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HIDEKI MATSUI |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Yankees beat Pedro Martinez again
September 24, 2004 ... Terry Francona sent
Pedro Martinez to the mound with a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning after Martinez had thrown 101 pitches to the Yankees. Francona stuck with Martinez after Hideki Matsui launched Martinez's 103d pitch (a 90-mile-per-hour fastball) into the Sox pen to force a 4-4 deadlock. The manager stood by Martinez after he surrendered a
double to the next batter, Bernie Williams, on the 108th pitch of his outing. And Francona relieved Martinez after he allowed a decisive RBI single with one out to Ruben Sierra on his 117th pitch.
So it was that the Sox suffered a wrenching 6-4 loss in the opener of a three-game series that, by nearly all accounts, they needed to sweep to achieve their goal of overtaking the Yankees for the division title. The defeat dropped the Sox 5 1/2 games back with nine to play.
The frustrated legions among the 35,022 at Fenway Park turned their anger on Francona. They booed him on his march from the dugout to replace Martinez with Alan Embree. They booed him on the way back, and they booed him after he protested a close play at third later in the inning and
replaced Embree with Mike Timlin. They booed Francona louder than he has been booed in 153 games since he succeeded Little.
Martinez's line, it turned out, was eerily similar to his line in Game 7 of last year's final game of the ALCS, when the Yankees erased a three-run lead against him in the eighth inning, hastening Grady Little's firing. Martinez, who surrendered five runs on 10 hits and a walk in 7 1/3
innings in Game 7, last night allowed five runs on nine hits, two walks, and a hit batsman in, well, 7 1/3 innings. Martinez once was so defiant in the face of Yankee adversity that he called for summoning the ghost of Babe Ruth so he could drill the Bambino in the butt. But the latest loss
seemed to humble him. He dropped to 10-11 with a 3.24 ERA in his career against the Yankees.
Timlin, who helped rescue Martinez in the eighth, surrendered an RBI double to Matsui in the ninth inning to make things stickier for the Sox. The Yankees summoned Mariano Rivera to pitch the ninth. And Rivera, who had blown his previous two save opportunities, prevailed despite walking Trot
Nixon leading off and surrendering a double to Orlando Cabrera. Rivera escaped by getting Jason Varitek and Bill Mueller to bounce back to the mound, with Varitek's grounder starting a double play.
With his two-run shot off Mike Mussina in the third inning, Ramirez topped his season-best home run total for the Sox with his 42d of the year. He hit 41 in his first year with the team in 2001. Ramirez and Ortiz (40 homers) matched Ted Williams and Vern Stephens for the most homers in a
season by a pair of Sox teammates. Williams hit 43 and Stephens 39 in 1949. |
