Red Sox Beat Yankees 8-7 In 11 Innings On Mike Napoli's 2nd Home Run of the Game

It took a combined 405 pitches (203 for New York and 202 for Boston) and four hours and 46 minutes but the Red Sox didn't mind at all since Mike Napoli sent Fenway Park home happy with a walk-off solo homer in the 11th off Adam Warren (1-1) for an 8-7 Red Sox (60-40 overall, 33-17 home) win over Yankees (52-46 overall, 24-23 away). Boston improved to 6-4 in extra innings this season and they won their ninth contest in walk-off fashion (tied for 2011 for the most since 2006).

The Red Sox took two of three from the Yankees this weekend to take a healthy seven-game lead over them and tonight it was about their offense coming through just enough to overcome three errors and an early 3-0 lead by the Yankees in the second inning plus a 7-3 led for the Red Sox that they blew. Boston knew that Tampa Bay and Baltimore-their main competitors in the AL East this season-had already won by the time this ended right before 1 a.m. EST so they had to win to keep the Rays 1.5 games behind and the Orioles 3.5 in back of Boston. The Red Sox still have the most wins in MLB although they've played four more games than the Cardinals (59 wins).

With Jon Lester's start getting pushed back a few extra days, Ryan Dempster got the ball and predictably pitched mediocre (5.1 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks) but that's more than you can say for CC Sabathia. The former Yankees ace is a shell of himself for whatever reason: 5 innings, 7 earned runs, 9 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks.

Brett Gardner (3 for 4 with run, RBI, 2 walks, stolen base) scored New York's first run on a throwing error by Boston. The Yankees tacked on another run thanks to Vernon Wells' RBI single and Robinson Cano's (3 for 5 with two RBIs and walk) RBI single in the second inning.

Boston got on the board in the third on Dustin Pedroia's RBI single then Napoli put them ahead with a three-run homer over the Monster (his 12th of the season). Shane Victorino's (2 hits, 2 stolen bases) high chopper to left field scored two runs in the fourth and Jonny Gomes cranked a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth (his 8th of the season) for a 7-3 Red Sox advantage. Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4 with a double, run, walk and stolen base in the win.

Gardner and Cano chipped into the lead with a pair of RBI singles in the sixth while Chris Stewart's RBI single cut it to 7-6 and a run scored on a groundout. Eduardo Nunez was 3 for 4 with two runs and a stolen base.

Some of the more obscure members of the Red Sox bullpen saved them in this game: Matt Thornton pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, Koji Uehara had a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts, rookie Drake Britton appeared for the second straight day and got a scoreless 10th before Pedro Beato (1-0) held serve for the home team in the 11th.

Tampa Bay (58-41 overall, 2nd in AL East) is the hottest team in MLB: a scorching 17-2 in their last 19 games and they come to Fenway for a pivotal four-game series beginning tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) with rookie Brandon Workman (0-0) facing Matt Moore (13-3). Lester (8-6) takes on Roberto Hernandez (5-10) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN), Felix Doubront (7-3) meets David Price (4-5) on Wednesday (7:10, NESN) and John Lackey (7-7) opposes Jeremy Hellickson (9-3) on Thursday (7:10, NESN).

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1 Last Soul-Crushing Defeat To Throw On The Dumpster Fire As Red Sox Secure Last Place In AL East

If you thought the Red Sox, the worst team in franchise history since 1966 was going to go out quietly, well you are lucky since you haven't been paying attention to this entire shitshow of a season. Or 13 months to be exact.

In the penultimate contest of their 2012, Boston (69-92, 35-45 away) had a 3-1 lead on the Yankees (94-47, 50-30 home) heading into the bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium. No sooner had I tweeted "not over yet" but Curtis Granderson (2 runs, 2 hits, walk, stolen base) singled and pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez tied it with a two-run homer (his 19th of the season) off closer Andrew Bailey (3rd blown save).

Ibanez was the hero again in the 12th with an RBI single against Andrew Miller (3-2) that scored Francisco Cervelli with the winning run. If you're looking for something to root for Red Sox-related tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN) in Game 162, you want Boston to lose and Miami to win. If that happens, they'll "earn" the No. 6 draft pick in 2013. By virtue of their loss and Toronto's win, the Red Sox sealed last place in the AL East for the first time in 20 years. Marvelous.

The Yankees all too predictable comeback win was extremely important to them since Baltimore had already beaten Tampa Bay 1-0. This means both teams are tied heading into the final regular season game with the AL East up for grabs.

Playing with a broken finger, Dustin Pedroia (2 for 3, run, walk) was an inspiration with his RBI double in the first inning. Cody Ross knocked him in with a sacrifice fly and the Red Sox led 2-0.

Jon Lester went five innings, allowing one run (0 earned) on eight hits with one strikeout and one walk. David Phelps went 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Eduardo Nunez (2 for 3 with double) got the Yanks a run with an infield single in the second inning. James Loney (2 hits) hit a solo homer (2nd with the Red Sox) off Rafael Soriano in the 9th which gave Boston a temporary 3-1 advantage.

Mark Melancon (1.2 scoreless innings) and Vicente Padilla (1 scoreless inning) were able to clean up Bailey's mess but the final salt in the wound was that our old drinking buddy Derek Lowe (9-11) earned the win for New York with two scoreless innings of his own.

Pedro Ciriaco was 2 for 4 with a walk and stolen base in the loss. Derek Jeter (double), Nick Swisher (double, 2 walks), Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano each had two hits for the Bombers.

If you like car crashes-and who doesn't-make sure to check out the season finale of the Dead Man Walking Red Sox. Witness Bobby Valentine and Daisuke Matsuzaka's (1-6) last game in a Red Sox uniform. Hiroki Kuroda (15-11) gets to send this historically bad team to another tumultuous offseason filled with drama. I can't even predict what wacky thing those two jokers will pull? Perhaps Bobby V gets thrown out during batting practice or Dice-K finally unleashes the gyro ball? Whatever happens, it is destined to be hilarious.

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Apparently 9-Run Leads Aren't What They Used To Be

Leave it to the Red Sox to make New England sports fans even more depressed after the Bruins lost Game 5 to the Capitals earlier this afternoon.

The Yankees (9-6, 5-3 away) tied a franchise record for the biggest comeback ever as they recovered from being down nine runs to pull out a 15-9 win vs. the shell-shocked Red Sox (4-10, 3-5) at Fenway Park.

Boston's fifth straight loss of the season was one of the most insane defeats that I've ever seen, from the team that wrote the book on improbable losses.

I made the mistake of having dinner after Boston was up 9-1 in the sixth, I almost couldn't believe it when I flipped on the radio to find out that New York had pulled to within 9-8 in the seventh. Once the Yanks went ahead in the eighth, I knew it was over.

This one fell squarely on the bullpen's overmatched shoulders. No less than five different guys came in for the Red Sox and they all gave up runs before Junichi Tazawa (called up from the PawSox earlier this week) was able to get the last four outs.

Felix Doubront had his best MLB start, given the circumstances, so he deserved much better than what ended up happening. He held New York to one run (earned) over six innings with four hits, seven strikeouts and three walks.

Freddy Garcia was useless, he allowed five earned runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings, while the next New York relievers-Clay Rapada and David Phelps-also couldn't stop the bleeding. However, that's when Rafael Soriano (2-0), Boone Logan and Cody Eppley combined to shut out the Red Sox in the final three innings.

Mark Teixeira (6 RBIs, 3 hits, 3 runs) and Nick Swisher (6 RBIs, 3 hits, 2 runs) provided most of the damage for the Yankees. Derek Jeter (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, RBI), Eduardo Nunez (3 hits, 2 runs) and Russell Martin (2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) all had multiple hits as well.

You don't lose many non-beer league softball games where you have 17 hits but that's what the Red Sox accomplished today so there's that. David Ortiz (4 hits, run, RBI) is arguably the hottest hitter in MLB and it was nice to see Jarrod Saltalamacchia (4 hits, run) come out of his season-long slump too. Cody Ross (2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Mike Aviles (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, stolen base) are off to fine starts in their Red Sox careers at the plate. Dustin Pedroia added two hits and an RBI.

Boston hasn't scored first often this season but they went wild to begin today with two in the first, three in the second, two in the third and two in the fifth.

Adrian Gonzalez and Ortiz had RBI doubles to start things off. Aviles and Pedroia had RBI singles sandwiched around a sacrifice fly by Ryan Sweeney in the second. Darnell McDonald had a sacrifice fly in the third and Aviles put up another RBI single. Ross closed the binge with a two-run blast to center, his third home run of the season, in the fifth. Not bad, right?

Teixeira began the epic rally with a solo homer in the sixth, his second of the season. Swisher greeted Vicente Padilla with a grand slam, his fourth homer of the season, in the seventh. Matt Albers came on and he gave up a three-run bomb to Teixeira in the same inning.

New York tacked on seven more runs in the eighth. Alfredo Aceves entered in the eighth for a six-out save but that didn't go quite as planned since he allowed five earned runs on four walks (two intentional) and two hits. Swisher, Teixeira and Martin each had two-run doubles. Jeter finished it off with an RBI single.

Not that it matters, since they would probably lose anyway but it looks like we are getting some serious rain tomorrow so I doubt the Sunday Night Baseball game (8 p.m., ESPN) will happen. That's a shame too since Terry Francona would be in the booth and God only knows what he could say about this disaster.

The Red Sox' best bet is to duck the Yankees, get out on the road against the Twins and White Sox-two mediocre teams-and try to put all this failure behind them before this season is over before it has even really begun.

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Josh Reddick's First Career Walk-Off Hit Sparks Red Sox' First Season Series Win Over Yankees Since 2004

Something about Sunday Night Baseball seems to bring out the drama for the Boston Red Sox.

While it's hard to top their 16-inning win over the Rays three weeks ago on July 17 (1-0 in Tampa Bay), tonight's 10-inning victory over the New York Yankees carried some extra significance for a couple reasons.

For starters, the 3-2 win at Fenway Park by the Red Sox (70-43) not only clinched the weekend series (2-1) and season series over New York (69-44)-it stands at 10-2 right now-but it put Boston back on top of the AL East by a game.

I'm not going to use the cliched term of magic but there was something in the foggy air as the Red Sox rallied for a run against the greatest closer in MLB history (Mariano Rivera) in the ninth to tie it 2-2 on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly (scoring Marco Scutaro).

Then Josh Reddick picked a fine time for his first MLB walk-off hit as his RBI single drove in pinch runner Darnell McDonald in the tenth against Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes (2-4). David Ortiz (2 hits) had started the sequence with a ground-rule double to right, McDonald pinch ran for him and then Hughes intentionally walked Carl Crawford (3 hits) to get to Reddick.

The loss would have been particularly tough to take since Josh Beckett pitched well but Boston kept leaving runners on base (12) against Freddy Garcia and four other Yankees relievers before finally getting to Rivera and Hughes.

Beckett got a no-decision but it's safe to say that he still has New York locked down this season. As useless as CC Sabathia is against the Red Sox in 2011, Beckett is the opposite against the Yankees. Tonight, he went six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Similar to Bartolo Colon on Friday, New York manager Joe Girardi didn't hesitate to get his overachieving starter out at the first sign of trouble. That sketchy strategy worked the first time but not the second time. It's hard to see it being successful in the playoffs either as the Yankees presumably will be relying heavily on their bullpen since outside of Sabathia who can they count on to go 6+ innings?

Garcia went five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Marco Scutaro (4 for 4) drove in Kevin Youkilis with an RBI single in the second, making it 1-0 Boston.

Beckett was dealing until Eduardo Nunez lost one just over the Monster in the fifth. Another very unlikely Yankee went deep as Brett Gardner (3 hits, 2 stolen bases) hit a solo homer off Matt Albers in the seventh.

That measly run figured to stand up as Rafael Soriano got a 1-2-3 seventh for New York and David Robertson likewise got a hold with a scoreless eighth.

Scutaro led off the ninth with a wall ball double that just miss being a homer to right against Rivera. Jacoby Ellsbury got him over to third despite a terrible bunt. Pedroia's sac fly tied it and the Red Sox were on their way.

After Albers and Franklin Morales (9 of his 12 pitches were balls; 2 walks but somehow no runs allowed) shaky relief, Dan Wheeler struck out the side in the seventh, Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth and Daniel Bard (2-5) got a 1-2-3 10th with two strikeouts for the eventual win.

There's only six more regular season games between these teams (3 in Boston Aug. 30-Sept. 1 and 3 in New York Sept. 23-25) but this latest marathon (4 hours, 15 minutes) proved that the Red Sox have the Yankees' number. As I alluded to in the headline, it's the first time since 2004 that Boston has won the season series against New York and who knows how long it's been since they clinched it so early on.

Boston heads out for three games in Minnesota followed by three in Seattle. They return for only two against Tampa Bay then hit the road again for four in Kansas City and four in Texas. Without a doubt, this is the toughest stretch of the season travel-wise for the Red Sox.

Tim Wakefield gets his third crack at 200 wins as he opposes Scott Baker of the Twins tomorrow night at Target Field. It's Boston's only visit to Minnesota this season, the Red Sox won three of four against the Twins on May 6-9 at Fenway.

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