The Yanks radio announcers repeatedly gave the Red Sox's path to victory. Schilling goes seven. Red Sox have lead because Mussina is iffy these days. Papelbon, rested, goes two. Red Sox hope chubby wins Monday afternoon, giving them a 3-2 split. Game finished under four hours. Meanwhile, the Yanks are growing mustaches like their new back-up catcher, Sal Fasano. More "Sal's pals," I guess.
Though a rain delay made it another long night, the road to victory was there. 5-3 lead in the seventh. Honestly, you expected a bit more from Schilling, but it would do. So, what do they do? Do they bring in Papelbon in to close the game? Well ... sorta. First, they let their tired/underwhelming relief arms load the bases with no one out. Then, they bring him in. He is remarkable. Gives up a sacrifice fly though.
[When asked, the manager said he wanted to save Papelbon for the ninth, so that he could pitch on Monday. Yeah, that worked out well. The team lost three games in a row; Papelbon was rested. The Yanks scored repeatedly off the bullpen, including a seven run seventh. The term "no brainer" is in place just for these sorts of situations. There was no save situation on Monday ... though a run was given up by wild pitch, it was in the eighth with the Yanks ahead 1-0, so Papelbon would not have been pitching anyway. Surely not given the decision on Sunday.]
Still, it's 5-4. Looks like the baseball gods let it go. This is so even when the Yanks get a double with a passed ball to make it a man on third with no one out. Two strikeouts. The promise land! But, they are harsh taskmasters, who don't like stupidity. So, Jeter hits a single. 5-5.*
But, wait! Rivera gives up a double via a bad hop! No ... he catches them at third to foil a bunt attempt. But, wait! Passed ball puts the guy on third anyway. Still, he is Mo. What you can do, I can do better. Loads bases. Two strike outs. Tenth inning. Triple AAA Boston relief time.
[Toss in an important, if less impressive, easy bottom of the eighth, these were nailbiting innings that underline the best of grand match-ups. And, showed the mettle of both closers, Papelbon especially impressive given this is his rookie year as the closer. Earlier in the day, El Duque had a no one out, second/third situation, nursing a 1-0 lead against an ace. Glavine might be out for an unknown period, and the Cards/Phillies are up next. So, it was good to win the game. And, he came through. He even got on base twice, once via an error, and stole third. But, there was more impressive times to come.]
The end was quick. Two home runs. 8-5. Still ... Ortiz is up with man on first. If he could get on ... Not to be. Well, many left Fenway to catch the last train home. So they didn't have to see a loss [sports.espn.go.com] even worse than the massacres of the last few days.
Many probably imagined it though. It was that sort of weekend.
[On a passed ball, the Yanks won 2-1 today, sweeping the five game series. The Yanks basically played their B team, Wells the hard luck loser when an inherited run scored. Final: NY was 10 of 10 this weekend. (Yanks 5, Mets 3, Giants/Jets won).]
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* In the bottom of the ninth, A-rod (the DH) went to third base, so Mariano became a hitter -- the ESPN box score had Abreu playing at third at the start of the inning, before a pitch was thrown. But, I saw that part of the game on ESPN, and no mention was made of this. Ditto the local box score. The local paper had it right: Bernie pinch hit and took the ninth slot, replacing Abreu in outfield. Mariano took Abreu's slot in the line-up.
So, a little error. Since I make a decent many of them, I'm not here to judge, but to nitpick.