On a night where Tim Wakefield couldn’t find the strike zone and AROD got taunted all night, the Yankees managed to take advantage of Wake’s wildness and get the better of the Red Sox, winning 9-5. The game was marred by 5 hit-by-pitches and 2 ejections, including Joe Torre for arguing a call.The last HBP and ejection came in the 9th inning with the Red Sox trailing 9-3. Scott Proctor had the count 2-2 on Kevin Youkilis and unleashed a fastball that ran in on Youk and almost hit him in the head. Youk popped up and started to head to the mound but was stopped by Hip hip Jorge Posada. Home plate umpire Brian Onora immediately ejected Proctor, probably thinking that this was retaliation for Robinson Cano getting hit in the top half of the 9th. The benches cleared but it was more like they all met for tea on the field.
Wake cruised through the first inning, getting all three batters he faced, including Derek Jeter getting thrown out at first on a “Jeter-like” play by Mike Lowell from deep in the hole at third base.
Chien-Mien Wang got into some trouble in the first after retiring the first two batters. He walked Big Papi and then gave up a single to Manny Ramirez, who had 4 hits to raise his average to .283. J.D. Drew then reached on an error by Yankees first baseman Josh Phelps. This loaded up the bases for Mike Lowell, who unfortunately ended the inning by grounding out.
AROD led off the 2nd inning and was greeted by boos and Red Sox fans wearing masks with blond wigs. He ended up walking on the first of Wake’s 8 walks on the night. After Wake got Posada to strikeout, Robinson Cano took a knuckler that hung and absolutely crushed the ball to put the Yanks up 2-0. Bobby Abreu followed that with a double. Then the knuckleball and Wake’s control went South for the winter. He then issued 3 straight walks, the last to Johnny Damon that scored Abreu, making it 3-0 Yanks.
Coco Crisp led off the 2nd with a single. Then Wake’s personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli, popped out to Cano at 2nd. Dustin Pedroia then wasted no time extending his hitting streak to 11 games by lining a double to right, putting Coco on third. Julio Lugo brought in Coco when he grounded out to Cano at second. This cut the lead to 3-1. Youk then drew a walk and Big Papi singled in Pedroia to make the deficit only one run. Manny then lined a single that should have scored Youk but DeMarlo Hale, Sox third base coach, held him up. Manny got to first thinking he had another RBI but put his hands up in the air when he realized Youk hadn’t scored. This loaded the bases for Drew but he couldn’t deliver. He popped up to AROD at third base and while the ball was in the air, you could hear the crowd yelling “mine”, “I got it”, and “You suck!”
As sometimes happens when Wake pitches, he cruised through the third inning.
The Sox managed to tie it up in their half of third. Lowell led off getting hit by a pitch that caused him to leave the game in the 5th and ended his Fenway hitting streak at 22 games. Coco grounded into a fielder’s choice that retired Lowell at second. Before a Mirabelli single, Coco stole second on a close play.
Then the knuckleball went down South in the 4th inning as the Yanks got to Wake for 5 runs and Kyle Synder for 1 run. Cano led off with a single then went to second on a passed ball. Abreu drew a walk and Phelps got hit by a pitch. Everybody moved up a base, including Cano who scored, when Wake threw a wild pitch. Melky Cabrera then lined a single that scored Abreu and moved Phelps to third. Phelps then scored on Mirabell’s 2nd passed ball of the inning, putting the Yanks up 6-3. After the passed ball, he got Damon to pop out and retired Jeter on a groundout to Lugo. He then walked Matsui, ending his night after 3 2/3 innings.
Synder came in and plunked AROD, drawing cheers from the crowd but it loaded up the bases for Posada. Posada didn’t disappoint his teammates as he lined a double off the wall, clearing the bases and basically rendering the game over at this point as the score was 9-3.
Wake’s line was not a pretty one. He went 3 2/3 innings, only allowed 5 hits, 8 runs (all earned), walked 8 and struck out 2. He is now 0-3 against the Yankees this season.
The game stayed status quo until the drama in the 9th except for Torre getting tossed for arguing a call in which Abreu was thrown out stealing third. Youk did extend his hitting streak to 23 games, which is the second longest behind Ichiro’s 24 gamer.
After the hit by pitch of Youkilis, Ron Villone came in and threw exactly two pitches. One was a single to Big Papi and the second was a ball to Manny. Acting manager Don Mattingly then called for Mariano Rivera. Manny lined a single high off the wall that scored Youk. Wily Mo Peña, who replaced an injured Drew, then grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Big Papi cutting the lead to the final margin of 9-5.
Drew tweaked his hamstring and is listed as day-to-day.
The loss was the Red Sox second in a row. It also equaled their longest losing streak of the season. Look for Curt Schilling to right the ship on Saturday. Also be on the lookout for any retaliation on the Youk HBP.
