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Game Three
2005-04-06 09:45
by Alex Belth

It's another beautiful day in New York, even warmer than yesterday. Some kind of day to be at the ballpark. Mike Mussina will pitch for the Yankees, and Tim Wakefield goes for the Sox. Mussina has a history of pitching well against Boston (especially when Pedro was involved), and Wakefield has vexed the Bombers for years. I'm not going to be able to catch the game. Anyone watching, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Comments
2005-04-06 12:59:03
1.   redshift
Eek! A leadoff walk followed by a single to open the ninth for Rivera - with only a one-run lead to preserve.
Could be tight!
2005-04-06 13:12:27
2.   Antonello
Tied to a chair in the office, all I can do is "watch" this one via ESPN gamecast. What exactly happened? Has Mariano been replaced by MarianoPrime, a poor robotic fascimile of the original? Are we talking about pitching badly or Boston hitting well?
2005-04-06 13:12:41
3.   kevinmeyers
yeesh. rivera's been exposed to kryptonite.
2005-04-06 13:13:06
4.   murphy
uuuh... paging mr. rivera? mr. mariano rivera?
2005-04-06 13:14:00
5.   kevinmeyers
Pitching badly. Most of his stuff has been either right over the heart of the plate or two feet outside.

Still, a-rod needs to make that play. He had the easy out at home, and could've gotten two.

2005-04-06 13:16:55
6.   jalexei
Wow - has Mariano ever been pulled before? Yea, it's early, blah blah blah, but if something's seriously off with him we'll be finishing 3rd this year...
2005-04-06 13:17:23
7.   Dan M
Knowing the Yankees, they'll just probably try to solve this problem by signing John Wetteland.
2005-04-06 13:19:07
8.   Alex Belth
I guess we'll be seeing many more, "What's wrong with Mo?" stories tomorrow. But you are right, Rodriguez geeked that play. He choked on that play. It was exactly what the Yankees needed, a tailor-made double play ball. Rodriguez knew it and when it came true, the needle skipped.

But Rivera did not look good. How many times is he going to walk that many guys in one inning?

2005-04-06 13:19:22
9.   kevinmeyers
Rivera's fourth blown save in a row... going back to last October. All against Boston.
2005-04-06 13:21:47
10.   Rosbif22
I raced home for class to watch....this ?!
2005-04-06 13:23:44
11.   Rosbif22
Er...that would be "from," not "for."
2005-04-06 13:24:21
12.   yankeegirl26
Oh my god Mariano! What is he doing?! $%&!@#!! Well, what has he done! Could that inning have been any worse? I don't think so. Somehow, I don't think anyone is going to rescue him in the bottom of the 9th from this one. And, as usual, Wakefield baffled us.
2005-04-06 13:31:15
13.   unpopster
that was just ugly!

But, if the Red Sox hit another Yankee, I will personally jump out of the stands and beat the living cr@p out of the pitcher.

How many Yankees have to get beaned before Manny, Ortiz or Nixon get set on their butts? Why is Joe so hesitant to retaliate?

2005-04-06 13:34:02
14.   rbilotta
Mariano did not look good. He could not locate pitches, something about his control is off. Having said that, the Red Sox still got lucky today. Nobody hit Mariano hard, they got one seeing eye hit that I thought was partly the result of badly positioned infielders trying to get an easy double play. They also got a weakly hit fly ball that fell short and was a hit.

And of course, the biggest blow of all was the error by Arod, which single-handedly cost us the game. Even if just gets one out, most likely the one at home plate, Mariano got the next batter to weakly ground out, except it was the 2nd out instead of 3rd. Everything of course has to be put into perspective.

2005-04-06 13:36:41
15.   Alex Belth
Although it's always painful to see Mo get beat, let's look on the bright side--since just about nobody else will. At least Mo is getting his bad outings out of the way early this year.
2005-04-06 13:43:22
16.   KJC
"if the Red Sox hit another Yankee, I will personally jump out of the stands and beat the living cr@p out of the pitcher."

I'm a Sox fan, and I'll join you in beating the pitcher. I don't think they're hitting guys on purpose -- giving Yankees a free base is one of the dumbest things they can do (and it drives me crazy).

(Of course, if "Giambi the Statue" bothered to move an inch out of the way the other day, he could've avoided being hit...)

2005-04-06 13:45:44
17.   Rob
we still win the series. i'll take a season of .666 winning percentage anytime. let them win the 3rd game anyway they want. i'm not worried about Mo.

btw, anyone notice how espn.com keeps the Yanks to the sidebar when they beat the Sox, but put them front and center when they lose? Not so subtle anymore guys.

2005-04-06 13:57:41
18.   Bob B
Game three Haiku

Mariano blows save two
Spring has barely begun
Will October bring redemption?

2005-04-06 14:02:42
19.   Dan M
Another game whre the Yanks don't take my "move back Ortiz" advice, and another game where he has his way with us. At least he didn't launch one.
2005-04-06 16:14:23
20.   Zack
Rivera will be fine, he had less Spring Training then normal, but I do think he needs to consider another pitch, clearly the Sox have his bit down having played so darn much against him...I agree, the sox hitters are clearly too comfortable against him, a high tight one would work wonders on Cookie Monster

It really bothers me that these supposed "Yankee fans" have the gall to boo Mariano, and Jeter last season. I know that no true fan would ever do that, just like booing Donnie. How dare they boo him. I don't care if "this is New York" or "we are the toughest fans in the world" or whatever, thats for ESPN and fair weather fans, and it makes us look bad. Take your self up to Boston and root for them...

2005-04-06 17:08:33
21.   Patrick
I don't think he did that badly, honestly. Some borderline pitchers that could have gone either way. Fanned Trot "I believe that Don Mattingly isn't a true Yankee and hey, I'm not good enough to start against Randy Johnson by the way" Nixon and then made Manny and Ortiz group fairly weakly (especially Ortiz). Those 3 batters he handled really well. So, I view this as a set of circumstances that just didn't go our way with a pretty big error and not the best pitching outing. Not a big deal.

I'm with you Zack - I'm with you.

2005-04-06 19:42:14
22.   NetShrine
Well, FWIW, looking at the highlights (lowlights?) for today, I'm not sure it's 100% Rivera. The walk hurt. But, other than the Damon hit, the rest were bloops and seeing-eye jobs. And, A-Rod's error was key. And, Ortiz's ground out was in a perfect spot and just slow enough.........in total, I think today was a feather in the cap of DIP theory.
2005-04-06 21:55:58
23.   brockdc
Good call, Zack.

The only instances in which I can truly advocate booing a Yankee is when a player either dogs it or commits an act that is utterly reprehensible. However, no current or former Yankees immediately come to mind (cough...Mondesi...cough).

Also, let's not forget that, without Mo, the Yankees are probably closer to 23 than 26 (World Championships, that is).

STILL, we would all be remiss if we didn't recall that Mo is also on the downside of his career. Lucky for us, downside for Mo is still pretty good.

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