2009 Spring World Series Game 2: Yankees @ Red Sox

(games being posted way late)

In Game Two of the much anticipated 2009 RBI Baseball Spring World Series, Curt Schilling faced off against El Duque in his second start in as many games at Fenway Park.

The Sox opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a two out double from Curt Schilling to score Mark Bellhorn, giving the Sox an early 1-0 lead. But they were able to muster little more offense against El Duque, getting only two more hits over the next 4 innings.

Schilling was effective through the first 5 innings, allowing only 2 baserunners, but it all fell apart in the 6th. After a Derek Jeter single, Arod grounded out to advance the runner. With two outs and an open base, the Red So elected to intentionally walk Gary Sheffield, the Spring 2008 World Series MVP. But Hideki Matsui made the Sox pay, blasting a three run bomb into the right field bleachers off Schilling to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

The Yankees got more insurance in the 7th. After a leadoff error by the second baseman, Schilling retired Lofton but the pinch hitter Sierra lanced a double down the right field line. But thanks to a strong throw from Nixon in right field, Jorge Posada was gunned down at third for the second out. With his pitch count rising, Alec elected to leave Schilling in, and he gave up back to back singles to Tony Clark and Derek Jeter to score a run and give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. Keith Foulke came in to strike out Arod to retire the side.

Mike Mussina came in in the 7th and shut down the Red Sox offense with 3 hitless innings, getting the save the hard way with 5 strikeouts.

Hits were hard to come by, but Matsui had the big three run homer, while Jeter went 2-4. The Sox had only one extra base hit (the double from Schilling) and no batter had multiple hits.

Asked about losing the first two games at home, Red Sox manager told reporters "It's tough to take, especially after how we were playing in the regular season. After our season [going 15-3] you don't expect to drop the first two games, but they got some good balls to hit and punished our mistakes, while El Duque and Mussina didn't really make any. We have a day off tomorrow, so we'll drink heavily tonight and hopefully have a revelation about how to get a ball out of the infield against Mussina."

Game 3 at Yankee Stadium will feature Pedro Martinez at El Duque.

Yankees: 4, Red Sox: 1

~~Yankees~~
D. Jeter: 2-4, R
A. Rodriguez: 0-4, K
G. Sheffield: 0-3, IBB, R, K
H. Matsui: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R, K
B. Williams: 0-4, 2 K
J. Posada: 1-4, 2 K
J. Olerud: 0-2
a.) K. Lofton: 0-2, K
M. Cairo: 0-2, K
b.) R. Sierra: 1-2, 2B, R
E. Duque: 1-2
c.) T. Clark: 1-1, RBI

==Pitching==
El Duque W (1-0): 6 IP, 1 ER, 1 R, 5 H, 7 K, 3 BB
M. Mussina SAVE (1): 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 H, 5 K, 1 BB

~~Red Sox~~
J. Damon: 0-4, 2 K
O. Cabrera: 0-4, K
M. Ramirez: 1-4, 2 K
D. Ortiz: 0-0, 4 IBB, CS
J. Varitek: 1-3, K, GIDP
c.) K. Millar: 0-1
T. Nixon: 1-4, SB
B. Mueller: 0-4, K
M. Bellhorn: 1-1, R
a.) D. Roberts: 0-3, 3 K
C. Schilling: 1-2, 2B, RBI, K
-K. Foulke:
b.) G. Kapler: 0-1, K

==Pitching==
C. Schilling L (0-1): 6 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 4 R, 7 H, 5 K, 1 BB
K. Foulke: 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB
P. Martinez: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 H, 3 K, 0 BB