Winning series has become the Yankee mantra of late, but coming into Fenway this weekend they’d won just one of their last six. That lone series win came against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium two weeks ago when the Yanks bookended a loss with a pair of wins. This weekend they pulled the same trick, though it was touch-and-go for a while there in game three.
On Friday night, the Yanks beat the Sox 9-5 in a game that was 9-3 after 3 1/2 innings as the Yankees knocked Tim Wakefield out in the top of the fourth. That game was notable for the fact that five batters were hit by pitches, all seemingly unintentionally, though things got tense when Scott Proctor fired a fastball at Kevin Youkilis’s chin in the ninth inning and was promptly tossed out of the game. Joe Torre had been ejected earlier in the game for correctly arguing that Bobby Abreu was safe on a caught stealing at third base, a play that happened right in front of the Yankee dugout.
Saturday afternoon, the Yankees overcame a 3-2 Boston lead with a four-run sixth inning that drove Curt Schilling from the game, but Mike Mussina promptly gave up the lead on solo homers by Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek in the bottom of the inning. After Derek Jeter hit a go-ahead homer off Joel Pineiro in the top of the seventh, things went very, very badly. Before the game it was announced that Proctor would not be suspended for throwing at Youkilis the night before, but the Yankees might have preferred that he was. Entering in the seventh, Proctor gave up a double to David Ortiz. He was then ordered to intentionally walk Manny Ramirez, but followed that by unintentionally walking Kevin Youkilis on four pitches to load the bases. Mike Lowell then hit a double-play ball to short, but Robinson Cano made a poor throw to the bag forcing Derek Jeter to reach for the throw and spin before making the relay to first. Jeter’s throw bounced in the dirt and, as Doug Mientkiewicz turned toward the foul line to field it, Minky was struck in the back of the head by Lowell’s left thigh as Lowell came through the bag. Lowell would have been safe anyway, but the blow gave Mientkiewicz a concussion and as he lay still face down in the dirt, the balled rolled away and both Ortiz and Ramirez scored to give the Red Sox a lead. As Lowell had moved to second on the play, Joe Torre ordered Proctor to walk Jason Varitek. Wily Mo Peña followed by ripping a ball to short that hit Derek Jeter’s glove, but trickled through his legs for a bases-loading error. Coco Crisp followed with an RBI single. Brian Bruney then came on and gave up a sac fly to Julio Lugo and an RBI double to Dustin Pedroia before Mike Myers came on to retire Ortiz and end the inning. The Sox added one more off Luis Vizcaino in the eighth to make the final score 11-6.
As for Mientkiewicz, he was diagnosed with whiplash in addition to the concussion, but it seems he also broke the scaphoid bone in his wrist on the play and will be out six to eight weeks because of that. He was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday though no move was made to fill his roster spot. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens was scratched from his scheduled start tonight due to a balky groin. He hopes to take his next scheduled turn on Saturday against the Pirates, but Matt DeSalvo will be recalled to start tonight. Apparently the injury to Mientkiewicz is what will allow the Yankees to recall DeSalvo after just three days in the minors and why they played with a 24-man roster last night.
Speaking of last night, Andy Pettitte and Josh Beckett locked horns in a pitchers duel for four innings, with the Yankees scoring the only run when a second-inning Jorge Posada double was plated by singles by Hideki Matsui and Josh Phelps. Then Beckett ran into trouble in the fifth, as the Yanks loaded the bases on two singles and a walk to bring Alex Rodriguez to the plate with two outs. Rodriguez chopped a 0-1 pitch to Mike Lowell at third, which Lowell barehanded and bounced in the dirt and off Kevin Youkilis’s knee at first base allowing Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter to score, and Bobby Abreu to move to third. Jorge Posada followed by yanking an RBI single into right to make it 4-0 Yanks.
The Red Sox got right back in the bottom of the inning as Varitek, Peña, and Crisp singled to load the bases. Andy Pettitte reared back and struck out Julio Lugo for the first out, but his strike three pitch triggered back spasms and a Dustin Pedroia double and a David Ortiz single later, the game was tied and Pettitte was hitting the showers. Actually, Ortiz’s single was played into a triple (technically a single and a two-base error) by Bobby Abreu as the ball dove at his feet as he was charging it, then hopped over his right shoulder. Luis Vizcano came on to intentionally walk Manny Ramirez, but let Ortiz score the go-ahead run on a sac fly and gave up an ultimately harmless Mike Lowell double before finally ending the inning.
The Red Sox nearly added to their lead against Vizcaino in the sixth when Julio Lugo drew a two-out walk from Vizcaino and Dustin Pedroia double to left, but, despite having David Ortiz on deck, the Sox sent Lugo home. Jorge Posada had to leap to catch the relay throw from Derek Jeter, but when he landed his foot blocked Lugo’s from touching the plate and he quickly made the tag for the third out.
The Yankees threatened in the seventh when Josh Beckett walked Johnny Damon to lead off his final inning and Bobby Abreu singled off reliever Javier Lopez to put runners at the corners, but Brendan Donnelly got Alex Rodriguez to pop out and Jorge Posada’s well-hit drive to center off Hideki Okajima settled into Coco Crisp’s glove.
Okajima was less fortunate in the eighth when Hideki Matsui led off with a single and Robinson Cano absolutely tattooed a ball off the triangle in dead center for a game-tying triple. Unfortunately, the Yankees were unable to get Cano home with the go-ahead run as Josh Phelps struck out, and Cabrera and Damon grounded out.
In the bottom of the inning, Brian Bruney walked Coco Crisp with two outs and Julio Lugo reached on a bounding single in the shortstop hole that lept over the outstretched gloves of both Rodriguez and Jeter. Dustin Pedroia then cracked what looked like yet another double into the right field gap, but Bobby Abreu caught it on a dead run heading for the Boston bullpen to end the inning.
With the game still tied, Ortiz, Ramirez, and Youkilis looming in the bottom of the ninth, and Jonathan Papelbon stomping around on the mound, Derek Jeter grounded out and Bobby Abreu struck out to bring Alex Rodriguez to the plate with two out and none on. Rodriguez swung through a 93-mile-per-hour heater on the inside corner for strike one, fouled off another for strike two, then put a perfect swing on a pitch on the outside corner and sent it sailing into the Boston bullpen for a tie-breaking homer.
That set up what was just Mariano Rivera’s second save opportunity in the last month. Mo battled Ortiz for ten pitches, including six straight fouls, throwing pitch after pitch right to Jorge Posada’s glove. The tenth pitch just missed however. Jorge called for the ball right under Ortiz’s hands and Rivera missed out over the plate and Ortiz crushed it. By then, however, the game was being played in a driving rainstorm and the rain, the wind, and the topspin on the ball conspired to drop Ortiz’s drive into Bobby Abreu’s glove for the first out. Rivera then struck out Ramirez and, after accidentally hitting Youkilis in the forearm on a check swing, struck out Mile Lowell on a check swing to give the Yankees a 6-5 win in the game and a 3-2 series win.
