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The Best Game
Ever
Email:
Dan McCourt
Website:
Take Him
Downtown
WELL IF
YOU wanted to quibble, I
guess you could say that the four hours
and 21 minutes it took to conclude the
extra-inning contest between the Red Sox
and the Yankees on July 1 was too much of
a good thing. More than 400 pitches, 21
hits, two errors (and two more could have
been called), four batters hit by pitches,
and some questionable umpiring (and more
about how those two go hand-in-hand
later).
There was good pitching on
both sides, but some terrific at bats, and
plays afield that rival some of the best
we've seen in the Torre years. The best
baseball player ever born made a fabulous
catch of a pop with two outs in the 12th
with total disregard for his own health
and safety. Boston right fielder Kevin
Millar, paid for his bat (and totally
overpaid in that aspect so far this year),
made a potential game-saving grab on an
Alex Rodriguez liner into the right field
corner in the sixth.
And speaking of Yankee
third baseman Rodriguez, well, he extended
the game on a fabulous triple play that
was good for only two outs (they got Manny
Ramirez out twice) in a no-outs,
bases-loaded jam in the 11th. The trouble
began when David Ortiz singled to left off
Rivera leading off for his third base
knock of the night. When Ramirez followed
with a single and Bubba Crosby made an
ill-advised throw to third, the Sox had
second and third and the intentional pass
to Varitek loaded 'em up with no outs. But
Millar bounced to A-Rod, who dove as he
fielded the bounce, tagged third, and
threw to Posada from his knees for the tag
of Gabe Kapler, running for Ortiz. Manny
Ramirez, already forced at third, broke
for that bag, and Jorge's throw to Alex
nailed him. The whole place thought they
had seen a triple play. (One wonders what
Manny thought.) But David McCarty made it
all academic on a harmless fly to left on
an 0-2 pitch to close a scoreless
inning.
Rodriguez actually
committed a trio of fine plays, as he did
a body dive and throw to nail Pokey Reese
on a bid for a double down the left field
line in the fifth, and nabbed a Varitek
liner that popped from his glove only to
be caught again to close the top of the
eighth. Jeter threw in a leaping catch of
third baseman Youkilis's liner to end the
ninth, and Gary Sheffield did a great job
of recovering on a severely wind-blown
Ortiz high fly in the eighth.
I have been enamored of
hard throwers like Javier Vazquez and Jose
Contreras who can coax batters to swing
and miss in bunches...
Ages before all this
drama, both starters, Pedro Martinez and
Brad Halsey, turned in great performances.
You could argue that the bombs hit by Tony
Clark (for two runs in the second) and
Posada (a solo shot in the fifth) were not
the sort typically allowed by Martinez,
but they were the only hits he allowed
until Jeter singled in the sixth. He
struck out eight over seven fames, walked
two and threw twice as many strikes as
balls.
Halsey was even more
impressive. And yes, that perspective is
based totally on reduced expectations.
With a good start against the Dodgers and
a bad one against the Mets, fans feared
how Brad would fare in the hottest rivalry
in all of sports. But his performance was
telling. He allowed but four hits in 5.3,
walked two, and surprisingly struck out
five. Alas, he allowed an opposite-field
pop double to Ortiz with one out in the
sixth, and Manny Ramirez's first of two
home runs brought the Sox to within 3-2,
and ended Halsey's day. Subway trouble had
me unable to count the pitches in Brad's
first inning, but he threw 75 pitches
after that frame with 45 for strikes. I
have been enamored of hard throwers like
Javier Vazquez and Jose Contreras who can
coax batters to swing and miss in bunches
(Pedro got 12 in 68 strikes). I was
surprised to see that the young Yankee
southpaw also got 12, and he compiled that
number in just 45 strikes! His change-up
mesmerized the Sox. The lesson: Hitters
swing and miss on soft tosses too.
Paul Quantrill finished
the sixth with no harm, but Boston was on
him in the seventh, as McCarty's hard
liner to center glanced off Lofton's
gloved try for a double and Youkilis moved
him to third with a single to left. Pokey
Reese grounded hard up the middle, and the
tying run scored as Jeter turned the
6-6-3. The game was back to even 3-3 after
seven, and there was plenty of baseball to
come.
Going blow by blow, Tom
Gordon retired six Red Sox through the
regulation ninth inning, with the
aforementioned help on infield liners from
A-Rod and Jeter, and Shef's catch of
Ortiz's high fly. Boston closer Keith
Foulke pitched the same frames, 1-2-3 in
the eighth, but he needed to whiff the
pinch-hitting Sierra with one out to
escape the ninth, as pinch runner Bubba
Crosby stood at third after a Matsui
single and a Posada double.
Mariano Rivera whiffed two
of three in the top of 10th. Mike Timlin
hit Jeter leading off the bottom half, but
Sheffield bounced into a 5-4-3. A-Rod
doubled and took third during Crosby's
walk (with lefty Embree in to face Bubba),
but Williams's 1-0 soft liner found
Youkilis's glove at third. Then came the
11th-inning, bases-loaded, none-out Red
Sox crisis off Mo, with A-Rod's sparkling
double play and a fly to left to finish
things.
Tanyon Sturtze relieved to
start the twelfth, and young third sacker
Youkilis worked a walk by fouling off a
potential third strike three times. Reese
sacrificed him to second and Damon's soft
single advanced him to third. Bellhorn
popped to second for the second out, and
then Captain Jeter gave up his body on the
Trot Nixon (batting for Kapler) pop to
short left. It bears repeating. He is the
best ballplayer ever born.
Miguel Cairo, who had come
in to play second after Sierra hit for
Wilson, tripled to deep left center to
start the bottom of the 12th off righty
veteran Curtis Leskanic, whom the Sox had
just picked up days before. With Jeter
receiving medical care and out of the
game, the parasite-stricken Giambi pinch
hit, and he struck out on four tosses.
Forced to defend the plate at all costs,
the Red Sox deployed Ramirez and Damon in
the outfield, and played a game of musical
infield with five players the rest of the
inning. Millar swung from third to first
and back again, as the Yanks batted lefty,
righty, righty, lefty, and Reese moved to
each side of second too. Amusingly, they
often needed to change gloves for the
differing assignments, but who could blame
them when a defective first baseman's
glove had cost them the game the night
before?
I could write about this
5-4 Yankee victory forever, but try to
catch it when they replay it, which is
sure to be soon. And it's a shame that I
can't bring myself to call it the best
game ever and leave it at
that.
What was not even remotely
amusing was the first pitch to Sheffield
that hit him square in the sore shoulder,
his second hbp of the game. A-Rod was
walked intentionally, and the throng
roared as the count on Crosby went to 3-2,
with nowhere to put him. Terry Francona
and the Sox had to be thrilled when they
escaped on a shortstop-to-home force and a
three-pitch strike out of Williams.
And that joy spread to the
Sox fans in the crowd as Manny took
Sturtze's fifth offering in the top of the
13th and blasted it over the retired
numbers in left for a 4-3 Red Sox lead.
You know that this was a truly momentous
baseball game when you realize that the
Torre moves to fill the infield for this
frame are barely a footnote. Not only did
Gary Sheffield come in to play third for
the first time since 1993, but the Yanks
forfeited their DH as Bernie Williams went
to center field (with Crosby to left and
Sierra to right). And after all that
off-season speculation, yes, A-Rod moved
to short.
Sturtze whiffed Varitek
and Sheffield made a nice grab on Millar's
bouncer, but pulled Clark off first with
his throw. McCarty walked but a 4-6-3
closed the frame with the Sox ahead by one
on their first lead of the long night. And
seven pitches into the bottom of the 13th,
the Yanks had but one out left after a
Posada swinging strike out and a Clark
roller to the box. Sierra singled past
second on a 1-1 pitch, and Cairo fouled
two pitches at 1-1, and then drove a
double over Millar to knot the score. Fans
of both stripes were stunned in disbelief.
With Bret Prinz hurriedly preparing to
pitch the 14th, Torre used his last
position player, backup catcher John
Flaherty, to hit for Sturtze. Prinz
needn't have bothered. Flaherty drilled a
3-1 pitch one hop off the left field wall
and Cairo scored in the darnedest game
anyone will ever see.
I could write about this
5-4 Yankee victory forever, but try to
catch it when they replay it, which is
sure to be soon. And it's a shame that I
can't bring myself to call it the best
game ever and leave it at that. But Pedro
Martinez drilled Gary Sheffield in the
very first inning of this game, a ploy
with intention so obvious that home plate
umpire Jim Wolf immediately issued a
beanball warning to all applicable
parties. Now it's true that Felix Heredia
hit Damon with a breaking ball in the
seventh, and nobody felt it was
intentional. And when Mike Timlin hit
Derek Jeter leading off the bottom of the
10th in a tie game, of course he did not
do it on purpose.
To plunk Shef with Miguel
Cairo standing on third base in a
still-tied game with one out in the 12th
is quite a different circumstance,
however. After seeing Sheffield foul nine
consecutive pitches off before lining the
game winner Wednesday night (the night
before), the Sox obviously wanted no part
of him. To me the intention behind the
ball that struck his shoulder on
Leskanic's first pitch was painfully
obvious. You can argue that I can't know
what was in the right-hander's head, and
you'd be right. But Wolf issued a warning
in this game, and then proceeded to make
it clear to 50 ballplayers and 50,000-plus
fans that his word means nothing, that his
"warnings" can be ignored.
This ballgame was played
in the Bronx, so it's only fitting that we
acknowledge the birthday of Bronx-born
singer Evelyn "Champagne" King on July 1,
1960. She had a big 1978 hit. That song's
title and some of its lyrics describe
exactly what Mr. Wolf should be feeling
after that performance:
Shame!
You got me so confused
It's a shame
Sometimes I think I'm going
insane.
What did your warning
mean, Mr. Wolf?
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