CURSES! FOILED AGAIN
Sox once down 0-3 in ALCS ties series behind gusty performance of Curt Schilling




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
October 20, 2004

Last Sunday morning the New York Yankees awoke to find themselves up three games to none in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. They had their archrivals, the Boston Red Sox, on the verge of capitulation. This morning they find themselves in a dog-fight of epic proportion as they are also on the brink of elimination. The Boston Red Sox has done what no other team in Major League history has done. They have roared back after losing the first three games in a playoff series to force a Game 7.

In Game 3 the Yankees pounded the Red Sox for baseball records of 19 runs and 22 hits. The two teams combined set many new offensive records. After the game the faces on the Red Sox players was anything, but confident. They looked dead. If you were a Yankees’ fan you were loving life. If you were rooting for the Red Sox you had to be looking toward the heavens and saying to yourself, “What, again!?”

As I said in an earlier article I wasn’t going to be dumb enough to count the Sox out. You can’t predict an unpredictable game. Oh sure, you can use the past to gauge a team’s chances of winning, but the bottom line is you have to go out and play inning by inning. The Red Sox have done exactly that. They have gone out and played inning by inning.

In my mind the change in momentum came when Mariano Rivera came into Game 4 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The first man he faced was Kevin Millar. Mariano, if he has had troubles against any teams it’s the Red Sox, walked Millar on five pitches. Dave Roberts pinch ran for him and he promptly stole second base. Bill Mueller, who has been a thorn in the Yankees’ side, singled and Roberts scored to tie the game at 4-4. Blown save. From that point on the Yankees’ couldn’t rub two nickels together to fashion a run and the game ended in the eleventh inning as David Ortiz knocked out a two-run home run off reliever Paul Quantrill to win the game for the Sox. No worries though. The Yankees were still up 3-1 in the series. We had history on our side, right?

Game 5 was nearly a carbon copy of Game 4. The Yankees got to Pedro Martinez and were leading the Sox 4-2 behind a great pitching performance by Mike Mussina. Tom Gordon came into the game and promptly gave up a home run to, you guessed it, David Ortiz. Gordon’s troubles didn’t stop there as he walked Kevin Millar and gave up a single Trot Nixon. Boston manager Terry Francona got the two swiftest guys on the team to run for Millar and Nixon. With Dave Roberts and Gabe Kapler occupying first and third manager Joe Torre went to Rivera. Poor Rivera was being asked to get the team out of Gordon’s mess and once again Mo proved he’s human. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Jason Varitek and the score was tied 4-4.

As in Game 4 the play went into extra innings. Francona’s bullpen was thin and tired. Somehow, Timlin, Foulke, Arroyo, Myers, Embree and Wakefield kept the Yankees off the scoreboard. Like the October Missile Crisis, who was going to blink first? Unfortunately, it was the Yankees. Esteban Loiaza had pitched three scoreless innings in relief. He was matched by Boston’s Tim Wakefield. Once again, a walk issued by a Yankees pitcher was the Bombers’ undoing, as Loiaza issued a free pass to Johnny Damon. He walked Ramirez, moving Damon to second. This set the stage for this series one-man wrecking ball to stick another knife in the Yankees’ heart. With two on David Ortiz dueled with Loaiza for 10 pitches. On the 10th pitch he blooped it into shallow center and Boston nipped the Yankees 5-4.

Now a team who was left for dead was suddenly alive, gaining momentum and heading back to Yankee Stadium where they play very well. Another bad sign for the Yankees was Curt Schilling was going to pitch Game 6 on his bum right ankle. How long he would last nobody knew. Well, as we all know now he lasted too long for the Yankees’ liking.

It was suggested to Joe Torre that the Yankees should bunt, bunt, bunt and make Schilling move around to field his position. Torre’s response was that isn’t how the New York Yankees play their game? Huh? Since when don’t you take advantage of an opponent’s weakness and exploit it? This line of thinking is what has sunk the Yankees in the last three games.

Curt Schilling did a masterful job, basically pitching on one wheel. He threw seven strong innings and only gave up a single run in the process. That was a solo shot by Bernie Williams in the 6th inning. With blood soaking his ankle Schilling gutted out a cold night in New York and held the Yankees’ offense at bay. He gave his bullpen a much needed rest.

On the other side of the coin, Jon Lieber also pitched well. He had one bad inning when the Red Sox tagged him for four runs. He threw for 7-1/3 innings and also gave his tired bullpen some rest. Regrettably for Lieber the vaunted Yankees’ offense took the night off and couldn’t pick up an otherwise good outing.

What we saw in the Red Sox dugout after Game 3 is exactly what we saw in the Yankees’ dugout after Game 6. There were vacant expressions and slumped shoulders leaving for the clubhouse while the Red Sox celebrated their series tying victory near the mound.

So what has changed over the course of three games. Two things that I can see have been the difference. Management and execution. Terry Francona has clearly out-managed Joe Torre in these past three games. He has changed his team’s approach to the Yankees. He and his team are doing the little things to make things happen. They get timely hits and they steal bases, or at least try when conditions call for it. They are manufacturing runs. Plus, Francona’s bullpen as tired as they are has answered the call above and beyond what is expected.

The Yankees, conversely, instead of making things happen seem to be waiting for things to happen. They’re not attacking, they’re sitting back. The Yankees are clearly playing back on their heels. They haven’t changed their approach when the need arises, such as Curt Schilling’s ankle. They didn’t do anything to try and take advantage of his injury. The patience the Yankee hitters had in the first three games has disappeared. Their captain, other than one good at bat when he knocked in three runs, has disappeared. He is hacking and not showing patience at the plate. Same goes for most of the rest of the offense. Instead of waiting for pitches to drive, they’re swinging out of the strike zone making them easy prey for Boston’s pitching staff. No one exemplifies that more than Tony Clark, who looks lost at the plate, with a series high eight strikeouts.

Now, it’s do or die time for both teams. The Yankees have clearly released their chokehold on this series, while Boston has seized the moment. Today, it’s Brown vs. Lowe. The winner goes to the World Series and the loser goes home to contemplate over a long winter what might have been. The Boston Red Sox have never celebrated a playoff series victory in the “House that Ruth built.” This Yankees’ team doesn’t want to be the first team to let the Sox do that. If that happens there will be no living with us as Yankees’ fans. There will absolutely be no living with Boston Red Sox fans that will mete out 85 seasons of frustration upon us. I’ve got a big bottle of Maalox ready for the game. I’d suggest you do the same.

PLAY BALL!


© 2004 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

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