Coming Up Short
When Mike Cameron reached first on Derek Jeter’s off-target toss to Mark Teixeira in the sixth it seemed that the home team’s luck had turned around. The Yankees shortstop had robbed Jacoby Ellsbury in the prior inning with a leaping snare and Adrian Beltre for the first out of the sixth with a lunging grab.
But nine-hole hitter Marco Scutaro didn’t capitalize on the miscue. He tapped out to Alex Rodriguez for the force at the keystone sack.
Scutaro made a similar blunder in the eighth, but his mistake put ducks on the pond. With the bases loaded Hideki Okajima surrendered a walk to Nick Johnson, who amazingly didn’t injure himself taking his base and pushing the winning run across the plate. The new shortstop also killed an incipient rally with a 6-4-3 double play to conclude the fourth inning.
Marco. Rhymes with Julio. Scutaro... Lugo. Coincidence? It must be, because Scutaro kept the ember of hope alight with his one-out double off the wall in the ninth. But as he has done more often than not Mariano Rivera methodically dispatched the next two batters for the save. He sauntered off the mound with his usual calm.
For Joba Chamberlain had done all of the celebrating for him. For the entire population of the Bronx, in fact, with his spastic gyrations in the eighth. He acted as if he had whiffed Albert Pujols with the bases loaded in the seventh game of the World Series when he struck out Beltre and J.D. Drew. If Chamberlain had his druthers he probably would have tried to nail Kevin Youkilis at second with what he would later explain away as a mere pickoff throw.
| Game 2: April 6, 2010 Neither A.J. Burnett nor Jon Lester went deep into the game, both only lasting five innings. I would have wanted to leave the field early too: over frustration with first base umpire Paul Schrieber’s blown call in the top of the fifth. With runners at every station and none out Teixeira grounded into what should have been a 5-4-3 twin killing but was instead ruled safe. The visitors went on to take the lead that inning on Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly. Victor Martinez was a force batting third: he homered to break the third to break the 1-1 tie and tied the game in the fifth with a lofty double off the wall. The umpires didn’t have to go to the replay booth to confirm those hits. | |||
 Yankees | 6 | W: Alfredo Aceves (1-0) H: Damaso Marte (1) H: Joba Chamberlain (1) S: Mariano Rivera (1) | 1-1 |
| Red Sox | 4 | L: Hideki Okajima (1-1) | 1-1 |
