Daily Archives: October 1, 2005

The winner of today’s game will clinch a tie for the American League East. If the White Sox win in Cleveland, the loser of today’s game will clinch a tie for the American League Wild Card.

The Yankees and Red Sox are each sending their best pitchers to the mound. At Yankee Stadium on September 11, Randy Johnson pitched seven shutout innings to defeat Tim Wakefield 1-0 on a first-inning home run by Jason Giambi off a Wakefield curve ball, with Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera nailing down the win.

Giambi starts at DH today after making a crucial throwing error in last night’s loss. Tino Martinez gets the start at first, batting behind Robinson Cano, who hits sixth after having one of just three Yankee hits off Wakefield three weeks ago. Bernie’s in center. Flaherty’s behind the plate.

For the Red Sox, Kevin Millar’s in at first. Bill Mueller moves up to the six spot ahead of catcher Doug Mirabelli. With Gabe Kapler out for the year with an Achilles injury, Trot Nixon stays in the line-up against Johnson and drops to eighth.

Since 1904, when the embryonic Yankees lost the AL Pennant to the then Boston Pilgrims in the penultimate game of the year due to a series of infield errors and a sore-armed ace, the fortunes of the two teams had changed dramatically. The Boston club, who started calling themselves the Red Sox just a few years after their season-ending conflict with the New Yorkers, went on to become the dominant team of the next decade, winning four World Championships in the teens before owner Harry Frazee began selling off his stars, most notably a young pitcher-turned-outfielder named Babe Ruth who would go on to lead the Yankees to their first pennant in 1921, their first World Championship in 1923, and five other World Series appearances in his fifteen years in New York, four of which saw the Yankees emerge victorious.

Meanwhile, the Boston Club fell into despair, failing to produce a winning season during Ruth’s tenure as a Yankee, nine times finishing dead last in the American League. Under new owner Tom Yawkey, the Red Sox finally pulled themselves out of their almost two-decade-long funk at the end of the 1930s, a revival that was solidified by the arrival of a scrawny left-handed hitter named Ted Williams.

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