Two of baseball's biggest rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, provided plenty of material for a J.R. Rowling book on Harry Potter and the Curse of the Bambino during four games at Fenway Park this weekend. The start of the series, played on Friday the 13th, was an indication of weird things to come during this series. Only supernatural forces can explain some of the bizarre plays and umpire calls that occurred during the games, and how the Sox managed to take three out of four from the three-time defending world champs.
After a slew of preseason injuries, which included the loss of All-Star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra for the first half of the year, many baseball fans and columnists proclaimed that the Sox were done for the season. But the Sox were a formidable competitor against the Yanks this weekend, and their eclectic pitching rotation out-dueled the supposed best pitching staff in baseball in four close games.
The first Twilight Zone moment was the Sox come-from-behind victory against the untouchable Mariano Rivera on Friday night. On Saturday, it was the strange base running of Yankee rookie Alfonso Soriano that proved key to the New York win. Among the many eerie moments during Sunday's game was Carl Everett's bloop triple to short right field. In addition, many key runs in the series either scored or were set up by passed balls, wild pitches, and defensive errors.
Playing in Pedro's temple, Manny Ramirez proved that he was worthy of worship from Red Sox nation on Friday night when he gave the Sox a come-from-behind victory in the bottom of the tenth inning. Ramirez, who led the offensive attack this weekend, going 7-17 in the series and extending his hit streak to 11 games, singled off of Yankee closer Rivera to give the Sox a thrilling 3-2 victory.
The runs were made possible, in part, when a passed ball by Jorge Posada allowed Trot Nixon and Carl Everett to advance to second and third. Earlier in the game, Everett reached base when he was hit by a pitch, and went on to score the first Sox run when Ramirez doubled.
Rookie pitcher Paxton Crawford had his second solid start of the season and held his own against veteran Orlando Hernandez. Both gave up one run during six and five innings, respectively, and strong relief pitching sent the game into extra innings.
Sox closer Derek Lowe gave up a double to Yankee second-baseman Alfonso Soriano to open the tenth, and Soriano scored on a ground ball to the third base side that nearly hit his feet before bouncing into left field. The run temporarily deflated the boisterous Red Sox faithful, but Boston fans were recharged by Ramirez's heroics in the bottom of the inning.
On Saturday, the much-hyped match-up between current Sox ace Pedro Martinez and formed Sox ace Roger Clemens turned into a duel between the bullpens, though both pitchers were also upstaged by the heroics of Soriano. The rookie allowed two runs to score when he failed to cover second on a ground ball in the fourth, but he atoned for this mistake with a home run off of Pete Schourek in the top of the ninth to give the Yankees the 3-2 victory.
Soriano was also responsible for New York's other two runs off of Martinez. With Posada on third and Tino Martinez at first, Soriano hit a ground ball that forced Martinez at second but scored Posada. Soriano went on to steal second and third, and scored on the rarest of occurrences, a Martinez wild pitch.
While Martinez was once again solid in his start, the Sox were unable to capitalize on his performance. Pedro had nine strikeouts in seven innings, while Clemens had five in six.
Things got even more bizarre on Sunday, and while it may have been Easter, it seemed more like Halloween at Fenway Park. Four defensive errors were made during the 5-4 Red Sox win, but that doesn't begin to describe some of the abnormal plays that took place during the game.
The key hit of the day was a triple by Carl Everett that opened the seventh inning. Everett launched a pop up into short left field over the head of second baseman Alfonso Soriano, and was able to make it to third when Soriano kicked the ball. Everett tied the game at 3-3 when he scored on a Ramirez double, and the Red Sox took the lead on an RBI-single by Jason Varitek.
Because they were facing a left-handed pitcher, the Red Sox starting line-up included some names that have spent the most of the season warming the bench, including Darren Lewis and Dante Bichette. And if that wasn't weird enough, Boston manager Jimy Williams made seven defensive changes in one inning.
The Red Sox made three defensive errors, but first baseman Brian Daubach made up for those when he ran into the dugout to catch a pop fly in the ninth. The Yankees, meanwhile, committed one error, and third baseman Scott Brosius threw out two Red Sox runners at the plate.
One of Boston's two runs in the fifth was controversial, as replays show that Yankee Chuck Knoblauch caught Ramirez's liner to left field. Umpire Tim Tschida said that the ball touched the ground, and awarded Ramirez a single. The hit allowed Everett, who had previously singled home Mike Lansing, to advance to third, where he scored on a hit by Bichette.
This bizarre seemed to have taken over the pitching mound as well, with demoted starter Rolando Arrojo earning his second save of the year after Lowe struggled again. Yankee starter Andy Pettitte allowed a career-high 14 hits, but was able to limit the Sox to two runs.
The Yankees took the lead 1-0 on a homer by Posada in the first, and made it 3-2 on a Paul O'Neill homer in the sixth. The Sox then erupted for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take control for good.
During Monday's game, the strangest occurrence was simply the fact that the Sox won. Even the most diehard of Sox fans predicted a weekend split with the Yanks, and never expected mediocre starter Frank Castillo to pull off a win against New York's Mike Mussina.
Boston led this game all the way, as Lewis tripled to open the bottom of the first and came home on a ground out by Nixon. The Sox padded their lead on a Lewis single in the fifth, a Mussina throwing error in the seventh, and a fielder's choice by Hillenbrand in the eighth. The Yankees lone run came on a Tino Martinez home run in the eighth.
Jimy Williams continued to play musical chairs with the closer's role, as Rod Beck came in to pitch the ninth for the save.
Yesterday's win put Red Sox fans on top of the baseball world, and tied Boston with Toronto for first place in the American League East. Because of changes in Major League baseball scheduling this year, Boston will face their most-hated rivals 19 times this season. The Sox will again look to massacre baseball's best in three-game series next weekend at Yankee Stadium.
The one weak spot on the Sox team during the series was the lackluster performance of Lowe. Lowe, who was responsible for Boston's opening-day loss to Baltimore, can go ahead and make plans for a vacation during the All-Star break in July, because after his near loss on Friday night and shaky relief performance on Sunday, chances are he won't receive a second nomination to the All-Star team.
