i'm gonna "blog" this game

today is the first of an 11 day vacation for me ... it is a beautiful day here in new hampshire ... sunny and 78 degrees with an awesome soft breeze coming from the water ... windows are open wide ... and it looks like a beautiful day at yankee stadium in new york ... today the boston red sox may be playing their final game at yankee stadium ... forever ... so today's game is a historic one in that sense ... and it is truly a "must win" type game for the yankees ... the pitching matchup will be "contract year" mike mussina (16-7, 3.45) vs jon lester (12-5, 3.49) ... the starting lineups ... for boston <> jacoby ellsbury (cf) <> dustin pedroia (2b) <> david ortiz (dh) <> kevin youkilis (1b) <> jason bay (lf) <> mark kotsay (rf) <> jed lowrie (3b) <> alex cora (ss) <> jason varitek (c) ... and for new york <> johnny damon (cf) <> derek jeter (ss) <> bobby abreau (rf) <> alex rodriguez (3b) <> xavier nady (lf) <> robinson cano (2b) <> hideki matsui (dh) <> cody ransom (1b) <> jose molina (c)

top of the 1st ... 17 pitches for mussina ... jacoby lines out to the "idiot" in center field ... pd strikes out ... big papi walks ... but youk lines out to abreau to end the inning ... boston 0, new york 0

bottom of the 1st ... wow ... 21 pitches for lester ... johnny damon flies out to newly aquired right fielder mark kotsay ... derek jeter gets a base hit to center ... bobby abreau singles to center ... jeter moves to second ... arod strikes out swinging with runners at 1st and 2nd base ... the boos cascade from the stands at yankee stadium ... loudly ... xavier nady ends the inning bouncing to lowry ... jed is playing third today ... cora is at short ... question of the inning ... if xavier nady is such a good player ... why is he with his 4th team in 4 years (sd, nym, pit & nyy) ... boston 0, new york 0

top of the 2nd ... jason bay grounds out to arod ... who handles the chance cleanly ... lol ... mark kotsay's first hit as a red sock is a double to right ... jed lowrie strikes out ... alex cora ends things with a bounce out to third ... which arod does not handle cleanly ... but gets the job done ... during the inning, orsillo was saying sean casey's stiff neck has gotten worse and he may be headed to the disabled list ... don said casey first had neck problems during the japan trip and it has flared up from time to time ... so now both jd drew and sean casey suffered some sort of back discomfort starting with the japan trip ... both have suffered occasional flare ups ... and now one is disabled and the other may be soon ... boston 0, new york 0

bottom of the 2nd ... robinson cano flies out to center ... hideki matsui strikes out ... cody ransom is hit in the foot by a jon lester pitch ... who the heck is cody ransom ... at 32, he's sure not a rookie ... jose (i think) molina flies to jason bay ... i know he's the oldest of the 3 catching molina brothers ... boston 0, new york 0

top of the 3rd ... the red sox go quietly and quickly ... varitek, ellsbury & pedroia ... mike mussina is in control ... early part of this game has been dominated by pitching ... lester's pitch count (42) is a bit high for 2 innings ... mussina has been very efficient (41 in 3 innings) ... boston 0, new york 0

bottom of the 3rd ... johnny damon strikes out after starting 3-0 ... jeter strokes another single and is 2-2 off lester ... ugly hit and run attempt ... abreau swings and misses ... jeter is stuck between 1st and 2nd base ... out number 2 ... abreau ends things flying out to jacoby ... the good pitching continues ... boston 0, new york 0

top of the 4th ... david leads the inning with a walk ... youk pops out to second ... jason bay grounds into an inning ending double play (4-3) ... boston 0, new york 0

bottom of the 4th ... arod leads off the inning ... for the 2nd time, arod strikes out ... this time looking ... for the 2nd time, arod is booed soundly ... nady strikes out ... that's 5 k's for lester ... cano bounces out to pedroia ... after today's game the red sox come back to boston to face the al central leading chicago white sox ... josh beckett is still scheduled to start tomorrow night's game ... the best matchup of the weekend will be saturday night when dice-k will duel mark buehrle ... the yankees will play toronto at the stadium over the holiday weekend ... and will have to face cy young candidate (again) roy halliday and "contract year" aj burnett ... boston 0, new york 0

top of the 5th ... this game is moving along quickly ... and quietly ... but i am acutely aware this is still the boston red sox vs the new york yankees ... mark kotsay flies out to bobby abreau ... jed lowry singles to left ... the kid just keeps on getting hits ... cora is hit by a pitch ... lowry moves to 2nd base ... the captain singles to right ... lowry scores ... alex cora moves around to 3rd base ... jacoby grounds into potential double play ... but jacoby's speed beats the relay ... safe at first ... fielder's choice varitek out at 2nd ... cora scores ... with pd at bat ... jacoby ellsbury caught stealing to end the inning ... replay clearly shows jacoby was safe ... boston 2, new york 0

bottom of the 5th ... hideki matsui grounds out to the shortstop ... cody ransom strikes out ... jose molina strikes out ... inning over ... 7 k's for lester ... boston 2, new york 0

top of the 6th ... pd is back at the plate to lead off the inning ... he was there when jacoby was caught stealing last inning ... pd singles to left ... big papi strikes out ... discusses the call ... is booed soundly ... replay says david had a beef ... youk is hit in the ribs by a pitch ... this is mike mussina, not joba chamberlain ... no intent there ... pedroia moves to second ... jason bay bounces to third ... arod can't tag pd moving from 2nd to 3rd ... gets the sure out at 1st ... replay shows pd ran outside the base pad to avoid arod's tag ... missed call doesn't matter ... mark kotsay strikes out swinging ... boston 2, new york 0

bottom of the 6th ... johnny damon is grazed in the hand by a pitch ... lester is pissed at himself ... leadoff hitter is on for the yankees ... damon and youkilis are chatting away at 1st base ... derek jeter singles to center ... damon moves to 2nd base ... jeter is now 3-3 ... still no one out ... bobby abreau flies to jacoby ellsbury ... johnny damon moves to third ... like damon, ellsbury's arm is not his strongest asset ... here we go again ... arod is coming up ... the yankees have runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out ... and they are losing a "must win" game 2-0 ... arod pops out to jason varitek ... swinging at the first pitch ... the assembled crowd in the bronx is killing him with boos this afternoon ... all 3 arod at bats have ended with loud boos ... xavier nady flies out to center ... jon lester escapes a jam to finish 6 innings with the shutout intact ... boston 2, new york 0

top of the 7th ... jed lowrie skies to jeter ... alex cora singles to center ... tek at bat ... cora steals 2nd base ... varitek strikes out looking ... jacoby ellsbury lines out to mussina ... inning suddenly over ... boston 2, new york 0

bottom of the 7th ... jon lester comes back out to start the inning ... he has thrown 105 pitches ... justin masterson and hideki okajima are warming ... the first 2 yankees hitters ... cano and matsui swing from the left side ... robinson cano pops out to pd ... no, its ellsbury ... no, alex cora makes the catch ... hideki matsui strikes out looking ... quickly, lester has 2 outs and will pitch to cody ransom ... ransom doubles to left ... here comes tito ... jon lester's day is done ... another wonderful pitching performance against the yankees ... hideki okajima will try to end the inning ... okie (l) over masterson (r) because francona is anticipating jason giambi (l) will hit for molina ... tito guessed right ... giambi will bat ... tito gambled wrong ... jason giambi crushes the ball over the center field wall ... tying this game with one swing of the bat ... ransom scores ... giambi scores ... typical boston vs new york baseball ... never over til its over ... johnny damon strikes out looking to end the inning ... after this inning ... after this game ... the phone lines will be lit up at weei ... moron callers will be ranting that terry francona took jon lester out of the game too soon ... that he should have been left out there to pitch to giambi ... even after having thrown 119 pitches ... of course, they will be the same idiots who called after lester's miserable start in toronto last saturday claiming he had pitched a lot of innings and needed a rest ... i would suggest exactly the opposite ... that tito left lester in for one batter too many ... when jon lester went back to the mound for the bottom of the 7th ... i suspect tito's and john farrell's plan was for him to pitch to left handed hitters cano and matsui ... and for masterson to then pitch to cody ransom ... but after lester disposed of cano and matsui so quickly and efficiently ... the braintrust decided to let jon pitch to ransom and, hopefully, close out the inning ... it just didn't work out that way ... jon lester's pitching line for the day ... 6.2 innings <> 5 hits <> 1 run (compliments of okie) <> 0 walks <> 8 strikeouts <> 119 pitches ... what more can you ask of a starting pitcher ... boston 2, new york 2

top of the 8th ... brian bruney replaces mike mussina to start the 8th ... faces dustin pedroia ... jason giambi is now playing first base and iroid is catching for the yankees ... pd flies out to shallow center ... here comes yankees manager joe girardi ... he will bring in the left hander damaso marte to face big papi ... david bounces into the defensive shift for the 2nd out ... here comes girardi again ... mariano rivera is coming in to face youk in a tied game in the 8th inning ... i'd say this move speaks volumes about the yankees lack of confidence in anyone else in their bullpen ... it's desperation time ... kevin youkilis flies out to johnny damon ... 3 pitchers, 3 outs for the yankees ... mike mussina's pitching line for the day ... 7 innings <> 5 hits <> 2 runs <> 2 walks <> 6 strikeouts <> 113 pitches ... again, what more can you ask of a starter ... boston 2, new york 2

bottom of the 8th ... hideki okajima will start the 8th for the red sox ... derek jeter is finally retired after 3 hits ... jeter flies to left center field ... jacoby makes a fine diving catch ... bobby abreau flies to left center field ... two outs ... arod coming up again ... francona will make a pitching change ... justin masterson will face arod ... bottom of the 8th inning in a tied ball game ... a "must win" game for his team ... arod steps in ... arguably the best baseball player in america ... faces the red sox rookie right hander ... the same kid who struck him out in a critical situation back on tuesday night ... with a full count, arod strikes out swinging ... for the third time today ... ending the 8th inning ... ouch ... boston 2, new york 2

top of the 9th ... mariano rivera will pitch the 9th inning ... who else might you expect ... jason bay grounds to short ... derek jeter makes a bad throw to giambi ... bay safe at first base ... jeter charged with error (11) ... mark kotsay puts enough charge in a ball to raise orsillo's voice ... but bobby abreau catches the deep fly ball ... jed lowrie bounces out to giambi ... jason bay moves to 2nd base ... alex cora bounces out uneventfully to arod ... boston 2, new york 2

bottom of the 9th ... justin masterson will open the 9th on the mound for the red sox ... paps is warmed and ready in the bullpen ... if it gets that far ... there is no way masterson will face the left hand hitting giambi ... xavier nady singles to center to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning in a tied game ... brett gardner will run for nady ... robinson cano lines out to jed lowrie at 3rd base ... gardner holds at 1st base ... hideki matsui at bat ... gardner steals 2nd base ... matsui draws intentional walk ... iroid walks to load the bases ... masterson will leave ... and he will leave a real mess for jonathan papelbon ... bases loaded with yankees ... one out ... bottom of the 9th ... jason giambi at bat ... papelbon vs giambi ... giambi singles to center ... gardner scores ... yankees win ... yankees avoid an embarassing sweep at the hands of the rival red sox ... in spite of an embarassing day by their all-world superstar alex rodriguez ... jason giambi ... who was sitting on the bench at the start of this one ... comes in to hit for jose molina in the 7th ... and ends up accounting for all 3 new york runs ... the fact the yankees have won this sweet pitcher's duel of a game doens't hurt too bad ... a sweep of the yankees in new york in august would have been a bonus ... winning 2 of 3 games is an excellent end to 9 days on the road ... what really hurts is the fact another marvelous pitching performance by jon lester was wasted ... was rendered meaningless by the failures of okajima, masterson and papelbon ... boston 2, new york (jason giambi) 3 ... winning pitcher <> mariano rivera (5-5) ... losing pitcher <> justin masterson (4-4)