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RANDY JOHNSON |
A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
The Yankees win
the game
and win the A.L. East
October 1, 2005
...
At 4:27 p.m., a couple of things finally became clear. Johnny Damon
grounded feebly to Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees, 8- 4
winners over the Red Sox in Game No. 161, were champions of the
American League East for the eighth consecutive season. But because
the staggering Indians had lost again to the White Sox, the Red Sox
somehow clinched at least a playoff for the wild-card berth. With one
more to play against the Yankees today, the Sox can secure the
wild-card spot by winning. They also qualify if the Indians lose
again.
The Red Sox
are very much alive in their quest to win back-to-back World Series, but it was
a downer to see the soldiers of the Evil Empire dancing on the Fenway lawn.
Randy
Johnson started for New York and beat the Red Sox to finish 5-0 against Boston
in 2005. The Big Unit was staked to an early lead (the Yanks hit three homers
off Tim Wakefield) and dazzled the Sox in the afternoon shadows. He gave up a
monstrous two- run homer to Manny Ramirez in the first, but yielded only three
runs on five hits over 7 1/3 innings.
Wakefield,
who pitched sensationally for the Sox in September, including a 1-0 loss to
Johnson in Yankee Stadium three weeks ago, was ineffective in his final
regular-season start. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez opened the game with
singles and after a run scored on a fielder's choice, Gary Sheffield made it 3-0
with a two-run homer to left.
Ramirez got
a pair back for the Sox with the first of his two titanic blasts, but the
Yankees put two more on the board in the second and a homer by Hideki Matsui in
the third made it 6-2. A-Rod threatened drivers on the Mass Pike East with
another solo shot in the fifth, and Mike Stanton, Jeremi Gonzalez, Lenny
DiNardo, Chad Bradford. and Criag Hansen paraded to the hill while smart fans
turned their eyes toward events at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Francona needed to
save Jonathan Papelbon and Mike Timlin for tomorrow.
When
Chicago's immortal Tadahito Iguchi hit a three-run homer in Cleveland,
everything changed in Boston. Suddenly, the Yankees were in position to clinch
the AL East on Fenway soil. The White Sox secured their victory at 4:13, and 14
minutes later the Yankees were popping the corks on Great Western. Late in the
afternoon, the new message on the eraser board next to the Sox clubhouse door
was short and to the point: "Tomorrow. Pack for three day trip." |
