Sox suffer crushing defeat in epic 15 inning duel, 2-0
2:11 AM Sat, Aug 08, 2009 | Permalink
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A masterpiece unfolded at Yankee Stadium early this morning, a 15-inning drama that had it all: old friends facing off in a classic pitchers duel, a future ace making his debut against a childhood hero, a building known only for its offense hosting a exhibition of great pitching. Through it all, two teams in need of a win scratched and clawed at each other to come out on top. It seemed like the kind of game that could last forever, but someone eventually had to win. After 15 innings and close to six hours of improbably scoreless baseball, Alex Rodriguez finally brought the affair to a close with a two-run home run into the Boston bullpen off Junichi Tazawa, tossing his helmet high into the air as he crossed the plate to win perhaps the greatest game in the brief history of the young stadium, 2-0. The loss left Boston reeling from four straight defeats, falling fast in the division with two more games in New York against the first-place Yankees. "The one good thing about baseball is there's always tomorrow... we've just got to come back and continue to do the things we need to make us successful," said Josh Beckett, who started the game off in style for the Red Sox. Beckett dueled with his old teammate, A.J. Burnett, for seven scoreless innings, each one trying to outdo the other. A Red Sox win would end a three-game losing streak and restore confidence after an ugly loss Wednesday. A Yankee win would push the Red Sox 4.5 games out of first place in the AL East. As it turned out, neither man would blink, and after seven brilliant innings each, the two pitchers were both removed from the game, 14 zeroes between them on the massive Yankee Stadium scoreboard. Burnett had allowed only one hit. Beckett four. "Against that lineup, and the way they came in swinging the bat, to put up zeros was impressive," Francona said. Beckett wasn't quite as elusive as Burnett, but he was perhaps even more surgical. "I ended up making pitches when I needed to. I got myself in a couple of jams, some walks, throwing too many pitches to some guys I shouldnh't have thrown that many pitches to," Beckett said. With the starters gone, the bullpens picked up where they left off, each unit pitching seven scoreless innings into the 15th. The NY bullpen held the Red Sox to only three hits in seven innings themselves. The Boston bullpen allowed one hit over six, until the 14th inning, when Junichi Tazawa allowed two hits in the first inning of his major league career. "We saw some good pitching tonight. Real good pitching, but we should be able to score some runs. Tough night offensively for us -- tough night for them," manager Terry Francona said. Tazawa came back out for the 15th, and after a Derek Jeter leadoff single, notched two outs and had a chance to end the inning. But Rodriguez sent a 2-1 curveball over the fence, and spoiled Tazawa's nerve-wracking major league debut. "That was my regret -- I threw the ball a little bit too high," Tazawa said. "I thank them for the opportunity in such an important situation, but I wish I could have done a little better," Tazawa said. The extra frames all had their share of drama, but things really got started with the Red Sox trying to hang on in the bottom of the ninth. With Daniel Bard on the mound trying to hold off the Yankees and send the game to extra innings, the Yankees put two men on base and threatened to end it right there. Alex Rodriguez singled to new Red Sox Chris Woodward at short, and then Hideki Matsui walked. Bard leaned in against Jorge Posada. Then, he bounced up slightly, his shoulder moving -- just enough for home plate umpire Chad Fairchild to call a balk and send the runners to second and third. Bard threw up his hands, surprised and seemingly rattled. But he buckled down enough to get a bad swing from Posada on a breaking ball in the dirt, and record the inning ending strikeout. In the 10th inning, Ramon Ramirez allowed Eric Hinske to reach third through a walk, a wild pitch, and a groundball out, and Derek Jeter came to the plate. Jonathan Papelbon relieved Ramirez, and after six pitches, he blew a fastball by Jeter to end the inning. In the 12th, Manny Delcarmen nearly brought the game to a unsatisfying conclusion, walking two men batters and then running Melky Cabrera to a 3-0 count. But Cabrera popped up to end the inning. In the top of the 14th, Victor Martinez came within a foot of being the hero, but his deep fly ball to right field fell into Eric Hinske's glove with the right fielder up against the outfield wall. Tazawa made his major league debut in the 14th inning, and the first batter he faced was his countryman, Yankee DH Hideki Matsui. Matsui slammed a line drive, but it flew right at Jacoby Ellsbury, who caught the first out of Tazawa's career. Tazawa barely survived the inning, giving up consecutive hits and then a sharp line drive to right to Eric Hinske. The ball shot towards the right field corner, but J.D. Drew made a game-saving catch off, his glove hand outstretched as he pulled in what would have been the game-winning hit. "It's just one of those plays, where you run across the field and throw your glove up, it's just a do-or-die situation," Drew said. Tazawa got another lucky break when a Melky Cabrera line drive landed inches foul of the right-field line. Tazawa then struck out Cabrera to end the inning. The offense needs to bounce back from this tough loss, Drew said. No matter how good the Yankee pitching was, given 15 innings, the hitters need to do more than they did today. "They all pitched well, kept us off balance, got big outs. We just didn't really hit. That's the key," Drew said. "I think the big key for us is to kind of regroup, and have everybody get their swing going again. The Red Sox have now lost four straight games to the two teams that matter most: Tampa Bay and New York. The Red Sox fell to 4.5 back of the Yankees, and one game ahead of Texas in the wildcard race, but Dustin Pedroia insisted there is no reason to panic. "We're playing hard. It's not like we're not trying. We're on a long road trip, playing good teams. We're just not getting many breaks," he said. Pedroia was also not in the mood to appreciate the epic nature of the game he just played. He was more focused on the fact that they lost. "We didn't win. If we'dve won, I would have been pretty excited about it," Pedroia said. Catcher Jason Varitek also warned against making too much out of this game, or this stretch of tough losses, in such a long season. "We've lost two extra-inning games. Our season's not over. We've got two months, and obviously we haven't played our best baseball recently, but the good thing is what I saw pitching-wise today. That's what's going to help us come around," Varitek said. The Yankees and Red Sox meet for the third game of this series this afternoon at 4:10 p.m., with Clay Buchholz facing C.C. Sabathia. 
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this officially ends the red sox season. won't even bother watching Saturdays game.
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this officially ends the red sox season. won't even bother watching Saturdays game.
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YANKEES RULE !!!!!YANKEES ROCK,DEADSOX NOTT!!!
THE GREAT DEADSOX NATION SMACK DOWN HAS BEGUN
PATRIOTS NATION IS NEXT !!! GO GIANTS !!!
GO ELI !!!!!
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JSJr. should move back to NY/NJ with the rest of the sphincters.
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In almost 60 years of watching baseball (maybe of all sports. . . maybe not) I don't think I've ever witnessed anything this good. You young people who don't like baseball or think it's boring, you don't know what you're missing.
runescape gold
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metin2 yangmetin2 yang the Caro and the many others whose lifestyle is hard to imagine today, so far is it from our modern life.
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