BOSTON 7 - YANKEES 6

I gave up. I admit it. When the Yankees had a 4 run lead in the bottom of the 8th, I wrote this game off. In fact, I had already started a post entitled "Schilling Struggles, Yankees Win." If I had published it, I would've had my own Thomas E. Dewey moment. And then the roof fell in for the visitors, courtesy of the much-maligned bottom of the lineup no less.

David Ortiz doubled off of of lefty Mike Myers, who was promptly lifted for the righthander Luis Vizcaino to face Manny Ramirez. Despite falling behind 0-2 in the count, Ramirez was able to work a walk. J.D. Drew grounded out to Cano at second and advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd.

Mike Lowell singled, scoring Ortiz and moving Ramirez to third, and Jason Varitek came to the plate. The captain had already had a great night at the dish, having sent a Pettitte offering into the bullpen for a two-run homer that tied the score at 2-all. However, his heroics weren't done. The Yankees countered by bringing in Mariano Rivera, forcing Tek to hit from the left side. Rivera got ahead of Varitek in the count at 1-2 but the Boston catcher fouled off three straight before sending a line single into right field, bringing Ramirez home and pulling the Sox to within two at 6-4.

Coco Crisp came up to hit with men on first and second and only one out. He jumped all over Rivera's first offering and sent a liner screaming down the first base line into the right field corner. When the dust settled, the score was tied and Crisp was on third with his first triple of the season. Super-sub Alex Cora softly lined into left to score the go-ahead run. Cora would be thrown out while inexplicably trying to steal second and Julio Lugo struck out to end the inning.

It was still nail-biting time as the Yankees had Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, and Alex Rodriguez due up in the ninth and Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon not available to pitch tonight. In a surprising move, Francona pulled righthander Kyle Snyder (in for Romero in the eighth) and brought in lefty reliever Hideki Okajima. The newcomer displayed command & poise, sandwiching a walk to Abreu between a Jeter ground-out and a Rodriguez liner to second. He tied up Kevin Thompson on a nasty splitter to strike him out and end the game.

The late inning drama overshadowed a mediocre performance by Curt Schilling, who surrendered two homeruns to A-Rod. Schilling's line: 7.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 5 SO, 1 BB. He actually never appeared very comfortable until the sixth and seventh innings when he retired the Yankees on seven and ten pitches respectively. By that time, though, Schilling was up over 100 pitches and JC Romero came in at the top of eighth. Romero would cough up another run to New York on an A-Rod double and Jason Giambi single. Yankees catcher, Wil Nieves, grounded into a force-out but Romero was pulled for Kyle Snyder after Robinson Cano singled. Snyder walked Doug Mientkievicz but struck out Melky Cabrera and induced a ground-out from Johnny Damon to end the threat.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Varitek: 3-4, 3 RBI, 2 R

Favorite Ballplayer Named Like a Breakfast Cereal:
Crisp: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 R .... and all 10s from the judges for the back pike with a twist into the bullpen

Can I have a side of fries and a Coke with that sub?
Cora: 1-1, 1 RBI (GW) This was the second game in a row that Cora delivered the game-winning runs. Mini-Papi? Papi-ette?