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THE RAYS and A ONE WAY
TICKET TO "MANNY-WOOD" ...
The Sox avoid being
swept by the Yankees
July 27,
2008 ...
Manny Ramirez said before the game he wouldn't block a trade, then
showed why the Red Sox might grin and bear him, doubling twice and
hitting an RBI single in a 9-2 win over the Yankees that marked a
revival of offense from the top to bottom of the order. The Sox
avoided a three-game sweep, ended the Yankees' eight-game winning
streak, and drew to within a game of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays
in the American League East.
It began, as
it has so often in the last couple of months, with Dustin Pedroia, who from the
leadoff spot singled to touch off a three-run Sox first, hit a sacrifice fly in
the second, and doubled ahead of David Ortiz's fourth-inning home run, Big Papi
finally putting a big bang in his return with his 14th home run to make it 7-0
after four innings.
The Sox had
not scored in consecutive innings in their last nine games. They went 3, 1, 1, 2
in the first four innings tonight after waiting out a 52-minute rain delay,
which gave Jon Lester plenty of breathing room to beat the Yankees for the
second time in 24 days. This didn't look as effortless as the complete-game
shutout he threw in Yankee Stadium as New York had nine hits in seven innings
against Lester, and appeared to have him on the ropes in the fifth when they had
two runs in and the bases loaded with no outs.
But Lester
was equal to the challenge. Alex Rodriguez lined to third, Xavier Nady flied to
shallow center, and Robinson Cano, the AL's hottest hitter since the All-Star
break, tapped back to the mound. Lester walked just one and struck out eight in
running his record to 9-3; Manny Delcarmen and Mike Timlin finished up.
Every player
in the Sox lineup reached base and Jacoby Ellsbury, dropped to the No. 9 spot,
breathed life into a dormant bottom of the order with a double and two singles,
as the Sox did a number on a familiar punching bag, Sidney Ponson. The Sox found
him to be the same soft touch he has always been against them, racking up 10
hits and seven runs in four innings of a loss that dropped Ponson's record
against Boston to 3-12 with a 6.92 ERA.
It won't
show up in the box score, but Kevin Youkilis may have supplied the most energy
with his aggressive play. Youkilis twice challenged the arms of outfielders
successfully. He hustled from first to third on Ortiz's first-inning single,
just beating a strong throw from right fielder Bobby Abreu.
In the
sixth, after Ortiz's sacrifice fly had scored Ellsbury with Boston's eighth run
of the night, Youkilis was still playing as if it was a one-run game, steaming
home from second on base hit by Ramirez just ahead of a throw by left fielder
Xavier Nady.
Ramirez hit
the ball hard in all five of his plate appearances. He doubled home Youkilis in
the first, then ran through DeMarlo Hale's stop sign to score on Mike Lowell's
two-run single. He doubled and scored on Jason Varitek's double in the third,
flied to the triangle in center after Ortiz homered into the right-field seats,
singled in a run in the sixth, and lined to right in the eighth.
The bottom
three hitters in the Sox order, Varitek, Alex Cora, and Ellsbury, combined to go
6 for 12 with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI. Ellsbury had been
hitting .212 in his last 32 games. Eventually you're going to reap the benefits.
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