World Series IV, Game 3

After dropping the first two games at Fenway, the Red Sox sent Pedro Martinez to the mound in a must win game at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox continued their streak of early scoring in the top of the third inning. Orlando Cabrera singled with two down, and Manny knocked one off the base of the wall in left center for an RBI double. Ater an intentional walk to Ortiz, Varitek finally made them pay with an RBI bloop single that dropped in front of the right fielder, giving the Sox an early 2-0 lead.

The Sox put together another threat in the 5th, loading up the bases with two outs on a pair of intentional walks and a single, but El Duque got Mueller to ground out to end the threat. He was relieved the next inning by Mike Mussina, who got the Yanks out of another two out jam, but for once Mussina seemed fallible in the 8th. With Dave Roberts on first, Damon singled and stole second to make it second and third with two outs. Orlando Cabrera hit a line drive that split the fielders in left for a two-out, two run double to give the Sox a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez was dominant on the mound. In fact, he did not allow a baserunner in 7 1/3 perfect innings of work, with 8 strikeouts. But his pitch count was rising and he was obviously exhausted after 7 innings, and after striking out Matsui on a 50 mph fastball, he was pulled in favor of Wakefield, who gave up a single to break up the perfect game. But Wakefield settled down to close out the game, getting all 5 outs on strikeouts while allowing 3 soft singles.

Orlando Cabrera had a big game, going 2-5 with a two-run double. Varitek had a breakout game, going 3-5 with an RBI, while Manny was productive as usual (2-4, RBI). Pedro got the first Red Sox win of the playoffs.

When interviewed after the game, Yankees manager Terence Mann reported "I'm just glad he didn't no hit us. And we got hits off Wakefield. So suck it."

Game 3: Sox - 4 @ Yankees - 0

~~Red Sox~~
J. Damon: 1-5, K, R
O. Cabrera: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R, K
M. Ramirez: 2-4, 2B, RBI, R, K, IBB
D. Ortiz: 0-0, 5 IBB
J. Varitek: 3-5, 2 K, RBI
T. Nixon: 0-1
a.) Millar: 0-3, K, IBB
B. Mueller: 2-5
M. Bellhorn: 0-1
b.) D. Roberts: 1-4, K, R
P. Martinez: 0-4
-T. Wakefield: 0-1, K

==Pitching==
P. Martinez W (1-0): 7 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 H, 8 K, 0 BB
T. Wakefield: 1 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 2 H, 5 K, 0 BB


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

==Pitching==
E. Duque L(1-1): 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 R, 6 H, 6 K, 5 BB
M. Mussina: 2 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 R, 5 H, 2 K, 2 BB