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Game Story: Red Sox regroup, thump Yanks, 10-1

BOSTON — When David Ortiz woke up yesterday morning, he didn’t think he was going to be able to play.

The Red Sox slugger said he sprained his knee when he slid into home plate during Friday night’s loss to the New York Yankees in Game 1 of this three-game set.

Yesterday’s game was crucial for Boston to keep its lead in the A.L. East standings secure, so when Ortiz arrived at Fenway Park, the competitive monster inside him woke up.

“Once you get here, everything totally changes mentally,” he said. “There’s no way you can [sit] out…. We have guys stepping forward and doing different things, and that’s what you want to see in this case.”

He wasn’t alone.

Every player in the Red Sox clubhouse knew how devastating Friday’s defeat was or could have been if New York was able to carry that momentum, but Boston wasn’t about to let that happen, even though everyone at this time of the season is bruised and banged up. The players know these games mean too much for anyone to sit back and take a day or an at-bat off.

As a result, the Red Sox regrouped and staged an offensive barrage en route to a 10-1 victory over the Yankees, and increase their lead again to 5½ games. Boston starter Josh Beckett continued his Cy Young-worthy dominance as the right-hander improved to 19-6 this season. He worked seven solid innings and allowed just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts.

Looking at the final-game statistics doesn’t tell the complete story of this one. There was so much more than hits, runs and errors. Boston and New York provided an all-out, down-and-dirty September game worthy of postseason accolades.

There were collisions at home plate. Rookies playing like veterans. And when it was over, there were plenty of ice packs to go around.

“Everybody knows that when we’re playing the Yankees it’s a lot more intense than any other game, no matter what,” said Red Sox utility man Eric Hinske, who was part of a home-plate collision with Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. “So when you come to the yard, you better be ready to play. If you’re not, the fans will let you know it right away. If you can’t get up for a Red Sox-Yankees game, you’ve got something wrong with you. The electricity in the stadium, and everything else — it’s awesome to be a part of. It was fun to be on the field today.”

After the game, Red Sox captain Jason Varitek stood at his locker wrapped in ice almost from head to toe. He’s sore. Everyone’s sore. Everyone is playing through it.

“Your season is too long not to ever be banged up,” Varitek said. “It’s the nature of the beast for what we do. You have to try to stay mentally strong and focus on the little things.”

Varitek said he felt that the club was feels this club is focused right now.

“Especially with our attitude to bounce back after a difficult loss (Friday) night, it shows a lot,” he said.

Boston and New York were tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning. That’s when the often-booed, but streaking J.D. Drew provided a huge RBI-single that proved to be the game-winning run. The Red Sox piled it on from there, scoring three in the sixth, four in the seventh and one more in the eighth eight for a 10-1 victory.

Now that the series is even at a game apiece, tonight’s finale is sure to be could be a classic. The Sox send Curt Schilling to the mound, while Roger Clemens gets the nod for the Yankees.

“It’s not over, yet,” Ortiz said. “We have a lot of games left. You saw what happened (Friday) night, they caught us sleeping. They can turn things around in a heartbeat.”

--JOE McDONALD

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 10:28 PM to McDonald | Permalink

Warning...Warning!!

After Jason Giambi was plunked by Josh Beckett with two out in the seventh, home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom warned both benches.
Giambi was the second hit batsman of the afternoon. Kevin Youkilis was hit in the right wrist in the fifth inning.
In Friday's game, Daisuke Matsuzaka got Alex Rodriguez in the leg in the first inning.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 6:25 PM | Permalink

Photo: So far, so good for Beckett

Journal photo/Bob Breidenbach
Josh Beckett pitches in the first inning today at Fenway Park. Through six innings, he has allowed just one run.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 6:19 PM | Permalink

Youkilis suffers contusion

The Red Sox just announced that Kevin Youkilis left the game with a contusion on his right wrist. He was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning by Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang. X-rays taken at Fenway were negative.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 5:57 PM | Permalink

Youkilis update

The Red Sox just announced that Kevin Youkilis left the game with a contusion of his inside right wrist. He was struck just below the palm. X-rays were taken and they were negative. Youkilis is in the dugout, his wrist wrapped in ice.

More details as they become available.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 5:57 PM | Permalink

That Doesn't Look Good...

Kevin Youkilis just left the game after being struck by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang. It appeared that Youkilis was struck on the right hand. He went down in pain and left the playing field holding the wrist gingerly.

We'll update you with any further news when we get it.

In the meantime, Jacoby Ellsbury is running for Youkilis. It's expected that Eric Hinske, who started the game in left, will move to first base with Ellsbury taking over in left.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 5:39 PM | Permalink

New York state of mind

If you thought today's pitching matchup of Josh Beckett and Chien-Ming Wang was an impressive one, wait until tomorrow night.

The Yankees' Roger Clemens will face the Sox' Curt Schilling is a battle of veteran egos. Clemens has been battling elbow soreness in his throwing arm, but New York manager Joe Torre confirmed this afternoon that the future Hall-of-Famer will be on the mound tomorrow.

When Torre was asked about Clemens' mindset from start to start, the manager compared him to former big-leaguers Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan. Plus, pitching at Fenway Park again will surely fire the Rocket up.

“Roger is so wound up every time he pitches,” said Torre. “I’m sure this ballpark adds a little something, too. He’s so remarkable and in a lot of ways he’s like Pete Rose. Pete continued to have the urgency to do well all the time. . . Every single day he tried to be on top of his game. Pitchers are a little different, but to maintain that intensity is pretty remarkable.”

While Torre spoke about tomorrow's matchup, the sometimes brazen Red Sox manager Terry Francona wouldn't touch the question.

"We're really going to try to win today," he said. "That's like our goal. We can enshrine the two starters tomorrow. That's not how we think."

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 5:35 PM | Permalink

Runoff election

An obvious subplot to this afternoon's game is the pitching matchup of Josh Beckett and Chien-Ming Wang, each of whom is a candidate for the Cy Young Award.
As it happens, as part of the rotating voting process for each chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America, I have one of the two Boston chapter votes for the Cy Young this year; Jeff Goldberg of the Hartford Courant has the other.

While Wang and Beckett are two obvious candidates, they're not the only ones. Justin Verlander (17-5), C.C. Sabathia (17-7, 3.21), John Lackey (16 wins, 3.21), Fausto Carmon (16 wins, 3.20 ERA), Kelvim Escobar (17-7, 3.25) are all worthy, too.

It's likely that the award will be determined in the final two weeks. It will be interesting, too, if some of these pitchers take time off in the final week to 10 days to rest for the post-season, or keep pitching and enhance their Cy Young chances.

One other note: unless either Beckett or Wang get a win here today, and keep pitching, we may have our second straight season in which no one wins 20 games.
The NL wins leader going into today is San Diego's Jake Peavy, who has 17.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 4:40 PM | Permalink

Stars Come Out for Sox-Yanks

It's only the second inning and already, the celeb sightings are everywhere. Rene Russo is in the second row, next to the Red Sox duguout.
Seated right in front of her is Casey (not Ben) Affleck, who stars in big brother's about-to-be-releaed film, ``Gone, Baby Gone.''
Rumored to be in attendance, but not yet spotted: Annette Benning and Cameron Diaz.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 4:35 PM | Permalink

Pregame Notes, Sept. 15

-- Coco Crisp, who was scratched from the starting lineup on Friday night because of soreness in his left hip, is penciled into today's starting lineup. But manager Terry Francona said this morning if the hip was acting up on Crisp, he might have to be scratched again.

Crisp, said Francona, told his manager during batting practice on Friday that he felt the hip "grab" him a bit but didn't think it was anything serious. He had his hip worked on by the trainers but was unable to start. He did loosen up enough to enter Friday night's game as a pinch runner, but he was thrown out attempting to steal second and looked to be walking gingerly back to the dugout.

-- Francona said the Yanks' familiarity with Hideki Okajima may have something to do with New York's recent success against the left-hander.

Okajima has pitched in 10 of the first 16 games this season between the teams. Over his first five games against New York, Okajima pitched five scoreless innings. Since then, though, he has allowed at least one run in four of his last five outings versus the Yanks, including four runs in only one-third of an inning Friday night as Boston let a 7-2 eighth-inning lead melt away into an 8-7 loss.

Over his last three appearances against New York, Okajima has coughed up eight earned runs on eight hits in only 2 1/3 innings, an E.R.A. of 30.90.

It's not just the Yanks, though, who seemed to have figured out Okajima. He has been raked for 12 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings, an E.R.A. of 7.05 over his last 17 games, inflating his overall E.R.A. from 0.87 to 2.28. So call it fatigue or familiarity, but Okajima, the early season surprise because of his devastating changeup, is not getting it done lately.

-- Eric Hinske is in the starting lineup in left field instead of Jacoby Ellsbury because of his history of success against New York's starter, Chien-Ming Wang. Hinske is 10 for 22 (.455) in his career against Wang with four doubles, two homers and a slugging percentage of .909.

Hinske, though, is 0 for 6 against Wang this season.

-- Nothing new on Manny Ramirez (strained left oblique), but he is not in the starting lineup.

-- Steven Krasner

Posted by Steven Krasner  at 1:29 PM | Permalink

Starting Lineups, Sept. 15

BOSTON

Pedroia 2b
Youkilis 1b
Otrtiz dh
Lowell 3b
Drew rf
Varitek c
Hinske lf
Crisp cf
Lugo ss

Beckett p

NEW YORK

Damon lf
Jeter ss
Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
Posada c
Matsui dh
Giambi 1b
Cano 2b
Cabrera cf

Wang p

-- Steven Krasner

Posted by Steven Krasner  at 1:27 PM | Permalink

Giambi -- goat to hero

By STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Jason Giambi has never won a Gold Glove for his play at first base, and there's no need to clear a space on a shelf in his trophy case for one in the future.

And while he has played passable defense at the position this season since coming off the disabled list, Giambi had a nightmare of a game Friday night at first base, costing New York three runs with various misplays.

But his home run leading off the eighth opened up the floodgates for the Yankees who exploded for six runs and a stunning 8-7 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

"Those plays made me concentrate even more," said Giambi of his blast at the expense of left-hander Hideki Okajima.

"I was excited to get that opportunity to get (the rally) going. I've been playing good over there but tonight I had trouble. I was just glad I had a chance to get it going for us," said Giambi.

His first bobble came in the first inning when he couldn't scoop a short-hop throw from Derek Jeter. Jeter got the error, but Giambi should have saved him.

That didn't hurt New York. But with two outs and a runner on third in the third inning, J.D. Drew's hard grounder somehow found its way through Giambi's big body, gift-wrapping a run for Boston.

In the sixth, Mike Lowell hit a liner to right with one out and runners taking off from first and second on the 3-and-2 pitch. David Ortiz was a dead duck to be doubled up at first, but Giambi had trouble seeing the throw from right fielder Bobby Abreu and decided to try to short-hop the throw rather than go get it and then come back to the bag.

The ball clanged off Giambi's glove and rolled away, with Giambi looking a fish out of water flopping in the dirt trying to retrieve it before Big Papi returned. Giambi wasn't successful, and when Kevin Youkilis and Drew followed with hits, that misplay meant two extra runs and a seemingly comfortable 7-2 lead.

But in the eighth, Giambi got one run back, and ignited the Yanks' game-winning surge.

Posted by Steven Krasner  at 1:03 AM | Permalink

Final game story: Bulpen falters, Sox lose

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon have been the kingpins in the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox this season.

Anytime that door swung open in the late innings of a game it was a given the pair of relievers would simply shut the door in any situation.

At a time when the Red Sox needed that trend to continue, Okajima and Papelbon succumbed to New York in one catastrophic inning as the Yankees staged a dramatic comeback en route to an 8-7 victory Friday night at Fenway Park. The game lasted four hours and 43 minutes.

The Red Sox held a 7-2 lead heading into the top of the eighth inning, but the Yankees scored six runs, including a pair of back-to-back solo home runs by Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano to start the inning off Okajima.

The Japanese left-hander surrendered four runs on three hits in 1/3 of an inning, while Papelbon gave up two runs on three hits in that eighth inning as New York gained an 8-7 advantage.

For Papelbon, he entered the game having retired 18 of the last 19 batters he’s faced in his last six appearances, but New York got to him tonight as it snapped the right-hander's 16 2/3 innings scoreless streak.

''It’s definitely uncharacteristic,” said Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis of the bullpen’s failures. ''They are human and they are going to have that happen. Unfortunately it was today in a game like that, but for us, we can’t get too down on them. They’re going to go out there the next time and pitch well. They are going to have ups and downs and unfortunately it was tonight they had the down. They’ve done a great job for us all year and we can’t get too upset with them.”

Red Sox catcher and captain Jason Varitek had a good view of what was unfolding in front of him in the eighth inning.

“They took some good swings and capitalized on some mistakes,” he said. “We weren’t able to stop it.”

Before the Red Sox needed to summon their bullpen, starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was solid. With the work load he’s had to deal with this season, something he wasn’t accustomed to in Japan, there’s been some concern whether he’s tiring at this point of the season. Red Sox manager Terry Francona has said publicly the club is not overly worried about it, and even if it was, Dice-K answered those questions last night.

He worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and threw a total of 120 pitches (64 strikes).

“He pitched with a lot of heart,” said Francona. “He competed real well against a very good lineup.”

New York manager Joe Torre was a bit of a soothsayer early last evening when he said you never know what is going to happen when these two teams meet. He said the clubs have mutual respect for each other, and that the energy level will always be high.

He’s always said games are never over at Fenway Park until the last out is made, no matter how long the game lasts.

“No question,” he said following his club’s win. “It wasn’t one of our better efforts, but it sure was a great result for us. We gave away so much, we had so many opportunities to do some damage and we lucked out. That eighth inning was incredible. . . We never gave up the fact that we could win.”

With two games remaining in this three-game set, the Yankees cut their deficit to 4 ½ games in the A.L. East standings.

The Red Sox said they’re not concerned with any momentum New York might think it has after Friday night’s stunning victory.

“We’ll see what this team has and we’ll come out ready to play (on Saturday),” said Varitek. “Any loss is crushing, but we need to pull ourselves together and go back out there and be ready to play.”

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments 3

Yankee reaction to 8-7 win over Red Sox

By STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Things looked bleak for the New York Yankees.

They were down, 7-2, heading into the eighth inning at Fenway Park Friday night. Boston manager Terry Francona was deploying his bullpen as if he figured all the Sox had to do was win one of the games of this three-game series to virtually secure the American League East title.

So he had his two-headed bullpen monster of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon in the game earlier than usual, intent on nailing down the victory even if he wouldn't normally use them with such a big lead.

"Okajima and Papelbon have been throwing as well as anyone in the American League," said the Yanks' MVP lock, Alex Rodriguez.

But New York devoured Okajima and Papelbon to the tune of six runs in the eighth before an out was recorded as the Yankees roared back for an 8-7 win that stunned the Red Sox. It also sliced Boston's division lead to 4 1/2 games and maintained the Yanks' 3 1/2-game advantage over the Detroit Tigers in the wild-card chase.

"That's the biggest win of our season," said A-Rod, who delivered the tie-breaking hit, a sizzling single to left-center off Papelbon.

"Any time you can score so many runs off those two guys it's special," added Rodriguez. "Being down five runs and with the guys they have in their bullpen, you kind of feel like you stole one."

New York manager Joe Torre could only take a deep breath and marvel at what his team had done, especially after sloppy play had helped put the Yankees in their five-run hole.

"We lucked out. That eighth inning was incredible," said Torre. "It hadn't been one of our better efforts. We have away some runs and had so many chances we didn't take advantage of, but it was a good result for us. We knew it was ugly but this ballclub never gets to the point where it feels it can't win the game."

The big inning began with a bang when Jason Giambi, whose defensive lapses cost the Yankees three runs, crushed a pitch from Okajima over the New York bullpen. That made it a 7-3 game. It was hardly in the bag for the Yanks at that point, but when Robinson Cano followed Giambi's blast with one of his own, into the center-field bleachers, it was suddenly 7-4, the Sox' fans were squirming a bit and Papelbon was heating up in the bullpen.

Then came a walk to Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon's double to left-center, sending Okajima to the showers and bringing Papelbon into the game. And at the plate was Derek Jeter, the Yanks' Mr. Clutch.

"We always feel great when Jeter's up in those situations," said Damon, the ex-Sox center fielder who was 4 for 6 with a pair of doubles as New York's designated hitter.

Jeter didn't wait around. He sliced the first pitch he saw for an RBI single to right and it was 7-5 with the tying runs on base.

"You don't like to be facing (Papelbon) down one run, let alone three," said Jeter. "You want to be aggressive. You can't give him too many (strikes) because then he can go to his other pitches."

Bobby Abreu was aggressive also, crushing an 0-and-1 pitch to center for a two-run double that tied the game, as Jeter fairly flew around the bases.

And then it was A-Rod's turn. Again, it was a quick at-bat, with Rodriguez drilling an 0-and-1 pitch to left-center for his major-league-leading 141st RBI, giving the Yanks an 8-7 lead that Luis Vizcaino and Marian Rivera (27th save) preserved.

The win was big, said the Yanks, and beating the top two in Boston's bullpen made it all the sweeter.

Maybe getting to know Okajima, the left-hander from Japan, has been helpful for the Yankees, who now have faced him 10 times this season. He has been scored upon by New York in four of his last five appearances and overall has coughed up 9 runs on 12 hits in 9 2/3 innings versus the Yankees.

Papelbon, meanwhile, has been tagged for the late-inning loss in the last two games between the two teams here at Fenway Park, having surrendered a homer to A-Rod on June 3.

"I'd like to say that (beating Okajima and Papelbon) gives us an edge," said Torre. "It certainly makes us feel better."

They couldn't have felt much better, having stolen one from the Red Sox.

Posted by Steven Krasner  at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

Late notes: A rare failure by Papelbon

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Jonathan Papelbon left the Red Sox clubhouse Friday night without answering questions about his third blown save of the season, his first since July 28.

He had gone 16 2/3 scoreless innings before allowing a run-scoring single to Derek Jeter (the run charged to Hideki Okajima), a two-run double to Bobby Abreu (one run charged to Okajima; the other to Papelbon) and an RBI single to Alex Rodriguez.

Remarkably, it marked the first time in his major league career than Papelbon had allowed three consecutive hits. He had converted his previous 12 save opportunities

Okajima had begun the inning, but gave up two solo homers, a walk and a double before needing to be rescued by Papelbon.

''It wasn't the way we drew it up,'' said Terry Francona, ''but we always feel good when Pap is in the game . . . He jammed Jeter, who fights balls off better than anyone in the league. Abreu (took) a nice swing, and Alex got on top of a fastball.''

''We were just a few pitches away from stopping that situation,'' said catcher Jason Varitek. ''We just didn't do it.''

Marathon men
With two weeks to go in the season, it's officially a spint for the finish line. But Friday's game was a marathon.

The Sox and Yanks needed 4 hours and 43 minutes to complete the game, making it the second-longest nine-inning game in major-league history. The longest was a game played between the same two teams Aug. 18, 2006, which took 4:45.

The teams have played 16 times this season and the games have averaged 3:35, more than 40 minutes longer than the average Major League Baseball game.

''I think it's a by-product of these two teams,'' said Yankee manager Joe Torre. ''(Many of the games are on network) television (and nationally televised have more commericial time between innings) . . .Everything takes so much time because you go back and forth and meetings and stuff, and wait all night to win one of these.''

Torre jokingly added that the Yanks ''were only five minutes away from using Joba (Chamberlain),'' a reference to the so-called Joba Rules that mandate the rookie reliever's usage. Chamberlain was unavailable Friday night after pitching 1 2/3 innings Wednesday night in Toronto.

Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp said the length of games is eased somewhat by having younger reinforcements like Jaocby Ellsbury.

''We've got some young guys in here capable of doing the daily grind,'' said Crisp.

Late scratch
Crisp was scratched from the starting lineup because a sore hip that has been bothering him the last few days. He came in Thursday and got some treatment, but had difficulty getting loose Friday night, resulting in a last-minute lineup change.

Out went Crisp and in went Ellsbury.

Crisp was later called upon to pinch-run for Mike Lowell in the eighth, but was thrown out trying to steal second.

''I was hoping it would be loose (late in the game), but not thinking I would be needed,'' said Crisp, in reference to the Sox' 7-2 lead. ''I was trying to get something going. It was a good throw (by catcher Jorge Posada) and a good call.''

Here and there
Reliever Mike Timlin made his 1,005th career appearance, tying him with Mike Jackson for 11th place all-time . . . Julio Lugo stole his 30th base of the season, the most by a Sox player since Johnny Damon stole 30 in 2003. He's just the 13th player to reach that mark in a single season.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

Postgame reaction

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Red Sox reaction to Friday night's 8-7 loss to the Yankees . . .

-- Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis on the bullpen:

“It’s definitely uncharacteristic. They are human and they are going to have that happen. Unfortunately it was today in a game like that, but for us, we can’t get too down on them. They’re going to go out there the next time and pitch well. They are going to have ups and downs and unfortunately it was tonight they had the down. They’ve done a great job for us all year and we can’t get too upset with them.”

-- Red Sox manager Terry Francona on the Hideki Okajima's sub-par performance:

"Uncharacteristically, everything was over the middle of the plate. He elevated and he couldn't get out of the middle. . . Everything seemed to be right over the middle of the plate and they squared it up in a hurry."

-- Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek:

“They took some good swings and capitalized on some mistakes. We weren’t able to stop it.”

-- New York manager Joe Torre:

"That eighth inning was incredible."

More to come . . .

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 12:24 AM | Permalink