Friday Night Lights

That loud clicking sound you heard last night was not a mass chorus of flamenco dancers performing. Those were TV sets that were shut off when the Yankees fell behind Boston 5-1 and then 7-2. The Yankees were sloppy, non-clutch, and ugly. And then the 8th inning came and the Yankees had themselves an 8-7 lead that they would not relinquish. A stunned Fenway Park crowd watched as Mariano Rivera struck out rookie Jacoby Ellsbury to seal the Yankees improbable win.

With a pair of Jason Giambi errors and some shoddy pitching by Andy Pettitte and the bullpen having put them in the hole, the Yankees knew if they were going to come back it was against going to have to be against the Red Sox dynamite tandem of Hideki Okajima and Jon Papelbon. And apparently that's what the Bombers were waiting for.

Okajima had not allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter all season. Then Giambi and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back jacks to start the 8th. When Melky Cabrera walked and Johnny Damon, who had 4 hits, followed with a double, the Yankees suddenly had the timing run at the plate. Terry Francona immediately went to his closer for a 6-out save (can anyone understand while Michael Kay kept questioning Francona's urgency to win the game?).

But Derek Jeter, who had a shaky night in the field and at the plate, singled to right to cut the lead to 7-5, with Damon holding at 3rd. Bobby Abreu absolutely crushed a pitch off the wall in dead center for a game tying 2-run double. Suddenly the invinceable were very human. Alex Rodriguez capped the inning with his 135th RBI, a single to right to give the Yankees their first lead of the night. It was just the 3rd blown save by Papelbon (1-3) this season.

The Red Sox put base runners on 1st in both the 8th and 9th innings, but Jorge Posada gunned down pinch-runner Coco Crisp trying to steal 2nd to end the 8th and Mariano dominated his inning for his 27th save.

Leading 2-1 in the 4th, the Red Sox looked to add to it. With runners on the corner with one out, Pettitte picked Ellbsury off of 1st. But Giambi, who had already committed a run scoring error, hesitated on his throw to 2nd and Ellsbury had himself a stolen base. Dustin Pedroia made the Yankees pay with a lined single to center for a 4-1 lead. Back-to-back singles by David Ortiz and Mike Lowell produced a 5th run, before Pettitte finally got out further trouble. Having thrown 101 pitches his night was done after the 4th.

The Yankees had opportunities against Daisuke Matsuzaka all evening, but couldn't capitalize. Even when they scored they came out disappointed. Posade lead off the 4th with a double and scored when Hideki Matsui tripled off of his fellow country men. But Matsui was stranded at 3rd. Dice-K, working very deliberately, went 3-2 on a lot of Yankees, but only allowed only 4 hits. His 5 walks helped contribute to a long evening that fell 2 minutes shy of the longest 9-inning game in MLB history.

The Sox added 2 more runs in the 7th thanks in part to another error by Giambi. Ortiz should have been doubled off of 1st on Lowell's fly to right, but Giambi dropped Abreu's throw and did an embarrassing belly flop in the process.

....

It was Andy Pettitte's shortest outing since his 1 2-3 inning debacle against the A's in July. He remains at 199 wins.

Brian Bruney (3-1) picked up the win after throwing 1.1 scoreless innings when the Yankees desperately needed it. Joe Torre rewarded him with the scorecard and game ball.

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