推 wang3181:Now we have a chance to win five. 08/21 18:48
推 yuliyeah:Yankees sweep Red Sox 08/21 19:02
出處：http://0rz.net/ae1Kp
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Game Goes on Forever, and the Yankees Win Again
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: August 21, 2006
BOSTON, Aug. 21 – The series that never sleeps will conclude sometime late
Monday afternoon. But that is only a theory. When the Yankees play the Boston
Red Sox, the games seem to last forever. And the way they have gone this
weekend, the Yankees may never want to leave.
It was 1:27 a.m. Monday morning when the Yankees finally outlasted the Red Sox
, 8-5, in 10 dismal innings for the fans at Fenway Park. Derek Jeter tied the
game with a two-out single in the ninth inning, and Jason Giambi won it with
his second home run, a laser into the Red Sox bullpen off Craig Hansen to lead
off the 10th.
“Hey,” said Mike Mussina, smiling despite a groin injury that knocked him
out early, “if you’re on the winning side, you’ll play as long as it takes.
”
It was the Yankees’ fourth victory in four games this weekend as they try to
bury the Red Sox in the American League East. The Yankees have gained 9 ?
games in the standings since July 4, and their division lead is 5 ? games,
their widest since Sept. 24, 2004.
Both teams made the playoffs that year, and again last season. But the Red
Sox’ hopes are in jeopardy now after the bullpen wasted a strong effort by
Curt Schilling on Sunday. The pitching staff is in tatters, allowing 47 runs
in the series.
“This is tough,” said Schilling, who lasted seven innings. “We have been
outplayed for four games. If we keep playing like this, we won’t be playing
in October.”
Mussina lasted only four innings for the Yankees – two before a 57-minute
rain delay, two after – and left with tightness in his right groin. He felt
it during the fourth and said he suffered the same injury on June 30 in a
rain-delayed game against the Mets.
“The only reason I’m worried about it is because this was the second time,”
Mussina said. “But I don’t think it’s too bad.”
The Yankees saw 13 different Boston pitchers this weekend before the most
dominant one took the mound. With closer Jonathan Papelbon rested and ready
– he had thrown only six pitches since last Sunday – Red Sox Manager
Terry Francona called for Mike Timlin to protect a 5-3 lead in the eighth.
Francona cited favorable match-up numbers for Timlin and the hitters he would
face, and then touched on a deeper truth.
“I don’t think, long-term, it’s the way we can win games,” Francona said.
“We have to be able to get some people out.”
Timlin could not do that. He allowed a single and hit a batter, and the
left-hander Javier Lopez walked Bobby Abreu. Finally, Francona summoned
Papelbon, who survived an eight-pitch clash with Giambi.
Giambi saw all fastballs, and his towering try for a grand slam expired on the
warning track for a sacrifice fly. With the lead cut to 5-4, Papelbon walked
Alex Rodriguez before fanning Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada.
He nearly finished off the Yankees in the ninth but blew the save when Jeter
punched a two-seam fastball to right to score Melky Cabrera, who had led off
with a double and reached third on a wild pitch.
“It wasn’t looking too good for us,” Jeter said, “but that’s why you play
27 outs – and sometimes a little extra.”
Jeter was behind in the count, 0-1, and said he did not want to fall behind
further. His hit was the first thing Manager Joe Torre cited after the game.
“I knew I felt good coming into this series, but you could never imagine this
was going to be the case, this was going to be the result,” Torre said.
“Papelbon, basically, was unhittable. He made a good pitch to Jeter, and he
was able to fight it off.
“This could have been the most incredible one of all,” Torre continued.
“This ballclub just won’t be denied.”
With the score tied, 5-5, Mariano Rivera came in for the ninth. David Ortiz
smashed a bad-hop double over Giambi’s head to lead off the inning,
belly-flopping into second base on his slide. Francona did not use a
pinch-runner, and Rivera walked Manny Ramirez intentionally.
Kevin Youkilis came up next, with two hits already, and bunted back to Rivera,
who fired to third to catch Ortiz.
“We wanted to start off, at least, bunting,” Francona said. “And if things
changed once they were in for a bunt defense, we could certainly change it.
But I wanted, in that situation, to take our chances with second and third.”
A passed ball and an intentional walk brought up Eric Hinske as a pinch-hitter,
and Rivera struck him out. Doug Mirabelli then tapped a weak grounder back to
the mound for the third out.
In the 10th, Giambi ripped the third pitch from Hansen on a low line, just over
the glove of the charging center fielder, Coco Crisp. Posada added a two-run
shot down the right field line for the cushion.
“I knew I covered it, but I wasn’t quite sure it was going to be high enough
,” said Giambi, who has 36 homers and 101 runs batted in. “If anything, it
probably kept the wind from catching it. But it was lathered.”
Giambi called the game and the series “some of the greatest teamwork I’ve
ever been involved with,” and it was hard to argue. The Yankees have picked
just the right time to play their best, and the Red Sox look helpless to stop
them.
“I don’t think either side would have predicted someone was going to win
four games,” Mussina said. “Everybody just assumed it was going to be 3-2
one way or the other. Especially for the visiting team to come in here and
win four – we’ve won the first four, and now we have a chance to win five.”
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