TIMES UP NEW YORK – YOU’RE ABOUT TO LOSE!
The time was 10:25 pm and things were looking very bleak for the Boston Red Sox, as they trailed 3-1. With C.C. Sabathia on the mound and the game moving to the bottom of the eighth inning, things were looking nice for the New York Yankees. As it appeared the Yankees were only a mere six outs away from capturing their first victory over Boston in the 2009 season. As Sabathia was shutting the Sox hitters down, even with his pitch count nearing 100 pitches on the night.
Then somewhere deep in the background, far away from the noisy Fenway Park, you heard it sound. It started out softly, then quickly began increasing it’s tempo. Until everyone in and around Fenway heard it and knew. The game would be changing, and ever so quickly, as the tower bells had begun to ring. The ringing of the bells could only mean one thing, TIMES UP NEW YORK – YOU’RE ABOUT TO LOSE!
And that’s exactly what happened, as the Yankees and their pitching staff quickly turned into the ugly step-sisters from Cinderella, and it wasn’t even midnight yet. They quickly saw their 3-1 lead evaporate within minutes, as they Sox had yet another magical comeback. Here’s how the comeback started as the Boston bats finally woke up from their slumber.
8th Inning Yankees lead 3-1
Nick Green singles to left-field– Dustin Pedroia walks
J.D. Drew singles to center scoring Green – 3-2 now –
Sabathia out– Alfredo Aceves now pitching
Kevin Youkilis singles to right-field (Bases Loaded)
Jason Bay singles to left scoring Pedroia – 3-3 now
Mike Lowell hits sacrifice fly to center which scores Drew (1 out) Sox lead 4-3 now
Aceves out – Phil Coke now pitching
David Ortiz walks to load the bases with
Jason Varitek pops out to 1st baseman Mark Teixeira (2 outs)
Rocco Baldelli strikes out ending the 8th (3 outs)
So within a matter of 18 minutes, as it was 10:43 pm, the Red Sox had once again comeback vs the Yankees, late in a ballgame. As the Yankees bullpen (once again) failed to hold a lead and preserve the victory for their team. With the hard part already accomplished for the Sox, as they had regained the lead 4-3. It was time for their closer Jonathan Papelbon, to come and shut the Yankees down in the ninth. Which shouldn’t be that hard to do, right?
No, it’s not that hard of a thing to do, it happens every single night around MLB. Except Papelbon who so far this season has kinda gotten rather fond of making Red Sox Nation sweat it out, before securing the save. He decided to do things differently this time around as he quickly mowed down the heavy hitters in the Yankees line-up. Papelbon easily went through Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Teixeira to close out the game. Even better was the fact he only needed 6 minutes and 9 pitches to get his 16th save on the season.
So with the time showing 10:49 pm, all is well in Boston. The Sox win for the 8th consecutive time this season, over the lonely Yankees. It’s another sweep for the Red Sox (3rd this year) over the boys from New York. The Sox in sweeping the Yankees not only send them back to New York crying and trailing the Sox by 2 games in the AL East. It also sends them back pondering and asking “What the hell just happened” to themselves! Which for Red Sox fans, is just a beautiful sight!
**CONGRAULATIONS AND NICE JOB RED SOX! OH IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING WHAT THE “GOOD VS EVIL” SCORECARD LOOKS LIKE AT THIS TIME. IT’S (GOOD) BOSTON 8 AND (EVIL)NEW YORK 0!