There’s pressure in the cooker. The slow, summer-long simmer that is a Major League Baseball season now comes to a full rolling boil as the days shorten, the nights become more crisp and every game – at least for the contenders – feels like a must win. As the Red Sox and Yankees played their final game of the season at Fenway Park on Thursday night, their last meeting was as much about two teams going in different directions as it was about a lowly cellar dweller trying to set a tripwire that could cause the front runner to stumble on their way to the finish line.
Close but no cigar. Sep 13, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher
Felix Doubront(61) pitches against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE
The Yankees are feeling the heat of a Baltimore Oriole team that will not go away and is seemingly intent on being 2012’s team of destiny. With a 14-inning walk off win over the stumbling Tampa Bay Rays earlier in the day, the Birds went up by one game as Boston and New York squared off. More importantly, they kept pressure on an aging and banged up Yankee team that isn’t looking very good this month.
"The Red Sox are feeling the heat of internal, media and fan pressure. It’s the worst kind of heat because there’s nowhere for it to go. And you know what happens to heat when it can’t go anywhere ; core meltdown, that’s what."
When you’re winning, all the other pressures are blown off and equalized. When, however, you have an overmatched and outgunned manager who it appears the game has passed by coupled with what one can only presume is a continuing clubhouse funkiness (not in the good James Brown sense) and a season of loss – physical, emotional, on the field – you are relegated to a spoiler role and your mind start to wander to 2013.
Oh yeah, there was a game played last night.
Boston’s Felix Doubront had a decent outing, going 6.1 innings and giving up only two runs on four hits. Doubront struck out five but matched that number in walks and, as usually happens, the walks hurt him. In the fourth the Yankees took advantage of Doubront’s wildness – back-to-back walks after an Alex Rodriguez single to open the inning – and plated A-Rod on an Andruw Jones sac fly to Cody Ross. Doubront was lucky to get out of the inning with just one run allowed.
Another of Doubront’s walks led to New York’s second run. Steve Pearce walked and ultimately scored on a Derek Jeter career milestone single that tied Jeter for 10th place with Willie Mays on the all time hit list. That’s all the scoring New York would need.
Boston’s offense could only muster six hits, none of which were timely against the Yankees’ Phil Hughes, who had a strong performance (7.1 IP, 7 strike outs, 1 walk).
Rafel Soriano worked the ninth and nailed down the save for the Bombers. With the win New York had kept pace with the Orioles and with the loss the Red Sox had drifted further into the AL East abyss, 64-80 and 17.5 games out of first place. Hide the razor blades Sox fans.
And I’m free, I’m free fallin’
– Free Falling, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers