The Yankeeeees Win! 2-1 OK, enough with the John Sterling crap.
If the Yanks had lost this one, this game would have put the final nail in the coffin for their season. And of all people---Mariano Rivera would have supplied those nails. It's only his unflappable persona that got him by with very erratic stuff; giving up a run---and loading the bases with no outs.
How many times have you ever seen Mariano hit a player ever, let alone two in one inning? After he hit Manny to put two on with no outs, (a record seven HBP in a game) a Lowell single drove in the first run of the game for Boston. Then he hit the Youk Dog on a 1-2 count to load the bases---which put my heart in the back of my throat.
I've been so frustrated lately that it was tough for me to even tune in to FOX, today, but in the end I had to flip the TV on. After watching the ball sit on the top of the left field fence before falling back on the field yesterday that Damon almost caught after crashing into the wall, I figured this was it. But Mo called on the strength that has made him a HOFer and he struck out Crisp, popped Varitek up to first and struck out Lugo to end the game. He breathed a sliver of life into the suffocating carcass of this team.
With Tampa playing so well, their oxygen has just about run out.
Mike Mussina is my Yankee MVP for the first half of the season. He usually gets pounded by Boston, but was outstanding again going 6 strong innings, 1ER, 4H's, 1BB and 5K's and only came out because of dizziness. He seemed fine in the presser. With any luck he could be 13-4 instead of 11-6. He should be an all star.
Farnsworth and Veras continue to pitch really well. Kyle got his10th hold and Veras his 5th of the year. The bullpen overall has only given up four runs in the last thirty two innings.
Molina continues to gun runners out on the base paths.
Brett Gardner shows incredible poise. He threw out Pedroia trying to leg out a double in the first and drove in the winning run on a sac fly. I wanted to see more of him, but not at the cost of Damon.