| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- With a leadoff homer by Bernie Williams in the 10th inning, the AL championship series opened with one of the
oldest stories in baseball: the New York Yankees overtaking the
Boston Red Sox.
Williams hit the game-winning shot off Rod Beck, and Scott Brosius hit a two-run homer, a triple and a single to lead the Yankees to a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.
|  | | Scott Brosius scored New York's third run when Jason Varitek mishandled Trot Nixon's throw.
|
"I was due," said Williams, who in 1996 won the ALCS opener
with an 11th-inning homeroff Randy Myers. "I was just able to get a good pitch and turn on it. I was just looking for a pitch out
over the plate. I definitely didn't want to pull out on the ball."
In the first postseason game between the heated
rivals, the Yankees won their 11th straight postseason game, and
once against tortured their neighbors from New England.
Boston took a 2-0 lead just seven pitches into the game on a
run-scoring throwing error by shortstop Derek Jeter and Brian
Daubach's RBI single. Jose Offerman's RBI infield single made it a 3-0 lead in the second against Orlando Hernandez, who
had allowed just one run in 22 career postseason innings coming in.
Brosius, the MVP of last year's World Series, hit a two-run
homer in the bottom half against surprise starter Kent Mercker, and Jeter tied it in the seventh with an RBI single off Derek Lowe.
Brosius crashed into catcher Jason Varitek, who had plenty of time but couldn't handle the one-hop throw from right-fielder Trot
Nixon.
|
GAME 2 AT A GLANCE
|
|
Every game a hero
Bernie Williams apparently loves the ALCS. In 1996, he hit .474 with two homers and six RBI in five games. In 1998, he hit .381 with five RBI. And he began 1999 with a game-winning home run off Rod Beck in the bottom of the 10th.
Key number
.297 vs. .356. Against left-handed pitching this year, Williams hit .297 with a .467 slugging percentage. Against right-handed pitching, Williams hit .356 with a .563 slugging mark. With Chili Davis (weaker from the right side) and Tino Martinez (a left-hander) on deck, Boston manager Jimy Williams replaced lefty Rheal Cormier with Beck.
Last word
"It was all I was thinking about when Paul grounded out. It was the same situation. I tried to keep it off my mind. This was a different pitcher and a different team. What
are the chances of it happening twice?"
-- Williams, who won the opener of the '96 ALCS with an 11th-inning homer
|
"For sure, the ball beat him," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
Williams then opened the 11th by sending an 0-1 pitch to
straightaway center field, At first, Darren Lewis thought he had a chance at it, but the ball kept sailing and went over the 408-foot
sign.
"Bernie does big things," Torre said. "I wasn't sure the ball
was out until I looked at Darren. The way he turned on it, I sensed
it was gone."
David Cone, who hasn't pitched since Oct. 2, tries to give New York a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series when he starts Thursday
night against Ramon Martinez.
Until the 10th, it had been a frustrating night for the World Series champions, who were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Brosius tripled in the fourth and singled and scored the tying run in the seventh. He missed becoming the first player to hit for the cycle in the postseason when he took a called third strike in the ninth.
Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra saved two or three runs with flashy catches. He jumped at full extension to backhand liners by Chili Davis in the first and Tino Martinez in the third. He was
able to time his jump on the first, a soft liner with runners on
second and third. Martinez's ball came with runners at the corners.
Garciaparra also made two errors in a game for the first time
since Aug. 23, 1998, but neither led to any runs.
New York also had a bad night in the field. Chuck Knoblauch, who had 26 errors during the season, allowed Brosius' throw from third
on John Valentin's ninth-inning grounder to pop out of the webbing of his glove.
But second-base umpire Rick Reed blew the call, deciding Knoblauch was transferring the ball to his throwing hand and calling Offerman out on a force. Daubach then hit into an inning-ending double play.
|
E-Blue: Ump admits error
|
|
Second base umpire Rick Reed admitted he blew the
call in the 10th inning of the Yankees' victory over
the Red Sox.
"As an umpire, it was my job to get it right. I didn't," Reed
said. "You feel bad about it. I feel awful."
After Jose Offerman singled to lead off the 10th inning, John
Valentin hit a ground ball to third. Scott Brosius threw to second
attempting to force the runner, but second baseman Chuck Knoblauch dropped the ball.
Reed signaled that Offerman was out. Replays clearly showed that
the ball hit the inside of Knoblauch's glove and immediately
bounced out.
"I thought he had possession before he dropped the ball," Reed
said. "After we went in and looked at the tape, we decided that
wasn't the case."
Instead of having runners on first and second with nobody out,
the Red Sox had a runner on first and one out. The next batter,
Brian Daubach, hit into an inning-ending double play.
Bernie Williams led off the bottom of the 10th with a
game-winning home run off Rod Beck.
In last year's player survey on the quality of umpires in the
major leagues, Reed was ranked 14th out of 32 AL umpires. He was
rated 12th for the accuracy of his calls on the bases.
"The umpires are doing their jobs the best they can," Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra said. "That didn't make the difference in the game." |
"I know those guys are out there doing the best they can,"
Boston manager Jimy Williams said. "It was just my opinion he
didn't have possesion of the ball. That's the bottom line."
There were trappings of history in the air on the cool autumn
night made damp by an on-and-off rain. Not that Boston needed a
reminder, but several fans brought along banners emblazoned
"1918," the year of Boston's last World Series victory.
Two years later, the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees, and since then New York has won 24 Series titles and Boston none.
Offerman singled on the fifth pitch of the night and Valentin
followed with a grounder to Jeter, who made a diving stop. Jeter,
trying for the force at second, bounced the ball past Knoblauch, and it rolled into right field as Offerman scored.
Daubach singled on the next pitch, and the Red Sox opened with a two-run first for the third straight game.
Hernandez, overpowering last week when he allowed two hits in eight innings against Texas, struggled early, then retired 12 of his final 13 batters following Valentin's fourth-inning double.
Lewis walked leading off the second inning, stole second, went
to third on Trot Nixon's single and came home on Offerman's
slow-rolling single between the mound and shortstop.
Mercker, acquired from St. Louis on Aug. 24, got into trouble in
all four of his innings, but escaped three times.
New York left runners at second and third in the first inning,
and stranded men at the corners in the third and fourth.
Brosius connected in the second following a two-out single by
Shane Spencer, activated by the Yankees before the game in case Paul O'Neill couldn't play because of his fractured rib. When Brosius sent the ball over the left-field wall, it gave him two
homers in two career at-bats against Mercker.
O'Neill, who missed the first-round clincher at Texas on
Saturday, was 1-for-5, reaching on an infield single in the first.
He grimaced, appearing to be pain when he landed on his right side
when making a sliding catch on Troy O'Leary's sinking liner in the
fifth.
Notes
Brosius had five postseason homers in his career. ... The
game was held up for seven minutes in the middle of the ninth so
the grounds crew could work on the field.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Yankees vs. Red Sox series page
 Off Base: A few questions for the ALCS
Williams again turns postseason hero
Nomar's heroics not enough for Red Sox
Stats Class: How important is Game 1?
RECAPS
NY Yankees 4
Boston 3
Atlanta 4
NY Mets 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bernie Williams discussses hitting the game-winning homer.
wav: 170 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Joe Torre talks about Williams' 10th-inning homer.
wav: 67 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
