|
ON THIS DATE (April 24, 2009) ...
With two outs in the
bottom of the ninth inning a runner on, the Yankees up by two, and
the closer's closer on the mound, Jason Bay reversed a Mariano Rivera
cutter and drilled it to the yellow line in dead center field. And
38,163 fans rose to agree that in the end, it felt exactly like it
used to.
First
Bay struck to tie the score at 4-4. Then Kevin Youkilis launched a Damaso Marte
pitch over everything in left with one out in the 11th for a 5-4 Red Sox
victory. Somehow it all strangely made sense in the looking-glass world of the
Red Sox and Yankees.
The
home run brought a pile of red shirts to home plate. It was a mammoth shot, a
fitting shot, the crowd filling the night with chants of "Yooouk" after a game
that seemed lost much earlier.
There
wasn't much to enjoy early for the Sox. They stranded 13 runners and grounded
into four double plays in the first five innings. There were chances missed. Far
too many.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this was the first time the Sox hit a
tying homer in the ninth and a walk-off in extra innings against the Yankees.
The last walk-off homer for the Sox against the Yankees prior to last night was
Bill Mueller's July 24, 2004, when he hit a two-run shot in the ninth inning off
Rivera. |
