If last night's win was the opening salvo fired by the Boston Red Sox at the New York Yankees, today the Empire struck back so to speak. Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens one year after their epic pitcher's duel they had in the Bronx had another head to head matchup this time in Boston. This one ended in a stalemate as the Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a Trot Nixon 2 rbi single in the fourth, only for the Yankees to answer with 2 in the seventh. The one advantage the Yankees appear to have over the Red Sox is their vaunted bullpen and today's game showcased that. After Clemens left after 6 innings the Yankees bullpen didn't allow a run while Pete Schourek (0-1, 1.69 ERA) allowed a leadoff home run to Alfonso Soriano in the top of the ninth. Unlike last night, Mariano Rivera slammed the door in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees struck back to win the game 3-2 at Fenway Park.
Pedro took the mount in the top of the first inning and Chuck Knoblauch struck out swinging to start. Derek Jeter lined out to center and Paul O'Neill lined out to left to end the inning. Old pal Clemens got the ball in the bottom of the first and Trot Nixon flied out to center to start. Jose Offerman grounded out to second but Carl Everett singled to center. Everett took second on a passed ball and Manny Ramirez grounded out to third to end the inning.
Pedro dominated the top of the second as David Justice struck out swinging to start. Jorge Posada struck out swinging and Tino Martinez hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. Troy O'Leary grounded out to second to start the bottom of the second before Jason Varitek walked. Shea Hillenbrand forced Varitek at second and Brian Daubach grounded into a force to end the inning.
Pedro turned up the heat in the top of the third as he blew away Alfonso Soriano, Scott Brosius and Clay Bellinger swinging to begin and end the inning. That's 6 of 9 batters retired by strikeout. Clemens kept pace in the bottom of the third as Craig Grebeck grounded back to the mound to start. Nixon doubled to right but Offerman took strike three. Everett walked but Ramirez struck out swinging to end the inning.
Knoblauch broke up any notion of a perfect game in the top of the fourth as he doubled to left to start. Knoblauch moved to third on the Jeter grounder but O'Neill grounded out to first. Justice flied out to right to end the inning. The Sox struck first in the bottom of the fourth as O'Leary flied out to left to start. Varitek struck out swinging but Hillenbrand singled to right. Daubach walked and Jeter misplayed a grounder by Grebeck to load the bases. Nixon made Jeter pay with a base hit to left to score both Hillenbrand and Daubach to put the Sox on top. Offerman struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Posada struck out swinging to start the top of the fifth but Martinez singled to right. Soriano flied out to center but Brosius got a base hit to center. Bellinger whiffed to end the inning. Everett walked to start the bottom of the fifth but Ramirez banged into a double play. O'Leary grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Knoblauch singled to center to start the top of the sixth but Jeter flied out to right. Knoblauch was thrown out trying to steal second but O'Neill walked. Justice flied out to center to end the inning. Clemens returned for one final inning in the bottom of the sixth as Varitek singled to center to start. Hillenbrand popped up a bunt attempt to first and that proved costly as a wild pitch moved Varitek to second. Daubach struck out swinging and Grebeck grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Yankees finally got to Pedro in the top of the seventh as Posada doubled to right and Martinez singled him to third in the blink of an eye. Soriano beat out a double play ball and Posada scored to cut the lead. Soriano swiped second but Brosius struck out swinging. Luis Sojo pinch hit for Bellinger and Soriano swiped third as well. Somehow Pedro threw ball four to Sojo to the backstop and Soriano scored to tie the game. Knoblauch flied out to right to end the inning but the game was tied 2-2. That was it for Pedro who's uncharacteristic wild pitch made him give up 2 runs in 7 innings of work.
The vaunted Yankees bullpen took over in the bottom of the seventh as Mike Stanton got Nixon to pop up to Sojo in foul territory to start. Offerman popped up to first in foul territory and Everett flied out to center to end the inning.
Rod Beck came in to pitch the top of the eighth but was greeted with a base hit to center by Jeter. Sox manager Jimy Williams decided to go with the lefty Pete Schourek to face O'Neill and he did get Paul to take strike three. Jeter stole second on the strikeout and took third on the grounder by Justice. Posada was intentionally walked to get to the lefty Martinez and Tino grounded out to first to end the inning. Ramirez stroked a base hit to left to start the bottom of the eighth and Williams sent in Darren Lewis to pinch run. O'Leary took strike three and Hillenbrand hit a bullet...right to Martinez at first who doubled off Lewis to end the inning.
Williams forgot to take Schourek out after the eighth inning and this mistake cost the Sox as the right handed hitting Soriano hit a home run to the Forest Moon of Endor to give the Yankees the lead in the top of the ninth. Brosius somehow lined out to third, Sojo grounded back to the mound and Knoblauch lined out to short to end the inning with the Yankees ahead 3-2.
Mariano Rivera took the mound for the bottom of the ninth and Scott Hatteberg pinch hit for Hillenbrand to start. Hatteberg grounded back to the mound and Daubach struck out swinging. Dante Bichette pinch hit for Grebeck and took strike three to end the game. The Yankees had won it 3-2.
Yankees win
Schourek the Jackass
Rod Beck allowed a hit to the only man he faced
Darren Lewis ran for Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth.
Jackass of the Night is Pete Schourek. He served up the gopher ball to Soriano to lose the game.
The Good:
Trot Nixon was 2 for 4 with 2 rbis.
Carl Everett was 1 for 2 with 2 walks.
Jason Varitek was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Shea Hillenbrand was 1 for 3 with a run scored.
Pedro Martinez tossed 7 innings of 2 run ball while striking out 9 Yankees.
The Bad:
Jose Offerman was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Troy O'Leary was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Scott Hatteberg was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter.
Craig Grebeck was 0 for 3.
Dante Bichette was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter.
Rod Beck allowed a hit to the only man he faced
The Ugly:
Manny Ramirez was just 1 for 4.
Brian Daubach was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts but walked and scored a run.
Honorable Mention:
Darren Lewis ran for Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox got snapped back to reality less than 24 hours after their epic win over the Yankees. The trio of Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Stanton and Mariano Rivera have held the Sox to just 1 run in 7 2/3 innings in the last two games. That's the one advantage the Yankees appear to have with the Red Sox unable to trust Derek Lowe at the moment. If only Lowe was as dominant as he was last year, the Sox may have been able to kept tonight's game going long enough for them to win. Still, last year is last year and the Sox have plenty more games to go against the Yankees this year. Something needs to be done at shortstop because Grebeck can't hit the ball out of his hand and Mike Lansing is not a natural shortstop. Nomar Garciaparra isn't coming back for a few months but they can't keep putting Grebeck out there to hit .050. Tomorrow the Sox look to take the third game of the series when Hideo Nomo (2-0, 0.60 ERA) takes on Andy Pettite of the Yankees. The game begins at 1:05 PM at Fenway Park.
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