Boston reigns; Beckett, Papelbon finish off Yankees.Byline: Bill Ballou BOSTON - Terry Francona After a day like yesterday, he and the Red Sox - and their fans, for that matter - probably feel like so much ground beef. But happy hamburger, as things turned out, thanks to a very familiar combination - Josh Beckett Joshua Patrick Beckett (born May 15, 1980) is a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Boston Red Sox. In his career in the playoffs, he has won the World Series MVP Award in 2003 and pitched 65. and Jonathan Papelbon Jonathan Robert Papelbon (born November 23, 1980 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is the closer for the Boston Red Sox. He bats and throws right-handed. Papelbon was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2002 out of Mississippi State. . That tried and true duo of starter and stopper pitched Boston past the Yankees, 4-1, in a game delayed more than two hours by rain. Beckett gave the Sox six excellent innings to start and Papelbon got the last four outs in a remarkable effort in which he had to warm up three different times, and came back from the 2:11 rain delay to strike out Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975 in New York, New York), commonly nicknamed A-Rod, is a Dominican American baseball infielder. He is the starting third baseman for the New York Yankees, after having played shortstop for the Texas Rangers and Seattle on three pitches with two men on and two out in the eighth. "I'm not sure what was better," manager Terry Francona said of his closer. "His heart, or his arm." The Sox knew rain was coming as they played the eighth, leading by just one run. Hideki Okajima Hideki Okajima (岡島 秀樹 Okajima Hideki got the first two outs in the top of the inning, then walked Melky Cabrera Melky Cabrera (born August 11, 1984 in Santo Domingo Oeste, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball centerfielder for the New York Yankees. The Beginning and the Minors On November 13, 2001, at age 17, Melky was signed by the New York Yankees. and gave up a single to Bobby Abreu Bob Kelly Abreu /aˈbreʲu/ (nicknamed El Comedulce) (born March 11, 1974 in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball right fielder who plays for the New York Yankees. . Rain or no rain, with Rodriguez due up, it was time for Papelbon. He was warm and ready when the weather worsened and the game was halted. A lot went into the decision to send Papelbon back out, Francona said, but the pitcher kept busy during the delay and assistant trainer Mike Reinhold said that as long as Papelbon felt good, he didn't risk injury going back into the game, but might need some rest following up. "At that point," Francona said, "we figured we'd go ahead and win this game. We'll deal with the next couple of days however we can." Rodriguez was completely overmatched and didn't come close to touching any of the three pitches Papelbon threw to him. "I said to myself - this is the ballgame right here," was Papelbon's approach to the reigning AL Most Valuable Player. He then came back for the ninth and got New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of in order to preserve the victory for Beckett, who beat Mike Mussina. Mussina had a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, then made the mistake of pitching to Manny Manny may refer to: In nobility:
"We talked about the comfort level, with both hitters basically the same," New York manager Joe Girardi said, "and we wanted to give him a little wiggle room, if he could get Manny to chase something. And if we got behind Manny, we would walk him, but we never got to that point." The Red Sox let Mussina off the hook in the early innings. In the bottom of the first, they got a leadoff single from Jacoby Ellsbury, then caught a break when Mussina couldn't snare snare (snar) a wire loop for removing polyps and tumors by encircling them at the base and closing the loop. snare n. Dustin Pedroia's hard grounder back to the mound. The play was ruled a hit and Boston had men at first and second with nobody out and Ortiz, Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis due up. Youkilis never made it. Ortiz tapped weakly into a double play, then Ramirez popped to second to end the threat. Youkilis opened the bottom of the second with a hard single to center, then was rubbed out on J.D. Drew's double-play ball. Jason Varitek followed with a single to right; he was out trying to turn it into a double, and the inning was over. To that point in the afternoon, Boston batters were 4 for 7 and the Sox had not scored a run. Beckett retired the first six New York batters in order before Robinson Cano reached on an infield hit to lead off the fourth, a hit that could have been ruled an error. Through five innings, though, Cano was the only Yankees baserunner, and Beckett finished the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts of Jorge Posada and Cano. Beckett's fortunes changed dramatically in the sixth, though, as he gave up singles to the No. 8 hitter - Jose Molina - and No. 9 hitter, Alberto Gonzalez, in succession to get things going. Johnny Damon bunted them both into scoring position, and score they did, as Melky Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly and Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch. New York maintained that lead until Ramirez made them pay for pitching to him. NAME: BOSTON RED SOX The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are a member and currently champions of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. ART: PHOTOS CUTLINE: Boston's Manny Ramirez flips his bat and rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run off New York starter Mike Mussina in the fourth inning. PHOTOG pho·tog n. Informal A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS |
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