Saturday, October 23, 2004
WELL-SCRIPTED PART IV
History seemed to be repeating itself. Another Game 7 in the Bronx. The Yankees tried inducing the so-called ghosts of the Stadium by having Bucky F. Dent throw out the first pitch. Further adding to superstitious New Englanders fears was that Game 7 would be played on #7 Mickey Mantle's birthday. The Red Sox were depending on the man who, in his mind, had been screwed by the team twice. First he was not in the starting rotation for the playoffs, second, in his opinion, he was pulled early from Game 4. Lowe threw 88 pitches on Sunday and was coming back two days later to start the biggest game of the series. He was going against Kevin Brown, the high priced acquisition with a temper. The Red Sox got to Brown early. Damon led off the game with a single, something he hadn't done too much all series. Brown was distracted by Damon and Johnny eventually stole second. Bellhorn struck out. Brown was still distracted by Damon. Ramirez hit a single into left. Damon reached third and was waved home by the much maligned Dale Svuem. The Yankees threw Damon out 7-6-2. For a moment, momentum was once again back with New York. David Ortiz stepped in with one on and two outs. The first pitch he saw was crushed to right field. 2-0 Red Sox.
Lowe took the mound and after 13 pitches he had retired Jeter, Rodriguez, and Sheffield. A combined $53,000,000 in superstars were unable to respond to the Ortiz homerun. It would be a long day for the New York Yankees hitters.
Trot Nixon grounded out to begin the 2nd for Boston. Millar singled and Mueller walked. Orlando Cabrera once again got on base with a walk to load them for Johnny Damon. Damon was having a terrible series, 3 for 22 at that point. He hadn't hit a homerun in the entire postseason. Torre pulled the $15,000,000 Kevin Brown and replaced him with Javier Vazquez, who got paid $9,000,000 last season. The first pitch Vazquez threw was hit by Johnny Damon to right field and over the wall for a grand slam.
Damon, the unlikeliest of heros had given the Red Sox a 6-0 lead. Bellhorn walked, then Ramirez and Ortiz were retired. The Yankees answer in the bottom of the second was three groundouts and a walk. In the third the Sox failed to score and were held hitless. The Yankees had their biggest threat off Lowe in the 3rd. Miguel Cairo was barely hit, if at all, by a pitch. He then stole second. Derek Jeter hit a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield that found a hole. Cairo scored. Lowe then induced a pair of groundouts. The score was 6-1. Cabrera once again walked to lead off the 4th. Damon homered again to set an LCS record with 6 RBIs in a game.
Bellhorn walked again and Ramirez was retired. Vazquez was pulled for Loiaza. Esteban was relatively cheap at only $4M, but the Yankees were still paying much of Jose Contreras' generous $8M contract while he played for Chicago. The Red Sox continued their threat with an Ortiz walk and an infield single by Varitek. The bases were loaded but Nixon struck out and Millar grounded out. The score was 8-1. Lowe only needed 11 pitches in the bottom of the 4th to retire Matsui, Williams, and Posada ($28,357,000 combined). The Red Sox once again threatened in the 5th thanks to a throwing error by Loaiza. They did not score, though. Lowe only needed 10 pitches to retire the Yankees in order in the bottom of the inning. The Red Sox went in order in the 6th, as did the Yankees. Derek Lowe's day was done. On 2 days rest he had thrown a 6 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 walk performance. He got 3 strikeouts and induced 12 groundouts. The single he allowed was a grounder and he only allowed 3 fly ball outs. In what might have been his last start for Boston, he made quite an impression.
The Red Sox had a pair of singles in the 7th but a Damon double play ended the inning. With Lowe unable to go more than 6, and wanting to save Timlin and Embree for the final innings of the game, Francona went to the best pitcher he had in the bullpen. Pedro Martinez. Pedro and the Yankees are hated enemies. The Yankees seem to be able to get to Pedro more than any other team. The Yankees aren't Pedro's Daddy, but they may be his older brother.
Pedro, at first, did not look sharp. Matsui and Williams hit back-to-back doubles. It was 8-2. Posada grounded out which moved Bernie to third. Lofton singled. 8-3. Lofton stole third. Pedro then reared back and all of a sudden became the pitcher he was in 1999. Knowing that all he had to do was pitch one inning, he let it fly and struck out Olerud who pinch hit for Clark. He then got Cairo to fly out. Some people may have realised that Pedro finally finished the 7th inning he started more than a year ago in Game 7. The Yankees seemed to be chipping away as they had done in last year's game 7 when they were down by 5. Loaiza's performance was reminiscent of Mike Mussina's last year which kept the Red Sox from extending their lead. The Red Sox didn't have Mark Bellhorn last year though. The switch hitter hit a solo shot to lead off the 8th.
The Damon homer and now the Bellhorn homer had kept the Red Sox lead comfortable. Without this insurance the score would have been 6-3. Instead, the Sox had a 6 run lead at 9-3. Gordon, who had releived Loaiza, then retired the side. Mike Timlin came into the game for the Sox and retired the side in the 8th. Orlando Cabrera added a run to the lead in the 9th with a sacrifice fly. Timlin remained to pitch the bottom of the 9th. Matsui led off with a single. Williams grounded into a fielder's choice, eliminating Matsui at second. Posada popped up on 1 pitch. Williams took second on defensive indifference. The Red Sox were a single out from beating the Yankees and advancing to the World Series. The Red Sox had never eliminated the Yankees in any way before this moment. Kenny Lofton walked on 4 pitches. Francona took out Timlin and sent Embree to face the lefty Olerud. This move was countered by Torre who used Sierra to pinch hit. Embree's first delivery was a ball low. His next was a slow roller hit weakly to second. Pokey Reese had come in as a defensive replacement as had Doug Mientkiewicz. Reese threw to Doug and the game was over. 10-3 Red Sox.
The Sox had done it thanks to a man who was taken off the rotation and a man who wasn't even hitting .100 coming into this game. The Red Sox had beaten New York. Last year the Yankees crushed our dreams with a walkoff HR in the 11th inning of game 7. In 1999 they dominated us 4 out of 5 games to advance to and win the World Series. In 1978 Bucky F. Dent crushed the hopes of Boston. The Red Sox had finally crushed the dreams of Yankee fans.
Derek Jeter, who makes $18,600,000 went 1 for 4 in game 7 with a weak basehit. In the series he made 2 errors and hit an unimpressive .200 for the series.
Rodriguez and Sheffield, the two major acquisitions for New York combined for 0 for 8.
Brown, Vazquez and Gordon, three major pitching acquisitions, allowed all 10 of the game 7 earned runs.
The New York Yankees dominance over the Boston Red Sox was over.
History seemed to be repeating itself. Another Game 7 in the Bronx. The Yankees tried inducing the so-called ghosts of the Stadium by having Bucky F. Dent throw out the first pitch. Further adding to superstitious New Englanders fears was that Game 7 would be played on #7 Mickey Mantle's birthday. The Red Sox were depending on the man who, in his mind, had been screwed by the team twice. First he was not in the starting rotation for the playoffs, second, in his opinion, he was pulled early from Game 4. Lowe threw 88 pitches on Sunday and was coming back two days later to start the biggest game of the series. He was going against Kevin Brown, the high priced acquisition with a temper. The Red Sox got to Brown early. Damon led off the game with a single, something he hadn't done too much all series. Brown was distracted by Damon and Johnny eventually stole second. Bellhorn struck out. Brown was still distracted by Damon. Ramirez hit a single into left. Damon reached third and was waved home by the much maligned Dale Svuem. The Yankees threw Damon out 7-6-2. For a moment, momentum was once again back with New York. David Ortiz stepped in with one on and two outs. The first pitch he saw was crushed to right field. 2-0 Red Sox.
Lowe took the mound and after 13 pitches he had retired Jeter, Rodriguez, and Sheffield. A combined $53,000,000 in superstars were unable to respond to the Ortiz homerun. It would be a long day for the New York Yankees hitters.
Trot Nixon grounded out to begin the 2nd for Boston. Millar singled and Mueller walked. Orlando Cabrera once again got on base with a walk to load them for Johnny Damon. Damon was having a terrible series, 3 for 22 at that point. He hadn't hit a homerun in the entire postseason. Torre pulled the $15,000,000 Kevin Brown and replaced him with Javier Vazquez, who got paid $9,000,000 last season. The first pitch Vazquez threw was hit by Johnny Damon to right field and over the wall for a grand slam.
Damon, the unlikeliest of heros had given the Red Sox a 6-0 lead. Bellhorn walked, then Ramirez and Ortiz were retired. The Yankees answer in the bottom of the second was three groundouts and a walk. In the third the Sox failed to score and were held hitless. The Yankees had their biggest threat off Lowe in the 3rd. Miguel Cairo was barely hit, if at all, by a pitch. He then stole second. Derek Jeter hit a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield that found a hole. Cairo scored. Lowe then induced a pair of groundouts. The score was 6-1. Cabrera once again walked to lead off the 4th. Damon homered again to set an LCS record with 6 RBIs in a game.
Bellhorn walked again and Ramirez was retired. Vazquez was pulled for Loiaza. Esteban was relatively cheap at only $4M, but the Yankees were still paying much of Jose Contreras' generous $8M contract while he played for Chicago. The Red Sox continued their threat with an Ortiz walk and an infield single by Varitek. The bases were loaded but Nixon struck out and Millar grounded out. The score was 8-1. Lowe only needed 11 pitches in the bottom of the 4th to retire Matsui, Williams, and Posada ($28,357,000 combined). The Red Sox once again threatened in the 5th thanks to a throwing error by Loaiza. They did not score, though. Lowe only needed 10 pitches to retire the Yankees in order in the bottom of the inning. The Red Sox went in order in the 6th, as did the Yankees. Derek Lowe's day was done. On 2 days rest he had thrown a 6 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 walk performance. He got 3 strikeouts and induced 12 groundouts. The single he allowed was a grounder and he only allowed 3 fly ball outs. In what might have been his last start for Boston, he made quite an impression.
The Red Sox had a pair of singles in the 7th but a Damon double play ended the inning. With Lowe unable to go more than 6, and wanting to save Timlin and Embree for the final innings of the game, Francona went to the best pitcher he had in the bullpen. Pedro Martinez. Pedro and the Yankees are hated enemies. The Yankees seem to be able to get to Pedro more than any other team. The Yankees aren't Pedro's Daddy, but they may be his older brother.
Pedro, at first, did not look sharp. Matsui and Williams hit back-to-back doubles. It was 8-2. Posada grounded out which moved Bernie to third. Lofton singled. 8-3. Lofton stole third. Pedro then reared back and all of a sudden became the pitcher he was in 1999. Knowing that all he had to do was pitch one inning, he let it fly and struck out Olerud who pinch hit for Clark. He then got Cairo to fly out. Some people may have realised that Pedro finally finished the 7th inning he started more than a year ago in Game 7. The Yankees seemed to be chipping away as they had done in last year's game 7 when they were down by 5. Loaiza's performance was reminiscent of Mike Mussina's last year which kept the Red Sox from extending their lead. The Red Sox didn't have Mark Bellhorn last year though. The switch hitter hit a solo shot to lead off the 8th.
The Damon homer and now the Bellhorn homer had kept the Red Sox lead comfortable. Without this insurance the score would have been 6-3. Instead, the Sox had a 6 run lead at 9-3. Gordon, who had releived Loaiza, then retired the side. Mike Timlin came into the game for the Sox and retired the side in the 8th. Orlando Cabrera added a run to the lead in the 9th with a sacrifice fly. Timlin remained to pitch the bottom of the 9th. Matsui led off with a single. Williams grounded into a fielder's choice, eliminating Matsui at second. Posada popped up on 1 pitch. Williams took second on defensive indifference. The Red Sox were a single out from beating the Yankees and advancing to the World Series. The Red Sox had never eliminated the Yankees in any way before this moment. Kenny Lofton walked on 4 pitches. Francona took out Timlin and sent Embree to face the lefty Olerud. This move was countered by Torre who used Sierra to pinch hit. Embree's first delivery was a ball low. His next was a slow roller hit weakly to second. Pokey Reese had come in as a defensive replacement as had Doug Mientkiewicz. Reese threw to Doug and the game was over. 10-3 Red Sox.
The Sox had done it thanks to a man who was taken off the rotation and a man who wasn't even hitting .100 coming into this game. The Red Sox had beaten New York. Last year the Yankees crushed our dreams with a walkoff HR in the 11th inning of game 7. In 1999 they dominated us 4 out of 5 games to advance to and win the World Series. In 1978 Bucky F. Dent crushed the hopes of Boston. The Red Sox had finally crushed the dreams of Yankee fans.
Derek Jeter, who makes $18,600,000 went 1 for 4 in game 7 with a weak basehit. In the series he made 2 errors and hit an unimpressive .200 for the series.
Rodriguez and Sheffield, the two major acquisitions for New York combined for 0 for 8.
Brown, Vazquez and Gordon, three major pitching acquisitions, allowed all 10 of the game 7 earned runs.
The New York Yankees dominance over the Boston Red Sox was over.
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