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On Friday, the New York Yankees (83-63) pitching ace and veteran southpaw, Andy Pettitte (13-8, 3.78 ERA), took the mound at historic Fenway Park, in search of his 200th career win, also hoping to help the team gain ground on the Red Sox (89-58) for the American League East lead. Coming into the three game series, New York had been trailing the Red Sox, who possess the best record in the Majors, by 4 1/2 games. His thirteenth year in the Majors, tenth in the Bronx, Pettitte, who was presented with the Clutch Player of the Month award for the month of August, and is also a 2007 Cy Young candidate, appears to have regained his pitching prowess these past couple of months, owning a 3.12 era since the All-Star break. It should be interesting and relevant to note that he holds the second greatest winning percentage (.714) against the Red Sox, of any starting pitcher since the expansion era began in 1961.
Starting in front of his home crowd, the struggling Red Sox rookie from Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-12, 4.44 ERA).
And so, the stage was set for Pettitte and his cronies, attempting to sweep the Sox for the second time in the last four weeks. Once twelve and a half games out, the Yankees, contingent upon whether they win all three games, would only be 2 1/2 games behind for the division lead. New York, heading into Friday night’s game, was ahead of the Detroit Tigers, 3 1/2 games for control of the AL wild card. Both the Yankees and Red Sox appear to be on their way to yet another postseason.
Game One of Three:
At one point in Friday’s bizarrely long four-hour and 43-minute contest at Fenway Park, it seemed inevitable that Boston was in great position to obtain a much needed win. Boston’s Rookie of the Year nominee, Daisuke Matsuzaka, out-pitched the Yankee veteran Andy Pettitte, lasting 5.2 innings, allowing a relatively infinitesimal 4 base hits, 2 earned runs, five walks, while registering seven punch-outs. Pettitte, on the other hand, left the game after 4.1 innings, having thrown an outstanding 101 pitches, responsible for giving up four of five runs. With great speed on the bases, Big Papi obviously excluded, the Red Sox were able to knock in runs with timely base hits, generally, and annoyingly out-of-reach line drives that dropped in between the infield and outfield. At the plate, the Yankees looked lifeless and were ineffective in getting key base hits with runners in scoring position. In the 6th inning, with a plausible Yankee threat, Jeter struck out on a pitch in the dirt, stranding three runners on base. Jorge Posada was the only hitter that could figure out Matsuzaka. He had two doubles and accounted for New York’s two runs through seven innings. Defensively, the Yankees’ infield was making costly errors, namely, Jason Giambi at first base, whose only mastery in scooping is associated with the treat, ice cream. Quite frankly, Andy Phillips, who is known for being consistent both at the plate and on the field, should have been anchoring first base instead of the Giambino. He is the most underrated player on the team and has never been given the extended look as a starter that he so deservingly desires. Opposed to Giambi’s lack of fielding versatility, I must attest that he has the ability to come through when the team needs a huge hit. In the eighth inning Giambino delivered a crucial solo home run off of Hideki Okajima, sparking a rally that would eventually hand New York its fourth consecutive win against Boston. Next in the Murder’s Row lineup, Robinson Cano joined in on the abuse of Okajima, nailing a solo homer to make the score 7-4. From there, Jeter came through in the clutch, sending Melky Cabrera home to bring the Yankees within two runs. The floodgates had been opened at Fenway Park and New York was taunting the Boston Faithful with a potential rally. Okajima could not find a way out of the nightmare as Bobby Abreu doubled in two runs. With the game tied up, 7-7, the forerunner for AL MVP, Alex Rodriguez, came through in the clutch, knocking in what would be the go-ahead run off usually dependable Red Sox closer, Jonathan Papelbon. The Yankee bullpen did not falter in holding the hard-earned lead, as Luis Vizcaino set up for Mariano Rivera’s 27th save on the season. In a post-game interview, Joe Torre, praised his team’s late-inning, come-from-behind win, saying, “They just never get to the point where they feel that they cannot win a game.” With this belief, New York heads into tomorrow’s game with a feeling of superiority over their nemesis, in search for their fifth consecutive win that would put them within 2 1/2 games of Boston for the AL East lead.
Friday night’s game at Fenway Park, which saw the Red Sox bullpen blow a 7-2 lead in the eighth inning, had New York coming into Game 2 of the three-game series with high expectations. What was supposed to be a spectacular pitching match-up between two Cy Young Award candidates, Chien-Ming Wang (18-6, 3.69 ERA) for New York, and Josh Beckett (18-6, 3.27 ERA) for Boston, both searching for their Major League leading 19th win on the season, was consistently a one-sided affair the entire game. The Yankees were the first to strike, when in the first inning Derek Jeter, not typically known for hitting the long ball, demolished a Beckett offering over the fence to straightaway centerfield. Jeter’s solo home run was the first and last New York run of the game; Josh Beckett was lights out, breezing through seven frames, giving up an insignificant three hits and tormenting the Yankee hitters with seven strikeouts. His statistics for the evening were quite similar to that of Matsuzaka’s the night before. However, this time around there was less pressure on the bullpen to close the game out. With the Yankees powerful offensive lineup not producing, Chien-Ming Wang carried the heavy burden of attempting to shut down the Red Sox hitters, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Wang lasted only 5 2/3 innings, allowing five earned runs on nine hits. He was not throwing his notorious groundball-inducing sinker. Instead, he was fooling around with changeups and sliders, which were ineffective against Boston. Once again, the Red Sox starting pitching prevailed, however, the ending to this game did not involve a Yankee rally in the late innings. The Boston bullpen, Timlin and Corey, threw a combined one-hit, two-inning gem, locking up Beckett’s 19th win of the season.
Joe Torre, the Yankees skipper, made the poor decision to ask a bunch of no-name relief pitchers, a combination of youth and inexperience mixed in with a dash of Ron Villone, to manage to keep the game within four runs. Of course, to much dismay, the New York bullpen choked and tossed up an additional five runs to put the game further out of reach. Torre has still yet to give Joba Chamberlain a relief appearance in the series, and as much as I dislike Kyle Farnsworth’s inconsistency on the mound, I would have much rather had an experienced pitcher on the mound than these September call-ups. With a Detroit win on Saturday, the Yankees are now only 2 1/2 games ahead in the AL wild card, and once again are 5 1/2 games back in the AL East. Torre must be thinking for the long run, he does not want to tire out his pitching staff during the regular season and as a result get eliminated in the first round of the postseason. The problem is that this reasoning is irrational, mainly due to the fact that the team is still fighting for a playoff berth. Nothing is set in stone yet.
On Sunday, the Red Sox will be attempting to maintain the best record in baseball, which would give them the decision to pick what team they want to play in the ALDS. The Yankees will be playing to keep their playoff hopes alive, even if the more feasible entrance is via the wild card. Since 2002, every World Series championship has been won by a wild card team, from the Angels, to the Red Sox in 2004, to last year’s shocker, the Cardinals. If this pattern were to continue, then if the Yankees can hold on to the AL wild card, they would already be in position to have a fifty-percent chance of winning their 27th World Series Championship.
