Final Score: Boston Red Sox 7, New York Yankees 3There's probably a site out there with the statistic listing the correlation between Red Sox first-inning runs and Red Sox wins, but for the moment I'm happy to bask in the glow of this one particular game and the Man-Ram home run that made it happen. Three pitches into the at-bat, after two balls down below the strike zone, Mussina trying to throw a ball that would spin below the bottom of Manny's bat and turn into an inning-ending ground ball double play...the pitch comes, the ball, for reasons unknown (besides bad mechanics and poor luck) much, much higher in the strike zone than Mussina or Posada want it and right into the heart of Manny's kill zone. Manny knows it, the Yankees know it, everyone watching the pitch in the ball park and on TV knows it and all Manny has to do is complete the formality of the swing and deposit his home run into the left field seats. Three runs on the board and Julian Tavarez has yet to throw his first pitch. The Sox would score other runs (other runs they eventually needed), but thanks to that one pitch, this game was over - until the eighth inning, anyway - after the third batter of the night. That's domination, baby.
As for those eighth and ninth innings...what happened? Okajima breaks his scoreless streak with a single, two walks and a fielder's choice? Papelbon walks two men before getting three straight outs on two Ks? During those tense twenty minutes where each pitcher offered the Yankees a chance to redeem themselves at home before slamming the door, the common theme was missing by inches: pitches that were out of the zone through accident or design weren't getting the swings the Sox needed, stopping the momentum that each pitcher needed to win the battle and end the inning. It was a scary, scary moment, reminiscent of the end of a few games in 2004 ALCS, because the lead seemed to be slipping away and there was nothing the Sox could do. Too scary, in fact. Let's not see it again, ok?
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