Lugo on a grounder by Jeter. But Abreu grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 11:05 PM | Permalink
Kurt from Boca | April 28, 2007 6:30 AM link
Great game hughlights! I did not see the game, but I like your writing style and the info you provide.
It appears the Red Sox are the more dominant team by a good measure. The Yankees simply have no pitching. Watch for Steinbrenner to convince Clemens to come back around the All-Star break. By then, if the Red Sox are more than 10 games ahead and still sailing with the pitching staff, then Clemens may decline. What would be the use? His 15 starts will not overcome a 10+ game lead. It's up to the Sox to just keep it going. I think 95 wins takes the division.