Projo Sox Blog

Maybe the Yankees are, well, cursed.

The last time they beat the Red Sox, the calendar read 2008. Tonight, it looked like they might finally win their first of the year against Boston after seven straight losses. But a 3-1 lead evaporated into the rainy night as Boston mounted a furious rally in the eighth against Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia and the beleaguered Yankee bullpen. Boston won 4-3 for the series sweep, and the eighth straight win against New York.

It was, manager Terry Francona said, a special night -- in a place where the Sox play like they have some higher power on their side.

"Things happen, like we've seen happen here before. Good players doing doing some pretty special things in a pretty special place. It was electric. You could feel it. I'd like to sit up here and say 'it never means more than it means,' but it's hard not to get excited," Francona said.

In the eighth inning, with Sabathia still pitching well at just over 100 pitches, it looked like the Sox were on their way to a loss. But shortstop Nick Green started off the inning with a single, and second baseman Dustin Pedroia ground out a 10-pitch walk that brought the Yankee ace to 120 pitches -- and appeared to sap his stuff.

"I thought that was the play of the game, because it wore Sabathia down. I think once he hit about 110 pitches his stuff got not-as-good. You could tell he was fatigued," Green said.

With Pedroia and Green on base, J.D. Drew singled to bring in Green, and Kevin Youkilis singled to load the bases, and then Jason Bay delivered the game-tying RBI line-drive to left, sending the Fenway crowd into a rain-soaked frenzy. Mike Lowell gave Boston the lead soon after with a sacrifice fly.

"We didn't quit, that's the biggest thing. Especially facing [Sabathia], he was great. We finally got to him when he had 120 pitches. It took a while but it was a great win for us," Pedroia said.

It was a frenzied finish to a game that had begun with excellent pitching performances. In a matchup of starters weighing down the pitching mound at a combined 520 pounds, the lightweight came out on top, with 230-pound Brad Penny throwing six shutout innings to top 290-pound Sabathia's four-runs in seven.

Penny was throwing hard, hitting 97 often and 98 from time to time, and he was winning long battles with Yankee hitters. He took 11 pitches to get Robinson Cano in the first, nine to get Alex Rodriguez in the sixth, and went into several seven-pitch duels with Yankee batters. In his six innings, he threw 117 pitches, allowing five hits, one walk, and striking out five.

"He was tremendous," Francona said.

Once Penny was out of the game, however, the Yankee bats feasted on Manny Delcarmen. Delcarmen came into the game with the best ERA against New York of any pitcher since 1954 (with a minimum of 20 games against New York). He hadn't given up a run against the Yanks since 2006.

That streak ended quickly tonight. Delcarmen allowed three hits and a walk to Yankee batters, giving up three runs. His final pitch led to a 379-foot Alex Rodriguez double off the centerfield wall to score two runs, and give New York a 3-1 lead. Delcarmen then left the game in favor of Takashi Saito.

Delcarmen didn't scare the Yankees tonight, but he figures that a streak like this has to be getting in their heads.

"I definitely think so. Penny pitched his butt off tonight. I didn't do the job I wanted to do, but it shows the heart of the team to come back. Everything is clicking right now, so it's good," Delcarmen said.

Rocco Baldelli, playing a rare game in centerfield, laid out on a beautiful diving grab to rob Melky Cabrera of a sure double in the eighth inning. Baldelli slid and rolled for several feet after making the catch on the slick Fenway grass.

Boston's first run came via David Ortiz' fourth homer of the season -- an opposite-field blast over the Monster off the lefty Sabathia -- in the bottom of the 2nd inning.
Following the home run, Ortiz acknowledged the crowd with his fourth curtain call of the season, popping out of the dugout with both hands pointing to the sky.

With two home runs -- and two curtain calls -- during the three-game sweep, perhaps no one has enjoyed or appreciated this stretch more than Ortiz.

"Man, it feels good. We're playing good against them and we've been executing at the right time. Our pitching has been unbelievable and that's what it takes to win games," ORtiz said. "This is baseball and you never know what's going to happen. I know we always play good against the Yankees, but I don't remember anything like this."

The Boston sweep sends New York home two full games behind the Red Sox in the East. Boston now heads to Philadelphia for a three-game series.

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Brad Penny Dan Barbarisi David Ortiz Manny Delcarmen

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