Last night I was laying in bed watching the third game of the series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. With Justin Masterson and Andy Petite putting on a great show, the action was lacking in the first few innings. Once the game got started, the biggest play of the game almost made me jump out of the bed and knock over the sportsfangirl's drink.
If you missed it, Jacoby Ellsbury stole home for the first time by a Red Sox since Jose Offerman. The bases were loaded and JD Drew (who needs to swing the effin bat) was at the plate with one strike on him. With two outs, Jacoby had a walking lead toward home to the back of lefthander Andy Petite. We couldn't see this of course due to the camera angle being behind the mound.
The ESPN announcer (I hate Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN because the announcers usually stink and the commercial breaks drag the game along) almost had a fit and didn't know what to do. He just got antsy and started ranting that Ellsbury was taking off toward home. Petite didn't even notice and threw the pitch for strike two. Ellsbury then almost bit the dirt and fell headfirst into a slide right under the tag of Jorge Posada. After calling strike two, and from my point of view not realizing what was even going on, the umpire then called Ellsbury safe. After returning to the dugout, Ellsbury stepped out and gave the crowd a bow, Tito a hug and received a nice little pat on the bum for doing a great job.
The crowd went wild, the Sox took a 2-1 lead and the fans cheered for it throughout the rest of Drew's at bat. Drew eventually hit a rope out of what I think was anger, due to the fact that he probably felt awful that Tito would rather try to steal home to score the run as opposed to letting JD drive them in after he struck out looking twice up to that point.
Red Sox/Yankees Rivalry
The three game series was great! In the first game, Jason Bay and Kevin Youkilis' late heroics gave me that, "We're gonna take it all again" feeling that I missed last year after the Tampa Bay Devil Rays crushed my hopes and dreams of my buddy's free couch from Jordan's Furniture.
Game 2 which I saw while bowling with the little kido's from work had a display of run scoring from both teams. Eventually, the Sox came out on top 16-11 and I felt amazing. I Also got to pick on the one kid that claims he's a Yankee fan from the time the game ended until we made it back from the bowling alley.
After sweeping the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox increased their winning streak to 10 games. Now that the Sox are in second place and only 1 game back, I'm sure all the critics and skeptics are keeping their mouths closed. If they aren't, now would be the time to do so.
Tidbits
On Curt Schilling's blog 38 pitches, he wrote a great article that I read before the Red Sox/Yankees Series titled, Boo Their Asses Off.... The most sense I've heard about being an involved fan when it comes to going for the ball from the stands:
DON’T reach over the fence on a ball down the line when it’s hit by a RED SOX player!!!
Don’t reach over the fence to catch a ball in the air when it’s hit by a YANKEE player!!!
I've thought the same things my entire life. If it might be an out for us, get in the way. If it is going to be an out for them, get out of the way fast, clear a path for Youkilis or Lowell to dive into the stands to catch it. If it is going to benefit us in any way whatsoever, make it happen!
The Sox open up their series against the Cleveland Indians tonight at 7:05 in tribal territory. Tim Wakefield is going up against Cliff Lee (both on my fantasy team so I'm guaranteed a win and hoping for a low scoring game). Wakefield is coming off two great games and I'm hoping for a third to provide him with an AL Cy Young candidacy. Buenas Noches Amigos.
Ellsbury’s steal was amazing. Wish I saw it live but thanks to youtube I can instead watch it over and over. He stole home!
That steal reiterates my point from the game I saw in Anaheim, Jacoby is ridiculously fast. Amazing game, and a great series.
He is scary fast Matt. Last night when Lowell hit the ball to center and Grady Sizemore overplayed it, all I could think as Lowell stood at third was: “Ellsbury woulda had an inside the pahkah”.
Adam, the steal is better on some of the youtube versions. On ESPN all you saw was him diving after almost falling, we didn’t know he was stealing until he was already there.