ROUND ONE GOES TO THE SOX
Boston takes advantage of Yankees weak offense, leaky defense




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
October 1, 2005

So much for this greatly anticipated match up. The Boston Red Sox convincingly knocked out the Yankees in the first game of their 3-game series. The Red Sox took advantage of New York’s mistakes to roll to a 5-3 victory in front a packed Fenway Park crowd.

The night started off badly for the Yankees as Boston starter David Wells struck out Derek Jeter to start the game. Afterwards, Wells ran into trouble as he was unable to get his curveball over for a strike. He walked Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi. Rodriguez stole third base and with runners on first and third Wells Gary Sheffield on his back foot with a low breaking ball to load the bases. Hideki Matsui got things started for New York by singling to centerfield. Rodriguez scored with Giambi moving up to third and Sheffield taking second base.

The Yankees were poised to have a huge inning, but Jorge Posada struck out and Ruben Sierra flew out to Trot Nixon in right field to end the inning. New York missed a golden opportunity, and Boston made them pay.

In the bottom of the first the ever dangerous Johnny Damon walked to open the Sox half the inning. He stole second and was knocked in by David Ortiz to tie the score at one. Yankees starter Chien Ming Wang, who was starting his first game at Fenway Park, began his night a little shaky, but seemed to settle down. He struck out Manny Ramirez and Trot Nixon to end the inning.

In the second inning the Yankees went quickly in order as Bernie Williams flew out to Manny Ramirez in left field. Ramirez made a sparkling play running the ball down and catching it over his shoulder a few feet short of the Green Monster. Robinson Cano followed by grounding out to second and Jeter flew out to Nixon in right field.

Wang went back to work and the first batter he faced was Jason Varitek. Wang got a sinker over the middle of the plate and Tek deposited the ball over the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Wang was able to set the next three Sox down in order.

The night didn’t get any better for the Yankees. In the top of the third inning Alex Rodriguez flew out, Jason Giambi struck out looking and Gary Sheffield grounded out. After a rocky first inning David Wells was cruising through the Yankees line up.

Both teams went scoreless in the 4th and 5th innings and the Yankees were blanked in the sixth. In the bottom of the frame the Red Sox got busy with Johnny Damon singling to right field and stealing second again. Edgar Renteria struck out and the Yankees intentionally walked David Ortiz. That brought up Manny Ramirez who, in any other year, would be mentioned right along side of Rodriguez and Ortiz for MVP. Ramirez singled to shallow left field to load the bases. Wang walked Trot Nixon forcing in Damon from third. Jason Varitek hit into a fielder’s choice when he hit a grounder to first baseman Giambi. Giambi made a nice scoop, but threw errantly to home allowing Ortiz to score from third base. Giambi was charged with a throwing error. First baseman John Olerud hit a sacrifice fly to score Ramirez. After a wild pitch that moved Nixon to third the inning mercifully ended when Wang got Bill Mueller to ground out to Giambi at first.

The Yankees finally showed some muscle in the top of the 7th inning when with one out Robinson Cano singled to left field and shortstop Derek Jeter followed up with a blast over the right field wall to close the gap to 5-3. Alex Rodriguez failed to keep the line moving as he struck out and Jason Giambi grounded out to end the inning. That would be all the runs the Yankees would get for the evening.

The Yankees had a miserable night at the plate. Catcher Jorge Posada, DH Ruben Sierra and centerfielder Bernie Williams went a combined 0-12. Posada and Sierra both struck out twice and left six men on base. Both Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield went 0-3, each striking out once. The only player who seemed to have the Red Sox figured out was Hideki Matsui who went 3-4 and knocked in a run in the top of the first inning.

The sad truth is the Yankees actually out hit the Red Sox 7 to 4. However, it was the Red Sox who played small ball, along with timely hitting to beat the Yankees Friday night. Chien Ming Wang matched David Wells, but was deserted by an absent offense and a leaky defense.

As for the head-to-head performances of MVP candidates Ortiz and Rodriguez the advantage definitely went to Ortiz. He was constantly involved in Boston’s scoring situations, whereas Rodriguez failed with his bat. A-Rod also made an error in the third inning when he allowed a ground ball hit by Johnny Damon to go between his legs and into left field. Fortunately, the error didn’t cost the Yankees a run as Damon later made a base running error at second base and was tagged out in a run-down by Derek Jeter to end the inning.

It was the Yankees who appeared tentative from the outset of the game. They laid back and waited for things to happen, but nothing did until it was too late to do any real damage.

Tomorrow Boston’s Tim Wakefield (16-11) goes against Randy Johnson (16-8) in a 1:15 p.m. start. The game will be part of FOX Sports national game. Johnson beat Wakefield 1-0 at Yankee Stadium on September 11th. New York is hoping for another strong performance from the Unit, otherwise it will be the Yankees whose backs will be against the wall. Both teams are now even-Steven with two to play. As they say in television, “stay tuned.”

PLAY BALL!



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