In an eerie flashback to another Yankee-Red Sox dramatic moment, Quintin Berry became the 2013 version of Dave Roberts, who turned the tide in the 2004 ALCS with his steal off Rivera in Game 4. Berry pinch-ran for Mike Napoli Thursday night, after Napoli singled with two outs in the ninth. On the first pitch to the following batter, Stephen Drew, Berry took off for second, slid in safely, and then scrambled to third as Austin Romine's throw squirted into left center. Drew drove Berry in with a bloop single to right as the Sox tied the game 8-8.George King, Post:
There are bad losses, heart-breaking losses and losses that freeze bone marrow.Kevin Kernan, Post:
It remains to be known if the Yankees can rebound from the most devastating defeat of the season ...
The Promise that once was Joba Chamberlain continues to be a dead end for the Yankees.
... for manager Joe Girardi to continue to run Chamberlain out there in big games is a losing proposition.
This is the fix you find yourself in when the final month of the season feels less like a series of baseball games and more a daily dance with elimination.John Harper, Daily News:
This is what it feels like when you have less margin for error than a man juggling six chainsaws on a wire above Niagara Falls.
If your ballclub is destined for some magical late-season run that won't end until sometime in October, you almost certainly don't lose on a night like this.
You don't rise up and score six runs in the seventh inning against the first-place Red Sox and then see such an astonishing comeback go to waste because the greatest closer in baseball history blows a ninth-inning lead.
I mean, that's just cruel.
Saturday's Papers
And you thought Thursday night's loss was bad.
This was worse.
The Yankees outdid themselves on Friday night with an epic meltdown. They took an 8-3 lead into the seventh inning, but their bullpen imploded from there, allowing nine runs, and the Red Sox claimed a stunning 12-8 victory at the Stadium in exactly four hours.
The bullpen's line: 3 IP, 10 H, 9 ER, 4 BB, 2 HR. ...
Phil Hughes' first regular-season relief appearance since Sept. 28, 2011, couldn't have gone any worse. ...
Joba Chamberlain was his usual horrendous self. No surprise there.
In the span of two days, the Red Sox have broken Yankee hearts twice with remarkable victories in games the Bombers need desperately. ...Kevin Kernan, Post:
A team with questionable intestinal fortitude might be wiped out by consecutive gut-wrenching losses to its bitter rivals in the heat of a pennant race. We'll see if the Yanks can respond in the final two games of the series Saturday and Sunday, but one thing is clear - pinstriped playoff hopes are dimming as the Sox thrive.
This has suddenly become the bullpen from hell.Mark Feinsand, Daily News:
Friday night's collapse put Thursday night's dreadful performance to shame.
The Yankees have gallantly battled the injury bug all season, finding one replacement after another, living to see the next round in the fight.
Friday night, the knockout punch may have finally been delivered.
On the field, the Yankees suffered their second devastating loss in as many nights, wasting a five-run lead in the seventh inning thanks to some dreadful pitching by Phil Hughes and Boone Logan. ...
Logan was being sent for an MRI Saturday after complaining of tightness in his left elbow area, while Dave Robertson would be unavailable for the next five or six days with tendinitis in his shoulder.
How [much] can one baseball team withstand? When does resilience devolve into sheer exhaustion?
The Yankees seem determined to find out.
Joe Girardi's group followed its Worst Loss of the Season on Thursday night with ...the Even Worse Worst Loss of the Season on Friday night. A seemingly comfortable lead intersected with a battered bullpen at Yankee Stadium, and the result couldn't have been any uglier: 12-8 Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, dropping the Yankees (75-66) behind both Baltimore (75-65) and Cleveland (75-65) — with all of them trailing Tampa Bay (77-63) — in the American League wild-card race.
This is awesome, thanks! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Allan. Great job, even without the Post pages!! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI might have to break down and pay $1 and get tomorrow's Post back page!!!
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