Hardball Hyperbole: Chapter 23

In today’s edition, after starting the 2004 season 8-11 with six losses in seven games to the Red Sox, the Yankees went on an eight-game winning streak which turned their season around and by the time they saw Boston again in late June, the Red Sox were in their rear view mirror.

There is no gloom in a Yankees clubhouse quite like the one that permeates inside those walls after they’ve been swept in a series by the Red Sox.

It pales in comparison to the despair that engulfs Yankees fans who then turn to talk radio to vent their vehemence, but it’s there for the players, too, especially back in 2003 and 2004 when every game against Boston was a singular bloody battle across the landscape of their two-year holy war.

On the afternoon of April 25, having just dropped three straight at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were a pissed off bunch, but there was no panic. “Obviously they are feeling pretty good about themselves,” Jorge Posada said. “There is no doubt we are 1-6 against them. We know that, they know that. No matter what’s happening now, we’re going to turn it around.”

Did they ever. Following the deplorable Boston series which dropped them 4.5 games out of first place, the Yankees went on an eight-game winning streak which pulled them even with the Red Sox in the standings at 16-11.

And by the time the teams met again on Tuesday, June 29 in the Bronx, the Yankees had won 40 of 55 games and were 5.5 games ahead. Three nights later, after a voracious three-game wipeout of the bumbling Bosox, they had won 43 of 58, were 8.5 games ahead, and Derek Jeter had added yet another signature moment to his already iconic career.

If there is one play that could be held up as the standard by which the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is built on, it was the remarkable catch Jeter made in the 12th inning on the night of July 1, 2004. This is what this rivalry wrought; players willing to do anything to make sure their team came out on the winning side because losing to the other team was simply intolerable.

Boston had runners on second and third with two outs and the dangerous Trot Nixon in the box facing reliever Tanyon Sturtze. Sturtze threw a 1-2 pitch on the outer edge of the plate which the lefty-swinging Nixon lunged at and popped up down the line between third base and left field. As the ball climbed into the sky and then began its descent, it seemed clear that it was going to land in no man’s land and the only issue was going to be whether it found grass on the fair or foul side of the line. If it was fair, two runs would score.

Alex Rodriguez retreated from third base but there was no way he could get there in time, and the same held true for left fielder Ruben Sierra. The only player who had a chance was Jeter, and even that didn’t seem likely, but remember, this was Jeter, the ultimate gamer.

Jeter got a great jump, took the perfect angle in his pursuit, and as he was running full tilt he thrust his left arm out at the last second to snare the ball, and then unable to stop his momentum he went flying headfirst over the camera well and into the second row of seats, smashing his face while somehow holding on to the ball for the third out.

“That was the greatest catch I’ve ever seen,” said Rodriguez who, seeing Jeter’s face bruised and bloody began waving for the Yankees trainers to get out there in a hurry. “He went in so hard, you thought the guy is going to be dead when he comes out.”

Only the Red Sox threat was dead, and not soon after, so were the Red Sox. Moments after Manny Ramirez hit a solo homer in the 13th inning to give Boston hope of averting a sweep, the Yankees answered with a stunning two-out, two-run rally to pull out a memorable 5-4 victory.

“He leaves his heart on the field every single night,’’ Joe Torre said of his star shortstop. “A lot of times it doesn’t show up in the stats, but you have to be here every night. What he does translates into victories and championships.’’

The series began with an 11-3 laugher as the Yankees pummeled Derek Lowe for nine runs (five earned) in his five innings of work. A pair of solo homers by Johnny Damon had the Red Sox ahead 2-1, but then in the bottom of the third New York scored three times, the last two on a single by Hideki Matsui, to take a 4-2 lead. And then in the fourth, an error by Nomar Garciaparra kept the inning alive and two pitches later Gary Sheffield hit a three-run homer to make it 7-2 and the rout was on.

In the middle game, New York’s Jon Lieber and Boston’s Tim Wakefield produced a nice duel and when Wakefield left with two men on base in the seventh, the Red Sox had a 2-0 lead. Eventually the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs, and Tony Clark hit a grounder to first which went under the glove of David Ortiz for a two-run error that tied the game. In the eighth, the Yankees scored twice on a Sheffield RBI double and Matsui RBI single, and when Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth, the Yankees had a 4-2 victory.

That was the prelude for what unfolded in the finale. Over the course of four hours and 20 minutes, the Yankees and Red Sox put forth a dazzling display of baseball. So good that even Pedro Martinez, who pitched seven strong innings which in the end weren’t enough to deliver a victory, said, “I can tell you that this was one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Not only because I was in it. Regardless. Even counting the playoffs. It was one of the best-played games I’ve ever seen.’’

Boston reliever Alan Embree agreed, going so far as to say, “This was exciting. It was more exciting than Game 7.”

Crazy, right? The stakes weren’t in the same stratosphere as what they were that night the previous October, but all night long, the drama in this game was relentless. The Yankees were hellbent on completing the sweep and driving the Red Sox another game further behind in the standings while the Red Sox were doing all they could to avoid that fate.

Right from the start this one had the feeling of an impending epic. In the bottom of the first, Pedro plunked Sheffield with a pitch and Sheffield, new to the rivalry, wasted no time getting involved. He barked out at Pedro who of course was more than happy to bark back, and thus the tone for the evening was set.

The Yankees struck first when Clark hit a two-run homer in the second and Posada, who loved nothing more in his career than hitting Pedro, launched a solo shot in the fifth for a 3-0 lead. Naturally, the Red Sox rallied as Ortiz doubled off Yankee starter Brad Halsey and Ramirez followed with a two-run homer in the sixth, and Pokey Reese’s double play grounder drove in the tying run in the seventh.

Little did anyone know but that was essentially the midway point of the game because what followed were six-plus innings of high-wire tension that included tremendous pitching, multiple scoring chances, and managers Torre and Terry Francona utilizing nearly every man on their rosters because there were so many strategical decisions in play.

The Yankees could have ended this game four times before they eventually succeeded in the 13th. The first came in the seventh, but Pedro stranded men on first and second by retiring Kenny Lofton. In the ninth, the Yankees were poised to walk it off as Matsui singled and Posada doubled off Red Sox closer Keith Foulke. Clark was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Foulke struck out Sierra and got Lofton on a grounder.

With two outs in the 10th, A-Rod doubled to chase Mike Timlin, and A-Rod promptly stole third off Embree. Bubba Crosby walked, but Bernie Williams lined to third to kill the threat.

Boston hadn’t even managed a baserunner since the seventh, but that changed in the 11th against Rivera as Ortiz and Ramirez singled and they moved to second and third on a throwing error in center by Crosby. Jason Varitek was walked intentionally to load the bases with none out, but Rivera performed a Houdini. He got Kevin Millar to ground to third where A-Rod stepped on the bag and fired home to complete a double play, and then Dave McCarty flied out as the stadium erupted in glee.

Jeter’s play ended the danger in the 12th, and Sheffield said, “That’s probably the best play I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a guy of his caliber go all out like that. It shows you how important these games are. Our captain showed us the way.”

But on the way, there was yet another obstacle to clear because in the 13th, Ramirez smoked Sturtze to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Boston could have tacked on, too, as Sheffield - who was moved to third base because A-Rod took over for the injured Jeter at short - made a throwing error and McCarty walked. However, Sturtze induced Cesar Crespo to ground into an inning-ending double play.

On to the bottom of the 13th and things weren’t looking good for the Yankees after Curtis Leskanic mowed through Posada and Clark. But then Sierra singled and Miguel Cairo ripped one into the right-center gap for a double that scored Sierra with the tying run.

John Flaherty, the last man on the bench, was then called on to pinch hit for Sturtze because due to all the position switches and previous pinch-hitting moves Torre needed to make, the Yankees had lost their DH in the top of the inning. Flaherty wasn’t even on the bench; he was out in the bullpen, so he trotted in, grabbed a bat, and promptly blasted one over Ramirez’s head in left field for a single that chased home Cairo with the winning run.

“It’s a great feeling,” Flaherty said. “When you’re hitting .150 like I was, any time you’re able to drive in the winning run is a great feeling because those opportunities don’t come around too often. But Miguel really had the big hit.”

It was quite a ballgame, and afterward, Sheffield said, “I had a nice conversation with Don Mattingly after the game, and he was telling me all about the Boston-New York rivalry and he said this was the best game he ever saw in all the years he played against the Red Sox. That’s saying something.”

In the losing clubhouse, dressing in funereal silence, Damon said something that in the moment seemed almost foolhardy, the utterance of an eternal optimist, but a few months down the road would prove awfully prophetic.

“We still believe we’re going to go off and win a World Series,’’ Damon said. “It’s never going to be easy in Boston. We have to battle. It’ll make the story that much sweeter.’’

Hmmmm.

NEXT WEDNESDAY: The rivalry explodes during a volatile three-game series at Fenway Park highlighted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Varitek exchanging blows and creating yet another bench clearing melee.

H