Knowing their task tomorrow at Fenway Park is a daunting one even if they have a revitalized Roger Clemens working their side of the street, the Yankees went into last night’s Game 2 of the ALCS against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium with a sense of urgency.
The worst they could travel to Boston was with a split of the first two games but facing the Cy Young award lock even would have been a lot harder than having the Bosox in an 0-2 box.
After David Cone and Ramon Martinez, Pedro’s brother, battled each other for six innings, the Yankees grabbed a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Paul O’Neill’s bloop hit to left-center.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is set for tomorrow when Pedro Martinez and Clemens pitch in New England’s living room in front of a national television audience.
Ricky Ledee drawing a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch to start the seventh brought the Stadium to life for the first time all night while the Yankees were hitting. The crowd, of course, had cheered Tino Martinez’ homer in the fourth and lent vocal support whenever Cone neared one of his nine strikeouts.
Now, Scott Brosius, the No. 8 hitter who homered, tripled and singled in Game 1, was being asked to bunt and he laid down a beauty to move Ledee to second.
Knowing Joe Girardi was 2-for-2 against Martinez with singles in the third and fifth, Joe Torre didn’t use Jorge Posada to hit for Girardi. Martinez won this battle when Girardi popped up to second baseman Jose Offerman.
Chuck Knoblauch, who bruised his left foot late in Game 1 when he fouled a pitch off it to the point where he was taken for X-rays that were negative, tied the score, 2-2, with a double to left that plated Ledee.
That was the end of Martinez, who was lifted for Tom Gordon. The reliever walked Derek Jeter, prompting his removal in favor of Rheal Cormier, who got ahead of O’Neill 1-2 before surrendering the go-ahead hit that left the suddenly impotent Red Sox on the verge of a two-game deficit.
The Yankees can only hope the that Ramon’s younger brother, Pedro, a Cy Young lock, doesn’t turn their bats to dust the way Ramon did through six innings.
Fifteen months after having his rotator cuff repaired, Ramon did a wonderful impersonation of Pedro through six innings when he limited the Yankees to one run and five hits. Four of those hits were singles and the extra base hit was Tino Martinez’ bases-empty homer to right in the fourth inning.
Through six, the Yankees only had on batter – O’Neill in the third – hit with a runner in scoring position and he flied to right on a 3-2 pitch.
An 11-day layoff could have been the reason Cone walked two of the first four batters he faced but he rebounded to get Troy O’Leary looking at a 3-2 pitch to end the first.
Jason Varitek’s bid for a second-inning homer was six inches short and banged off the right-field wall. Thinking the ball had gone over his glove which reached the top of the blue padding, O’Neill thought the ball had reached the first row of seats. However, when O’Neill looked back he saw the ball rolling toward the infield and the heavy-legged Varitek lumbering into third.
Cone stranded Varitek by getting Darren Lewis, who is having a miserable series, on a pop to short and Trot Nixon on a fly to right.
Varitek’s one-out double in the fourth was negated by Cone fanning Lewis looking and getting Nixon on a harmless fly to center.
With first base vacant, Offerman on second via a bloop single to left and a stolen base and two outs, Cone didn’t want to give into Nomar Garciaparra. If the All-Star shortstop was going to hack it was going to be at Cone’s pitch, not something Garciaparra liked.
At 1-1, Cone fed Garciaparra a filthy splitter for the second strike. The book on Garciaparra is that he will chase when behind and when Joe Girardi set up on the outside corner you knew that’s where Cone wanted the next offering.
While the pitch was down in the zone, it was nowhere near far enough outside and when it stayed in the middle of the dish, Garciaparra lofted it over the left-field wall for a 2-1 Red Sox lead.