red sox vs yankees <> strange play # 372

4th of july 2008 in the bronx ... red sox vs yankees at yankee stadium ... game 2 of a 4 game holiday weekend series ... in itself, summer baseball doesnt get much better than this ... at least in the northeast ... but as we all know so well when it comes to red sox vs yankees ... unusual, dramatic and sometimes violent things happen when these two teams are on the same baseball field at the same time ... and today's game produced a play which should make whatever list is kept of notable red sox-yankees incidents

today's entry could be filed under unusual, strange or even comic

to set the scene ... yankees lead the red sox 3-0 to start the 3rd inning ... the rookie (jacoby elsbury) led the top of the 3rd with a bunt single ... Pd (dustin pedroia) singled, moving jacoby to second ... jd drew bounced out to first, elsbury and pedroia advanced to third and second ... manny walked, loading the bases ... mikey lowell hit a sac fly, jacoby scored ... new york 3, boston 1 ... youk (kevin youkilis) at bat ... kevin hits a fly ball to deep left field ... and that's where the adventure begins


yankees left-fielder johnny damon moved toward the fly ball, appearing in position to make a catch ... and then ... johnny elevates ... johnny has the ball in the top of his glove ... johnny's left side crashes into the left field fence ... the ball pops out of damon's glove ... the ball falls to the very top of the left field fence ... the ball bounces up in the air ... the ball comes to rest on the very top of the left field fence ... one thousand one ... one thousand two ... the ball rolls off the top of the wall onto the field of play ... the ball is in play

meanwhile, down on the field of play ... johnny damon lays on the outfield grass in some degree of pain ... johnny has no idea where the ball is ... the ball is actually bouncing around on the dirt behind johnny's head

speaking of meanwhile, back on the base pads ... when youk hit his fly ball, Pd was on second base and manny was on first ... with 2 outs, both Pd and manny were off with the pitch and scored easily ... youkilis landed on third with a triple ... new york 3, boston 3 ... instant classic

in the lifespan of the current left field fence at yankee stadium ... im sure balls have bounced off the very top of the fence ... most probably ended up as home runs ... but just how many times have balls hit the very top of that wall ... twice ... and actually come to rest there for several seconds ... considering we are talking red sox vs yankees ... i'm betting NEVER

the unfortunate result of this play was johnny damon had to leave the game with neck and shoulder contusions ... this red sox fan hopes johnny's "owie"isn't serious and that he is back in left field real soon