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Game story: Damon the difference in 5-3 Yankee win.

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

NEW YORK -- Embarrassed by their blowout loss the night before in Detroit and forced to contemplate the prospect of settling for the wild-card, the New York Yankees bought themselves more time – if nothing else – in the chase for first place in the American League East on Tuesday night.

Johnny Damon, whose last home run here in a Red Sox uniform spelled the beginning of the end for the 2004 Yankees, kept his team’s fleeting hopes alive with a two-run homer in the seventh off Daisuke Matsuzaka, handing the desperate Yanks a 5-3 decision over the Red Sox.

''We had a tough day yesterday,’’ said Damon, ''so this is a good way to kick off a homestand. Granted, we’re still back of the Red Sox, but we need to worry about ourselves and win ballgames and that’s exactly what our club went out and did today.''

The Red Sox saw their four-game winning streak stopped in its tracks, while the Yankees sliced a game off the Red Sox’ lead in the American League East, which now stands at seven games. It was New York’s fourth win in the last five meetings between the two.

''We’re still approaching things the way we need to,'' said Jason Varitek, whose solo homer in the top of the seventh tied things at 3-3 before Damon helped the Yankees regain the lead. ''The only thing we’re worried about is playing good baseball.''

The Sox’ offensive support of Matsuzaka has been an issue for much of the season, with the team limited to two runs or fewer in 12 of his previous 16 starts. But another ominous trend – the pitcher’s own inability to protect leads or preserve ties – surfaced again last night.

He surrendered a 1-0 lead in Tampa Bay last Wednesday in a 2-1 loss, then last night twice re-gifted the lead after the Sox had come from behind to tie the score.

''I think all responsibility for our losses belong to me,'' said Matsuzaka, who lost his fourth straight start to drop to 13-11.

Matsuzaka attempted to ride a fastball in on Damon with pinch-runner Wilson Betemit on second, but didn’t get it far enough in and Damon pulled it down the line to the inviting right-field porch.

''He didn’t locate it,'' acknowledged Francona of the offending pitch.

Down by two with two innings to go, the Sox got their first look at Yankee phenom Joba Chamberlain, who allowed a leadoff walk to Kevin Youkilis and a two-out single to Mike Lowell before overpowering J.D. Drew for third out.

Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth for the save.

The Sox never led and spent the game playing from behind, a reversal of the season-long chase in the standings.

Trailing 2-0 early, the Sox began their climb back with a leadoff opposite-field homer from Manny Ramirez, giving him at least 20 home runs for 13 consecutive seasons.

The Sox pulled even in the third when Julio Lugo shot a triple into the left-center gap to open the inning, then trotted home when David Ortiz launched a sacrifice fly to deep left.

In the fourth through the sixth innings, the Sox put the leadoff man on twice and got a one-out single once, but failed to advance any of the runners to second – much less home.
More times than not, Matsuzaka has an inning in which he struggles with his command in his strarts, and last night, it came right away.

Damon has led with a single to center and was joined on base one out later by Bobby Abreu, who drew a walk. Matsuzaka then buried a pitch into the small of Alex Rodriguez’ back, drawing a chorus of boos from the stands and filling the bases.

He got countryman Hideki Matsui to hit into a fielder’s choice as Damon scored. But he failed to limit the damage there, as Jorge Posada laced a double down the left-field line, delivering Abreu.

Matsuzaka retired 12 of the next 13 before Derek Jeter took him out the opposite way, snapping a long homerless streak for the Yankee captain.

Posted by Thom Cahir  at 11:07 PM to McAdam | Permalink | Comments 1

Final: Yankees 5, Red Sox 3

NEW YORK -- Johnny Damon has had a pretty disappointing season for the Yankees -- and, in fact, may request a trade once it's over -- but tonight had to be the highlight of his year.

With the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, Damon -- who lost the starting center-field job to Melby Cabrera and has been fighting for playing time as a left fielder and DH -- dropped a two-run homer over the short porch in right field against his former team, giving New York a 5-3 win over the Red Sox in the first game of a three-game series that the Yankees have to sweep to maintain any reasonable hope of catching Boston in the A.L. East.

They now trail the Sox by seven games in the division race.

The Red Sox never led in the game, but twice came back to tie. After falling behind when the Yankees scored twice against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning, the Sox got a home run from Manny Ramirez in the second inning and a long sacrifice fly by David Ortiz in the third to tie the score at 2-2. Derek Jeter put the Yankees ahead with a solo homer in the fifth, but Jason Varitek tied it with a leadoff home run in the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, Andy Phillips led off with a single to center and was replaced by Wilson Betemit at first base. Betemit was sacrificed to second by Cabrera, and Damon then popped a fly ball down the right-field line that fell into the first row of the right-field bleachers, just over the 314-foot mark, for a two-run homer.

Yankee rookie phenom Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth despite allowing a hit and a walk, and Mariano Rivera closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Posted by Art Martone  at 10:19 PM | Permalink

The Bronx May be Burning...but not with news.

NEW YORK -- A day off, following a day game...presto...not much to report here.

-- The Sox are still being coy about Saturday's start, but it's widely assumed that assignment will go to Clay Buchholz, who will be added to the roster as they expand this weekend. Buchholz will be making his second major league start.

-- J.D. Drew, who snapped a homerless streak Sunday in Chicago, is in right field, a bit of a surprise given the presence of Yankee lefty Andy Pettitte on the mound. Then again, Drew has had great success against Pettitte -- .429 (6-for-14) with two solo homers.

-- Doug Mirabelli is here and is scheduled to take batting practice. He's eligible to come off the DL this weekend and manager Terry Francona said Mirabelli will be activated then. Kevin Cash will probably stay, since rosters will expand and he would have been promoted anyway to give the team the flexibility of a third catcher.

-- SEAN McADAM

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 5:34 PM | Permalink

Tuesday's Red Sox-Yankee lineups

RED SOX
--------------
Dustin Pedroia 2b
Kevin Youkilis 1b
David Ortiz dh
Manny Ramirez lf
Mike Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
Jason Varitek c
Coco Crisp cf
Julio Lugo ss
--
Daisuke Matsuzaka p

YANKEES
-------------
Johnny Damon lf
Derek Jeter ss
Bobby Abreu rf
Alex Rodriguez 3b
Hideki Matsui dh
Jorge Posada c
Robinson Cano 2b
Andy Phillips 1b
Melky Cabrera cf
--
Andy Pettitte p

-- SEAN McADAM

Posted by Art Martone  at 3:55 PM | Permalink

Sox Streakers for August 28

Hot Streaks
-Mike Lowell, team-high nine-game hitting streak, during which he is 16 for 32 (three doubles, a home run, six walks and 12 RBI).
-Kevin Youkilis has played 168 consecutive games at first base without committing an error, just 10 games short of Mike Hegan's American League record, set from 1970 to 1973.
-For New York: In his last five starts, Andy Pettitte is 5-0 with a 2.06 E.R.A.

Cold Streaks
-For New York, Derek Jeter is 0 for his last 12.

Red Sox vs. Andy Pettitte
-Kevin Youkilis, 5 for 9 (.556), 2B, HR, 2 BB
-J.D. Drew, 6 for 14 (.429), 2B, 2 HR, BB
-Manny Ramirez, 29 for 69 (.420), 8 2B, 3 HR, 6 BB
-Jason Varitek, 16 for 46 (.348), 2B, 3B, HR, 4 BB
-David Ortiz, 11 for 34 (.324), 3 2B, HR, 4 BB
-Coco Crisp, 4 for 13 (.308), BB
-Dustin Pedroia, 3 for 10 (.300), 2B
-Mike Lowell, 3 for 11 (.273), 2B, BB
-Julio Lugo, 5 for 19 (.263), 3 BB
-Bobby Kielty, 1 for 5 (.200), 2B
-Eric Hinske, 1 for 7 (.143), 2B, BB
-Alex Cora, 0 for 2
-Pettitte is 14-6 with a 3.29 E.R.A. in 27 career appearances (25 starts) against Boston. This season, he has made five appearances (four starts) against the Red Sox, and has gone 1-1 with a 5.01 E.R.A.

Yankees vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka
-Jason Giambi, 3 for 5 (.600), 2B, BB
-Derek Jeter, 3 for 6 (.500), HR
-Johnny Damon, 2 for 6 (.333), BB
-Jorge Posada, 1 for 3 (.333)
-Alex Rodriguez, 1 for 5 (.200), BB
-Robinson Cano, 1 for 6 (.167)
-Hideki Matsui, 0 for 2, BB
-Melky Cabrera, 0 for 3
-Bobby Abreu, 0 for 6, BB
-Matsuzaka has made two starts against New York this year; he is 2-0 with a 6.92 E.R.A. in those games.

More Stuff
-All-time series: New York 1,081, Boston 889. At Yankee Stadium: New York 582, Boston 398. This season: Boston 7, New York 5.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:56 PM to Projo Sox Streakers | Permalink | Comments 1

Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: What's still at stake in New York

Sean McAdam is on his way to New York for this week's Sox-Yanks series, and he stops on his way to talk to us for the latest edition of projo SoxTalk. Click here to listen to the full audio file. The topics: a role reversal in the old rivalry; the Red Sox motivation the rest of the way; how the Red Sox have kept their division lead; the Yankees' options in the starting rotation; and tonight's Pettitte-Matsuzaka matchup.

Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments.

On the Yankees, apparently chasing the wild card: "The shoe's on the other foot here, I guess, as we get into the final month of the season, because for the last nine years it has been the Yankees finishing first and for most of those nine years the Red Sox finishing second, and getting in as the wild card on three or four different occasions. And now it is reversed, and it looks like the Red Sox are on their way to their first division title since 1995, and the Yankees are going to have to get in as a wild card for the first time since 1997."

Motivators for the Red Sox: "I think that they are mostly motivated by trying to get this thing wrapped up as quickly as possible, and obviously that's going to take a few weeks. ... You remember the last time the Red Sox got into the postseason, in 2005 -- when they actually tied the Yankees but lost out on the tiebreaker and became the wild card -- because they had to work so hard right down to game 162, they didn't have time to get their pitching lined up, and that resulted in Matt Clement getting a game one assignment against he White Sox, and we all know what happened there."

Matsuzaka going tonight: "I think it will be interesting, because he hasn't faced [the Yankees] for a couple of months now. Clearly the Yankees are expert at driving up pitch counts, because they can be so selective and patient at the plate, and this will be a good indication to see if Daisuke has learned to deal with that a little better."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:33 AM to McAdam | Permalink

Baseball Today: Tuesday, August 28

WHERE'S THE PARTY? A week ago, it seemed the next three nights at Yankee Stadium would be rollicking, indeed. Now, as Sean McAdam points out, the three-game Red Sox-Yankees series has lost much of its luster, with the Sox comfortably ahead and the Yankees needing a sweep to maintain as much as a sliver of hope in the A.L. East race. (Even one Boston victory in the next three days will send the Sox home for the weekend with a seven-game lead and 28 to play.) While making the playoffs, and not winning the division, is the paramount goal, the Sox admit breaking the Yankees' 10-year stranglehold on the A.L. East means something to them, especially since they've narrowed the gap between themselves and New York in so many ways since John Henry took over as owner. (Both stories Boston Herald)

ODDS IN THEIR FAVOR: Coolstandings.com reports the Red Sox have a 98.8 percent chance of winning the division and a 99.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. The numbers of Baseball Prospectus are almost identical. Both systems list the Yankees' chances of winning the division as virtually nil (obviously, if the Sox are at 98.8 percent) and their chances of making the playoffs at around 48 percent.

THE GREATEST GAME THERE IS: Baseball Musings' David Pinto marvels at how quickly things change in baseball -- the Yankees, after looking like an unbeatable monolith for weeks, have suddenly morphed back into the do-nothing-right crew that stumbled through much of April and May -- and concludes: ''As much as you watch it, as much as you think you know, teams keep coming up with surprises.'' Which probably heartens the Yankees and their followers, since things could turn again this week.

IT'S NOT ALL BLUE SKIES: The news isn't rosy everywhere in Red Sox Nation. If you read this game story close enough you'll find that Clay Buchholz was shaky for the second straight time as the PawSox lost at Rochester (projo.com), throwing into question the Sox' apparent plans to have him start against Baltimore Saturday night. (Pawsox.com's short game account focuses more on Buchholz' poor performance.) With Julian Tavarez pitching as well as he has his last two times out, it may be the Sox will start him against the Orioles Friday night.

GETTING HIS SEA LEGS: Jon Lester, on the other hand, allowed only four hits and one run over six innings in Portland (sunjournal.com) in a game televised by NESN and remains on track to start Sunday in Boston. Still, he said he wasn't quite satisfied with his performance: ''At times really good and at times back to the old deal with fastball command. I felt good at times mechanically. I felt like I'd figured a couple of things out out there and then a couple batters later I'd just go back to being all over the place.'' The Sun Journal's Kalle Oakes has more.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . . Over the weekend McAdam reported the Sox are haggling with MLB over the 2008 schedule. Specifically, most members of the organization -- though Larry Lucchino is for it -- are against the team opening the season in Japan, as MLB wants. Also, small-market teams are fighting a plan to have virtually every Red Sox-Yankee series played on a weekend, which would maximize exposure on FOX' Saturday Game of the Week and ESPN's Sunday night telecast. (The teams want the Sox and Yanks in their cities on weekends, to maximize attendance.) As it is, four of the six series the teams will play this year are on weekends, including all three in Boston.

THE OLD MAN OF BASEBALL: The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes has a nice feature on Mike Timlin, who's closing in on his 1,000th major-league appearance. His very first appearance? For Toronto against the Red Sox on Opening Day, 1991. (baseball-reference.com) He faced Tom Brunansky (walk), Carlos Quintana (groundout), Tony Pena (lineout), Tim Naehring (groundout), Wade Boggs (walk) and Jody Reed (groundout) in his 1 1/3-inning stint during the Sox' 6-2 win over the Blue Jays.

NO SUPRISES HERE: Considering they went 6-1 last week, it would have been a shocker if the Red Sox weren't still ranked No. 1 in SI.com's Power Rankings. The Yankees, however, slid to fifth.

AND WHY'S THAT? Because the Yankees' week from hell culminated in a 16-0 loss at Detroit last night, with Mike Mussina getting rocked for the third straight outing. (New York Daily News) The calls to remove Mussina from the rotation come from the Daily News' John Harper and the New York Post's Joel Sherman and George King. Sherman answers the obvious question -- who do they have that's better than Mussina? -- by asking who could do worse.

READY TO FIGHT: The Yankees say the three-game series with the Red Sox is still big for them (New York Post) because, even if they don't catch Boston,
there's still the wild card and they only trail Seattle by two games (three in the loss column) in that race. But one of the veterans of the 1978 comeback, Goose Gossage, isn't ready to run up the white flag just yet. (New York Post) The '78 Yanks, he said, ''are living proof that anything can happen.''

THANK YOU, ANGELS: Los Angeles of Anaheim -- yeccch, that name -- made sure the Yanks didn't lose ground in the wild card as John Lackey shut down the Mariners, 6-0. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Seattle played most of the game without iits manager, as John McLaren was ejected by third-base umpire Jerry Meals for arguing a foul-tip call on Ichiro Suzuki in the first inning. (Post-Intelligencer) You'll be seeing the highlights all day today, as McLaren got his money's worth in his animated dressing-down of Meals, who tossed him after McLaren had already gotten back to the dugout. When reporters went to the umpires' room for an explanation, the door was closed in their face and voice from behind it said, ''Have a nice night.''

JUST SICK: Lackey pitched a complete-game shutout for his 16th win despite suffering from strep throat. (Los Angeles Daily News)

CHANGING HIS TUNE: In 2004 Mike Scioscia kicked Jose Guillen off the Angels prior to the playoffs because of his attitude, and Guillen swore eternal enmity toward his former skipper. Now, however, Guillen -- whose Mariners are fighting Scioscia's Angels for the A.L. West title -- is singing the praises of the L.A. of A. manager. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)

PAY ATTENTION, PLEASE: ESPN.com's Jim Caple thinks Angels-Mariners, and not Red Sox-Yankees, is the series to watch this week.

IT'S CATCHING: No, not Lackey's strep throat; rather, problems with umpires. The Mets' David Wright was tossed by C.B. Bucknor in New York's loss at Philadelphia. (New York Daily News)

IS IT JUST ME, OR IS IT C.B.? Pinto noted that almost every game he watches with Bucknor has an argument of some kind in it and wondered if others had noticed. Well, someone has started an online petition to fire Bucknor, calling him ''a disgrace to baseball . . . single handedly the worst umpire in Major League Baseball.'' (www.petitiononline.com/cbbuck/petition.html)

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE . . . The Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen thinks the return of Chase Utley could spark a miracle finish by the Phillies.

PLEASE STAND UP: Are the Diamondbacks contenders or pretenders? The Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley says we're about to find out.

DIFFERING OPINIONS: The Astros fired their manager and general manager yesterday (Houston Chronicle), and SI.com's John Donovan wonders why it took so long. But FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the real problem is owner Drayton McLane (video).

NOTHING TO IT: White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski and hitting coach Greg Walker nearly came to blows in the dugout during Chicago's loss to the Red Sox Sunday, but Pierzynski says they argue all the time and it's no big deal. (Daily Southtown) Walker himself called it ''A.J. being A.J.'' -- where have we heard that before? -- and the White Sox seemed none the worse for wear as they beat the Devil Rays last night. (Chicago Sun-Times)

QUICKLY: Hideki Matsui has an achy knee (New York Post) . . . It certainly appears Scott Proctor, worked harder than a government mule by Joe Torre, is worn out (Los Angeles Times) . . . Terry Pendleton's name is popping up involving the soon-to-be-vacant Kansas City managerial job (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Phillies are interested in Twins right-hander Carlos Silva (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) . . . The Cardinals won't say if they'll exercise their 2008 option on closer Jason Isringhausen (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . To no one's surprise, Gary Sheffield was placed on the DL by the Tigers (Detroit News) . . . The Phillies' Freddy Garcia may need shoulder surgery (Philadelphia Inquirer).

OLD FRIENDS: David Wells says he doesn't look sexy, but he feels sexy. (New York Daily News) The Dodgers might agree after he won his debut with them.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments 1