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Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Longest Baseball Game of Life


Whenever you think out loud or in your head, "wow, this baseball game is going by quickly," you have just jinxed it. Such was the case yesterday as the Red Sox (6-6) beat the Yankees (6-6), 4-3 after a 2 hour and 11 minute rain delay.

The game was played in decent weather for the first seven innings or so and then it started to rain. In the bottom of the eighth, with two runners on and A-Rod coming to the plate, it started to pour. So Jonathan Papeblon-who had just come out of the bullpen-had to warm up multiple times on this day.

Ortiz was 0 for 4 once again, struck out once and grounded into a double play. He's struck out and grounded into a double play the last four games.

When Pap finally got in, he struck out A-Rod then struck out two of three batters in the ninth (on a whopping 26 pitches) to record the save, his fourth of the season.

The early storyline was Josh Beckett returning to his dominant form in his second start, Manny continuing to be the hitting machine he is and David Ortiz struggling to put the ball in play.

Beckett (1-1) gave up one hit through five and started to tire in the sixth. Overall, he went 6.2 innings, giving up five hits, three runs (all earned), one walk and five strikeouts.

Manny broke Mike Mussina's shutout in the fourth when he blasted a solo home run off the Volvo sign above the Green Monster. Manny added a two-run double in the sixth to put the Sox up 3-2 and then Youkilis knocked him in with a single.

Robinson Cano hit an RBI double in the seventh to chase Beckett.

Jacoby Ellsubry, Dustin Pedroia and Youk all had two hits. Cano was the only Yankee with multiple hits. Besides the great pitching, the Sox defense was outstanding. Manny, Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Lugo and Sean Casey all made nice defensive plays.

The series concludes tonight on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball as Dice-K opposes Phil Hughes.

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