Game 9

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 8, New York Yankees 5

Besides a quick interlude where I happened to spot the game through a window in the two room pub where I was eating in Chelsea, I missed all of the action except for the last two outs, which fraught with enough tension to make me know I missed a real dinger of a game. Joe Castiglione used the term "grinder" when the game ended and that's how it reads from the description: back and forth scoring, Edgar Renteria having a breakout night with a three run homerun and a go-ahead RBI double that scored Johnny Damon from first, a four inning 5 - 5 tie, Randy Johnson getting a no decision even though he struck out 9, Bronson Arroyo walking three in a row, including walking in a run on a call that lead to hitting coach Ron Jackson's ejection for arguing, Gary Sheffield and a fan exchanging swipes in right field during a Varitek triple, Varitek hitting a bomb onto Lansdowne Street for his 100th career homerun, Terry Francona ejected for arguing a strike call against Bill Mueller...and Keith Foulke ending it all by getting Reuben Sierra to pop up with the bases loaded (after walking Giambi on two more close calls) to Varitek, who made a difficult one-hand catch in the web of his glove. I listened to five minutes of it all and still got excited. Heck, reading the description now is pretty exciting. It sounds, however, like maybe the offense is starting to pick up a little bit. At the very least, if Renteria is finally out of the woods, run scoring opportunities will be acted upon with more frequency.

In other news, with the return of the Schill to the 25 man roster, the Sox were forced to send Kevin Youkilis back to Pawtucket. Their option, Blaine Neal (he of the grand slam in Toronto), is out of options and the Sox risk losing him to waiver claims if they send him to the minors again. This situation upset me greatly, of course - who doesn't like Kevin Youkilis and it's not like Neal is terribly popular right now - but then again, after I spent five minutes cursing about it, Neal came in as part of the scoreless relief effort last night.

Hideo Nomo and The Emplanted Yankee open up a series at home against Tampa Bay tomorrow night at 7:05. The Emplanted Yankee will be making another shot at his first win against what is probably the fastest team in baseball; the irony of the fatso pitching to the speedsters is just sublime, but maybe there's hope for him yet. If not, a healthy Miller will send him to the bullpen yet. GO SOX!!!