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April 17, 2004

Red Sox 5, Yankees 2. Haven't had a chance to watch the tape of the game, but although Schilling put up a decent line (6.1-6-1-4-8), he'll likely be pissed at his performance. He didn't want to come out of the game in the 7th, but he had thrown 122 pitches. His count rose because of several long at-bats: 11 pitches to Matsui in the 4th, 8 to Giambi in the 6th and 9 to Jeter in the 7th (his last batter). He threw at least 5 pitches to 12 of his 28 batters.

Timlin came on and after a walk to his first batter, he got five quick outs. Foulke pitched the 9th. ... When he needed outs, Schilling got them:

2nd inning: Two outs. Matsui walks. Posada doubles to right. Clark is caught looking on a 2-2 pitch.

3rd inning: With two outs, Williams doubles down the right field line. Rodriguez strikes out on 3 pitches (called, swinging, called).

4th inning: Schilling strikes out Giambi, but walks Sheffield and allows a single to Matsui (11-pitch AB). He then gets Posada to hit into a first-pitch, 4-6-3 double play.

5th inning: Clark homers to open the inning, but the next 3 hitters (Wilson, Jeter, Williams) go out on 12 pitches.

6th inning: Schilling strikes out Rodriguez to begin the inning, but he walks Giambi on 8 pitches and after Sheffield fouls out to third, Matsui singles to left. Schilling falls behind Posada 3-0, gets 2 called strikes, but ends up walking him. Boston is up 4-1 and Clark (who homered last inning) is the go-ahead run at the plate. He grounds out 3-1 on the first pitch.

Boston was extremely patient with Mussina and forced him to throw 71 pitches through the first 3 innings (14-38-19). Three walks, a HBP and a single added up to two runs in the 2nd and another Jeter error, singles by Varitek and Bellhorn and a Kapler FC brought home a run in the 3rd. ... Manny hit a bomb to center to start the 5th (I am so glad he's still in Boston!) and Damon doubled home Pokey for the fifth run in the 8th. ... The Red Sox also lined into two double plays: Bellhorn in the 5th and Varitek in the 7th. Fortunately, they did not blunt any necessary rallies, and so merely offered more evidence that the team is hitting the ball well.

Bellhorn was on base in 3 of his 4 trips (walk, single, HBP), raising his OBP to an even .500 -- higher than the Yankees' winning percentage! ... A-Rod went 0-4 for the second consecutive game, though he did manage to hit a ball out of the infield today -- a fly to deep center to close out the first inning.

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