Demolition
| Game 132: August 27, 2008 | |||
 Red Sox |
11 | W: Paul Byrd (9-11) H: Manny Delcarmen (17) |
77-55, 3 game winning streak |
| Yankees | 3 | L: Sidney Ponson (7-5) | 70-62, 2 game losing streak |
| Highlights: Come on now, Yankee lovers. Some of you are up in arms because your team is “inconsistent.” Your guys scored three runs on consecutive nights; that’s pretty consistent. You’ve got that going for you. | |||
How I’ll remember Yankee Stadium…
Jason Bay, with his lightning-quick swing, lacing a double to his best friend Xavier Nady, off whom the ball deflected to the noodle-armed Johnny Damon. Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz trotting home on the hit, with both having about the same length to their strides.
The scintilla of hope granted by Alex Rodriguez’s first-inning RBI double and fourth-inning run that drifted into obsolescence, just as the haughty expressions Yankee fans are so used displaying dimmed with each passing inning. Frustration was meted out by, of all pitchers, Paul Byrd.
Sidney Ponson, sweating and puffing, walking in the go-ahead run in the fifth and then allowing a sacrifice fly. Dismissed from the mound he slouched on the bench, the top rail of the dugout fence covering his eyes as if NESN was attempting to protect his identity. All that was needed was a computer-distorted voice for his post-appearance interview: “If it weren’t for the money I wouldn’t even be in this uniform. Everyone knows the one thing the Steinbrenners are good about is signing checks. I’d rather be at Manchebo Beach sipping some coecoei, but that doesn’t earn me the money I need to bribe police officers when I drive drunk.”
An idiotic Yankee fan (sorry, redundant) attempting to disrupt Byrd by flashing a laser pointer on him. Home plate umpire Tim Timmons was not only charitable with the zone but also with his allowance for Byrd to stop pitching while security guards tried to find the culprit. Little did the fan know that such an act riled Byrd up rather than distracted him; instead of his customary mid-80s fastball Byrd turned up the heat to a toasty 87 against Jason Giambi to begin the sixth inning.
Dustin Pedroia smashed his first major league grand slam in the eighth. Given that he runs his mouth when he sprays doubles to the gaps or pops the occasional solo homer I can only imagine what sorts of hyperbole (ICBMs instead of rockets? Plasma cannons rather than lasers?) the diminutive infielder was regaling his teammates with after that blast.
…all interspliced with images of the despondent visages of Yankees fans who saw their playoff wishes destroyed, just as the stadium they sat in soon will be.
