Red Sox 07 Game 17 Recap

Final Score - Bos 7 NYY 6

Hero - Lowell for giving us 4 runs on his two home runs. Part of the WOW 4 in a row in the third.

Goat - Proctor for the almost cycle.

1st inning a walk and hbp leads to two on double by Giambi. Daisuke looking rattled but get out of the inning without more damage. Bottom of first thinking we can get something going after a BB, SB, another BB only to see pop ups by Ortiz and Manny followed by K from J.D. escapes the first inning jam. Stealing a line from Niel M "I am not overly amused".

2nd inning nothing happens for the spankees thanks to a nice wall banging catch by WMP. Two quick outs by Lowell and Varitek lead to the first head shake of the night. WMP takes four balls and trots to first. Pedroia follows with a double down the line bringing up Lugo with guys on 2nd and 3rd, but he grounds out to Jetes and Wright can breathe easy again. "I am not overly amused".

3rd inning and its 1b by Damon, HBP on the diver and I am thinking the wheels are falling off. K of Abreu, K of A-rod and I'm thinking he's going to get out of this inning with no blood no foul only to see Giambi tick one off of a diving Pedroia's glove, (grow you) leading to Damon scoring. 3 - 0 and the Sox have let Wright off the hook twice already and watching Youkilis line out to Abreu, Papi pop up to left field on about 6 pitches I'm thinking yep, another typical Daisuke game, no offense in support. Manny comes up and Miller is talking about how slumping Manny is when Boom, over the Volvo sign, followed by J.D. Drew who bombs one to the pen and I'm thinking alright we are back in the ga , when LOL launches one over the seats. 3 in a row, quick stop over at Joy of Sox and by the time I write Back to Back, Belly to Belly, can we go for four only to have Tek make it four. BH and daughter hear the yell, and I am now banished to the basement. The WMP that I know shows up and K's.

4th - Doug alphabet doubles to open the inning. Am thinking, look kid, don't know how they do it in Japan, but if your team just hit 4 hr's in a row, don't let the other team score the next inning. He follows my advice by getting a routine grounder to Youk, a liner to Pedroia and has Damon hit a weak grounder to end the inning. Bottom of the fourth starts with a new spankee pitcher as the shell shocked Wright is on the bench. Pedroia flies out, Lugo walks, Youk beats the relay throw to keep the inning alive for Papi and here is where we get screwed. Papi hits a ground rule double to right which prevents Youkilis from scoring. Manny follows with a check swing out and its to the 5th.

5th - Lead off homer by Jetes, K by Abreu, K by A-rod and Foul Pop to Tek for Giambi and its off to the bottom of the 5th tied at 4. J.D. leads off with a walk, I love how patient he is at the plate. Joe C. (I listen to the radio at times only so much of Miller and Morgan) reminds us that Drew was part of a 4 in a row with the Dodgers last year. Lowell flies out and here comes Tek. Drew steals second and 2 pitches later Tek walks to make it 1st and 2nd with 1 out and WMP strides to the plate. BB and K in his first two at bats and he lives up to my standards by K'ing on a curve? Pedroia up to bat with a chance to be the hero. Nope and now the Sox are 0 - 7 RISP.

6th - Cano leads off with a single, Doug alphabet comes up and on the 1 and 1 looks like a little leaguer on the curve followed by the single to right and now its 1st and 3rd with no outs. Time for a K. Nope get the double play and its now 5 - 4 spankees. By far Daisuke's worst outing this year, but then again this is the best hitting team he has faced. Nieves finishes the inning and here comes Pettitte? Hey, its just another game in April right Torre? Pettitte does his job as its 3 up and 3 down, well, Youk did get a walk followed by a tailor made 6-3 double play.

7th - Best inning yet by Daisuke as he K's Damon looking, Jetes grounds out and Abreu K's swinging. Manny starts off the bottom half by singling off of Proctor who is in his 12th game. Drew follows by fighting off a curve ball that hits just above the V in left field. Manny chugs all the way to third on the double by Drew. LOL can't happen unless its the wierdest triple play in history, but Lowell puts the Sox up by two as he hammers a line drive off the bottom of the coke bottle. Proctor is gone before the cycle is completed and replaced by Vizcaino. Tek follows with a ground out and brings up WMP who promptly K's swinging. Pedroia lines a single and Lugo walks but Youk hits the 6-4 grounder and we have to settle for only the three runs. Youks ground out makes it 1 - 9 RISP.

8th - we are set up for a good finish - Okajima? Timlin? We'll see. Nope they bring Daisuke out for the eighth. Coco is now in the game, so the oblique strain worry was probably don't swing the bat. Need him to chase down fly balls. A-Rod starts the inning off and gets a single to right on a 2 - 2 pitch. Tito coming out to the mound, time for HID? Yep, here comes Okajima to face Giambi. He gets Giambi but Cano hits one into center that Coco can't get to, 1st and 2nd 1 out. Posada walks, so bases are loaded and her comes Donnelly. About time you brought in herky jerky in this series. Donnelly has faced the Yankees 17 times with a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings. He has 16 K's in those innings. Cabrera hits grounder to first but Cairo (running for Posada) breaks up the relay. 7-6 Sox with men on 1st and 3rd and they pull Nieves for Phelps who hits a screamer that Pedroia pulls out of the air for the 3rd out. Donnelly does his job!

B 8th - looking good for the Sox, I hope Papelbon is up and throwing because the top of the order is coming up for the spankees. Of course another 2 runs would help tremendously. Nothing from Papi as he flies out to Melky. Manny gets his third hit by singling up the middle. With J.D. Drew coming up you can almost guarantee that Lowell will get another AB. Drew moves Manny to second with a dribbler to A-rod and the only man with a hit RISP comes up to bat. Lowell walks and Tek (grindddd my teeth) swings at the first pitch grounding out to Jetes. Its Papel-bot time.

9th - Damon goesdown after 7 pitches, making Papel-bot work. Jetes goes down swinging. Abreu will not swing unless its a strike and works the walk. Now its drama time, hottest hitter in the majors against power - Papel-bot wins the confrontation by getting a ground out to Lowell on an 0-2 pitch. Bring out the brooms.