ALCS GAME 6 REWIND, GAME 7 PRE-WIND


Nomar rebounds, Red Sox survive Burkett, avoid Rivera

Last night's 9-6 victory for Boston sets up Pedro Vs. Rocket II. I was going to make a dumb joke about how even Evander Holyfield gave Tyson a rematch, but with any luck, Ali/Frazier will be a more apt comparison. Or to quote Jim Caple (quoting Kevin Millar) , a once in a lifetime matchup will take place for the second time in 5 days.



Though last night's events might be rendered meaningless in a few hours, Game 6 had more than a few surprises. The previously infallible Andy Pettitte looked positively mortal . The positively mortal John Burkett looked just like himself --- yet the Red Sox won. Jose Contreras, devastating in the 6th, fooled no one in the 7th. The Boston batting order enjoyed their best game of the post-season, no one more so than Nomar Garciaparra , whose 4-5 night offered some measure of redemption. Hurt by the wind or not, Matsui and Williams each had a rough night in the outfield . And Varitek and Nixon continued to come through with the longball in crucial moments.



There are a myriad of reasons why the Yankees blew their chance to clinch last night, but none bigger than their failure to get the ball into the hands of Mariano Rivera . Along with their crumy defense, New York's middle relief is entirely ordinary. Boston's pen, maligned all year, has performed exceptionally in both playoff series.

I'll give Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe some props today. When a stat was highlighted showing that Pettitte had been victimized by 26 (!) Yankee infield errors in 2003, Thorne wondered out loud how this could possibly be. "Well, he made 6 of them himself." replied Sutcliffe. No rim-shot necessary.

Joe Torre has made some major lineup changes for tonight, moving Nick Johnson to 2nd in the batting order, Enrique Wilson (he of the decent career numbers vs. Pedro) playing at 3rd and batting 8th, and batting 7th...the most expensive no. 7 hitter in this or any other universe, Jason Giambi .

I'm getting a sore back thinking about all the baggage hanging off the necks of tonight's starters . Clemens can propel his team to the World Series and extend his career by another week....or he can see it come to a end, eliminated by the club that so foolishly let him walk away. For Pedro, this is a precious shot at redeeming himself after the meltdown in Game 3. Though it is impossible to imagine Martinez needing additional motivation, this is a guy who seems to thrive on scenarios, real or imagined, in which he is under fire. It won't be imaginary tonight.

Posted: Thu - October 16, 2003 at 07:00 PM      

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