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| Game 159: September 27, 2007 | |||
 Twins |
5 | W: Boof Bonser (8-12) H: Juan Rincon (14) H: Matt Guerrier (14) S: Joe Nathan (36) |
78-81, 1 game winning streak 20-24-7 series record |
| Red Sox | 4 | L: Josh Beckett (20-7) | 94-65, 1 game losing streak 33-14-5 series record Divisional magic number: 2 |
| Highlights: Faraway, so close. | |||
Green light, 7-Eleven
David Ortiz must have had the green light in the bottom of the ninth, but Joe Nathan pitched to the slugger warily. Ortiz had already demolished a pitch in the fifth to tie the game. The Twins closer wouldn’t be the convenient one-stop spot to clinch the division.
Your wheels are turning but you’re upside down
The Yankees beat the Devil Rays as the Red Sox attempted to rally in the ninth. While the bats were not entirely stifled, Boston was unable to convert key scoring opportunities. Mike Lowell grounded into double plays in the third and seventh, neutralizing two of Ortiz’s four hits. In fact, Ortiz reached base in each of five plate appearances.
You say when he hits you, you don’t mind
Because when he hurts you, you feel alive
Josh Beckett may have slightly tarnished his Cy Young credentials by relinquishing two homers and taking a loss, but he struck out six and didn’t surrender a single base on balls. As the team heads into the playoffs, perhaps the frustration from dropping his final start will stoke the flame of his contained ferocity against their ALDS opposition.
Red light, grey morning
You stumble out of a hole in the ground
A vampire or a victim
It depends on who’s around
Jacoby Ellsbury, who had been replacing Coco Crisp while the senior center fielder has been battling a virus, left the game in the fifth after a few hard fouls off his legs that caused leg cramps. J.D. Drew shifted over to center and Bobby Kielty took over in right. Drew continued to build upon his recent success; the outfielder extracted two walks and drove in the first run of the evening with a shattered-bat single to center.
And if you look, you look through me
And when you talk, you talk at me
And when I touch you, you don’t feel a thing
Hideki Okajima retook the mound in the eighth, his first appearance since September 14. Beguiling batters with his precipitous head drop, he induced a fly ball out off the bat of Justin Morneau, gave up a single on a rope to Michael Cuddyer, and then whiffed Garrett Jones and Matthew LeCroy to complete his inning. He looked sharp and refreshed; the antidote to Eric Gagne’s toxin.
And if you listen, I can’t call
And if you jump, you just might fall
And if you shout, I’ll only hear you
A homer into the Monster seats in the eighth by Jason Varitek kept the contest close, but the backstop didn’t carry his power into the ninth. With the bases loaded and one out Varitek flailed at Joe Nathan’s slider for the second out. Kevin Youkilis fared worse when he pinch hit for Kielty, striking out on three pitches to end the game.
Just the bang
And the clatter
As an angel
Hits the ground
If the local nine can reverse last night’s outcome, the battered Angels club will be in the offing. I’ll be there tonight in the same seats as I had Wednesday, hoping to witness a divisional clinch.
