Sox Rally On Rivera, Draw First Blood!

(Youkilis with Vigininia Tech on his mind.)(A Moment of Silence for the fallen Hokies.)(Ain't that the Fuckin' Truth!)(So Close, yet So Far.)(Coco Crisp triples in the tying run in the 8th.)(Varitek scores the tying run.)Hideki Okajima, NOT Mariano Rivera, gets the save.)(AJOB turned into a pumpkin in the ninth, weakly lining out to second.)(VICTORY CELEBRATION!)

The Red Sox survived a lackluster start, spotty control by Curt Schilling, and two home runs by AJOB, to rally in the eigth and beat the New York Yankees, 7-6, at Fenway Park on Friday Night. Wearing green home uniforms to honor the late Celtics Coach Red Auerbach, and a VT logo on the side of their caps, the Sox scored 5 runs in the bottom of the eighth (highlighted by a game tying two run triple by Coco Crisp) to complete the comeback. Most notably the last two runs came off of Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, arguably the best closer there is.

The Red Sox survived a rather unremarkable start by pitcher Curt Schilling (7IP 8H 5ER 1BB 5K 2 AJOB HRs), by picking on the Yankee bullpen after starter Andy Pettite (who only gave up 2ER in 6 1/3, on a HR by Jason Varitek). Alex Cora singled in the winning run, and had the winning RBI for the second consecutive day.

The series resumes today at 4:00pm at Fenway, with Sox starter Josh Beckett (3-0, 1.50 ERA) facing off against Jeff Carstens (first game of the year).


GO SOX!

TomC