Baseball is a nine inning game, but sometimes it comes down to a series of moments.
And the Yankees fell short when that moment arrived.
Mike Mussina pitched gallantly but stayed in one batter to long and Manny Ramirez made him pay as he finished with three runs batted to help lead the
Red Sox over the Yankees 5-4 at Fenway Park. Rain also factored into this contest (surprise, surprise) as a delay of 2 hours and 11 minutes choked off a two-out Bomber rally in the eighth inning. Jonathan Papelbon eventually came in to face Alex Rodriguez with runners on first and second and blew A-Rod away on three pitches. The loss drops the Yanks back to .500 at 6-6.
The Good:Alberto Gonzalez. The plucky little shortstop has filled in nicely for Jeter and helped ignite a two-run Yankee sixth inning. Gonzalez followed a Jose Molina leadoff single with a single of his own. Molina would eventually score on a Melky Cabrera sacrifice fly to tie the score at 1-1. Gonzo wound up a third with two outs and then raced home on a wild pitch by Josh Beckett to give the Yanks a short-lived 2-1 lead. The pitch didn't get that far away from catcher Jason Varitek, but Gonzalez got a great jump and beat the throw. Bert's only mistake came when he slid head-first into first trying to beat out a base hit in the third inning. Gonzalez finished 1 for 3 with a run scored and is batting .345 on the year.
The Bad:Joe Girardi. I don't think I've ever placed Joe Torre in my "bad" category (I could check, but I'm a lazy, lazy man), but G.I. Joe's decision to leave Mike Mussina in to face Manny Ramirez with runners on second and third and two outs was beyond baffling. Sure, Moose struck out David Ortiz (who is really struggling) for the second out of the inning, but there was no reason to tempt fate again. Ramirez blasted a solo homer off Mussina in the fourth to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead and had six career dingers against The Moose. But Girardi didn't see it that way and opted to have Mussina face Manny. I thought Mussina would try to get Ramirez to chase some breaking balls in the dirt before eventually walking him. That was a big negative. Mussina went right after him and left a fastball right over the middle and Ramirez smacked it for a double to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. A real head-scratcher.
The Ugly:Have you ever seen the rain? This ballgame was moving along at a brisk pace until the skies opened up and the rain fell (again). That makes it five straight road games the Yanks have played with precipitation. If it's raining, it's raining, but to halt play during a two-out, two-on situation in the top of the eighth seemed ridiculous. I thought the delay would benefit A-Rod and the Yanks since Paps was forced to warm up three times before finally being inserted. It didn't turn out that way.
The rubber game will feature Phil Hughes (0-1) for the Yanks against Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-0). Dice-K has looked good so far this season, but had a 6.12 ERA against the Bombers last season. Hughes is coming off a subpar outing against the Royals and will get his first look at the Red Sox. The game has an 8:00 start time on ESPN and Hughes has pitched well so far in his short career under the lights. Hughes is 5-2 in 10 career starts under the stars with a 3.41 ERA.
Let's see if the Yanks can seize the moments Sunday night.
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More upsetting than leaving Mussina in to face Manny was the fact that they didn't just put him on intentionally. I realize Kevin Youkilis is a good hitter, but let's be real. Who would you rather beat you, Manny or Youkilis?