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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Tim Wakefield beats the
Yankees
April 16, 2004 ... With the eyes of the sports world trained on the little emerald lawn in the Fens, Terry
Francona seemed to be the only soul unmoved by the drama. Sox and Orioles one night, Sox and Yankees the next. No big deal.
Indeed, some things remain the same, like Tim Wakefield's recent mastery over Yankees other than Aaron Boone, who struck the fateful blow off the Sox knuckleballer in the 11th inning of Game 7 six months ago. Wakefield, who otherwise baffled the Yankees in the ALCS,
returned to stymie the Steinbrenner Nine for seven innings and lead the Sox to a 6-2 victory before 35,163 at Fenway Park in the first of 19 regular-season games between the super-rivals. Even Wakefield was not as jolted by the electricity of the event as most spectators. He said he
felt no different in the dugout than he did in the previous eight games against the Orioles and Blue Jays.
No problem. His team rose to the moment as the Sox rode Wakefield's solid start and home runs by Bill Mueller, Manny Ramirez, and Doug Mirabelli to victory in the opener of the four game Patriots Day weekend showdown. The Sox struck all three homers off Yankees starter
Javier Vazquez, who surrendered six runs (four earned) on nine hits, a walk, and two errors before he was lifted with one out in the sixth. Mueller (a two-run homer) and Mirabelli (a solo shot and run- scoring double) produced the bulk of the Sox' runs, while Ramirez (a solo blast) and an
error by Derek Jeter accounted for the rest. |
