Teammates go to bat for the ace after loss
No Friday night miracles this time.
The Red Sox, who boosted the hopes of their fandom with an inspired comeback victory over Mariano Rivera and the Yankees in the Bronx Sept. 17, were unable to repeat that feat last night.
This time, the Bombers entered the bottom of the ninth with a two-run lead and Rivera was able to shut the door to secure a 6-4 victory and a 5 1/2-game lead over Boston in the American League East.
The Sox led, 4-3, to start the eighth but Pedro Martinez was touched for two runs in the eighth and the Yankees added an insurance run in the ninth.
"Stupid" and "frustrating" were the terms Martinez used when describing the pitch to Hideki Matsui that landed in the Sox bullpen and tied the game at 4. But with the players in a very quiet postgame locker room, comparisons with last night's game and the heartbreaking Game 7 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium last October ended quickly.
"[Martinez] was still throwing 93 miles per hour," said reliever Mike Timlin, who was brought in to replace Alan Embree in the eighth after Embree relieved Martinez. "It's really tough for him to lose, but hopefully this outing will help him out."
Embree was also steadfast in his support of Martinez.
"Pedro's a battler. He doesn't like to have the ball taken out of his hand," said the lefthander. "Both of us were warming up when Matsui came up. But he was the first hitter of the inning and we weren't warm yet."
And to catcher Jason Varitek, the issue is even clearer.
"It's easy to point fingers, but this wasn't about Pedro -- we lost this game as a team."
The frustration was palpable, and most players gamely said their team still has a chance to win the American League East.
"Our goal is still to win games and beat the Yankees," said Varitek, adding that Martinez was still sharp in the late innings, and that even the delivery Matsui hit out "was a pretty good pitch. He made a mistake, but not a big one. They're a good team and they make things happen. What we have to do is worry about winning games. We have to get ready to come out and play [today]."
Johnny Damon acknowledged that winning the East would be "pretty tough for us. We have to hope they don't win much more and we have to win games. We set our goal to beat the Yankees, and that goal is further and further away, but we still have a shot.
"We have to hit the long ball off them because their pitchers don't make very many mistakes or give up walks. They're a good pitching team and we came up a little short. I mean, those guys keep putting up great at-bats. They're scary, just like our team is. Good teams just find a way to win and that's what they did."
According to Damon, as good as Mike Mussina pitched last night, the relievers (Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera) were just as impressive. "You just can't always come back against a Gordon or Rivera. They're just too tough."
Damon said he was disappointed with the way the Sox are playing, and termed it "not too good."
The leadoff hitter said, "I still like a lot of it on my shoulders. As I go, the team's going to go. That's the kind of pressure I like, but I need to do better than get one hit. I need to get on base and try to cause havoc so the big guys can get some good pitches to hit.
"Hopefully, I can get going and [Mark] Bellhorn can get going. When both of us get going, we're pretty unstoppable. But right now we're just not hitting the ball. It started in Seattle when we faced a couple of guys who shut us down. So we're not too happy with the way we've been playing. It's actually horrible, and we know we're a better team."
