oh no, Godzilla!
By lefty
The opening game of the ALCS coincidentally was between the greatest rivalry in all of sports.And these two teams lived up to their legacy in Tuesday’s game — hopefully the rest of this series can be just as exciting.
Mike Mussina pitched brilliantly today, bringing a perfect game into the seventh. However, the no hitter was broken up by Mark Bellhorn in the seventh inning. That was the beginnings of a five run rally, including Ortiz, Millar, Nixon, and Variteck. Tom Gordon pitched the eighth despite being hit in the eye with a champagne cork on Saturday. (!) He gave up three hits in 0.2 innings, most noticeably a two-out, two-run triple via David Ortiz. This brought the score to 8-7 Yankees, in the eighth. In the ninth inning, it was Mariano Rivera who had just returned to NY from a tragic family funeral in Panama. No matter what turmoil he felt, he pitched 1.1 innings, gave up two hits and received yet another post-season save.
Curt Schilling, who in the pregame show said that he couldn’t think of a better situation than shutting up 50,000 New Yorkers. I doubt that anybody could. But either way, it didn’t happen as Schilling went 3.0 innings and gave up 6 hits, 6 runs, and 2 base on balls. This has been attributed to a sore right ankle. Leskanic and Mendoza pitched the fourth and fifth, giving up zero runs. Tim Wakefield pitched the sixth inning, and gave up 2 runs; a solo home-run hit by Kenny Lofton and a Hideki Matsui RBI single, scoring Gary Sheffield. In the eighth inning Bernie Williams doubled to left field off of Mike Timlin to score A-rod and Gary Sheffield.
The Yankees won the game 10-7. Mussina earned the win, Schilling got the loss, and Rivera received the save. Jason Variteck's homerun was his first hit this year in 36 at bats in Yankee Stadium. Also all of the Red Sox’s runs were scored with two outs. Will this game make a difference in the series outcome? Will the Red Sox win the series and break the curse in the World Series? All of these are things to ponder — and baseball fans are in for a good show this week.
Sources- www.yankees.com
www.mlb.com
FOX Network
