The Boston Red Sox had the perfect chance to make things interesting in the AL East last night.
A 3-1 lead over the New York Yankees in the 9th inning with the Baltimore Orioles having already won their game. They had their closer Andrew Bailey on the mound.
But two batters in, the game was tied at 3-3 after Bailey gave up a leadoff single to Curtis Granderson and then a two-run pinch-hit home run by Raul Ibanez. It didn’t stop there though as Bailey loaded up the bases after retiring Ichiro Suzuki for the first out.
Hopefully former Red Sox skipper in a day or two Bobby Valentine went to the bullpen and pulled his closer for Mark Melancon. As Red Sox fans on Twitter gasped at the call, Melancon proved them all wrong by retiring Mark Teixeira on short fly ball to center and then got Robinson Cano to ground out to end the inning and prolong the game.
The Sox had a chance to take the lead in the 11th with their former 2004 World Series hero on the mound for the Yankees in Derek Lowe.
James Loney led off with a single but was retired on a fielder’s choice by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty went to second on a wild pitch before Ryan Lavarnway struck out. Then Pedro Ciriaco, the Yankees killer all season long, was shown some respect as he was intentionally walked so the Yanks could face the light-hitting Jose Iglesias.
Instead of pinch-hitting for Iglesias with Scott Podsednik, Mike Aviles or even Danny Valencia, Valentine stuck with Iglesias who ended up grounding into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
What I don’t get is why didn’t Valentine pinch-hit for Iglesias. At the very least if you pinch-hit with Pods, you could force the Yanks to go to a lefty. Many Sox fans questioned the lack of a move by Valentine, including myself. And it was Rob Bradford of WEEI.com who came up with the most likely and probably funniest answer.
Because Iglesias never got to two strikes RT @soxanddawgs why not pinch hit Aviles?
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) October 3, 2012
The Yankees would eventually go on to win the game in the 12th after Andrew Miller ran into trouble after getting the first two outs of the inning.
He walked Francisco Cervelli who hadn’t played in 25 games and then walked Granderson. Then Ibanez played hero again with a single to left that scored Cervelli.
The win for the Yankees allowed them to maintain their one-game lead over the Orioles. But a Red Sox win tonight and Orioles win tonight would set up a one-game playoff on Thursday to determine the AL East winner. The reason this would happen besides the Red Sox and Orioles winning tonight is the fact that the two teams tied the regular season series at 9-9.
I really really hope that this happens tonight for at the very least, I DO NOT WANT TO WATCH THE YANKEES CELEBRATE.
Oh and if you want to watch an even more interesting game tonight, be sure to tune into the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics game at 3:35 p.m. The A’s came into the series needing a sweep of the Rangers to win the AL West crown. They’ve won the first two games so tonight’s game between them is for the division crown.
We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take a look at the overnight links from the media.
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Pedroia shows the way [boston herald]
Lester promises to overcome lost year [boston herald]
Lowest low nears end [boston herald]
Ells back in lineup [boston herald]
Time for Bobby to go [boston herald]
Lester on his season: ‘I’m glad it’s over’ [rob bradford – weei.com]
Ibanez does Sox in twice as Yanks win in extras, 4-3 [csn new england]
Bailey’s forgettable season continues with blown save [csn new england]
Loretta weighs in on Lowell, Ausmus [espn boston]
Would Sox target Yankees’ Blakeley? [espn boston]
Valentine defends handling of Ellsbury [espn boston]
Pedey, Papi want to work with Iglesias [espn boston]
Rapid Reaction: Yankees 4, Red Sox 3 [espn boston]
Bailey: ‘I went out there and blew it’ [espn boston]
Jon Lester relieved to put grim season behind him [espn boston]
Red Sox coverage in today’s Globe [extra bases]
Andrew Bailey: ‘This game is what’s going to push me forward to next year’ [full count]
The scout that helped lead Daisuke Matsuzaka to Red Sox reflects on the pitcher’s career in Boston [full count]
Red Sox Cautious With Wrist Injuries to Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava After Carl Crawford Woes [nesn.com]
Dustin Pedroia Playing With Broken Finger, Solidifying Role as Leader in Clubhouse (Video) [nesn.com]
Cody Ross Recognized With Red Sox 10th Player of the Year Award (Video) [nesn.com]
Yankees Spoil Red Sox’ Chance at Playing Spoiler, Ensure That Boston Will Finish Last in Division [nesn.com]
Valentine Hurt After Reading Text Message on Bike [new york times]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the ESPN New York, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times and The Journal News websites. You can also check out our Bloguin brother, NYY Stadium Insider.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
