Yanks Take Game 1 of Series; History (Kind of) Repeats Itself

May 10, Fenway Park-

Game 1 of the RBI Baseball World Series began today, to much fanfare and anticipation. The Yankees, losers of the regular season by a wide margin to the Boston Red Sox, return to the Fall Classic led by their manager Terence Mann, who has guided his teams to victories in the first three World Series. While the Twins' title in 2007 and the Yankees' 2007 and 2008 titles came after regular seasons where the competition was at least somewhat even, the 2009 regular season was handily and convincingly won by the Red Sox, managed by Alec Treveleyan; Treveleyan leads his Red Sox squad into the Series after losing only three games in the regular season. The pitching matchup for Game 1 had all the hallmarks of a postseason classic- right-handers Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez and Pedro "God" Martinez were opposing each other.

The Series opened in Fenway, and the Sox drew first blood in the third inning. Johnny Damon led the inning off with a single, and was followed by Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera lofted an easy fly ball to center field, but Bernie Williams dropped it, allowing Cabrera to reach base and Damon to advance all the way to third. Following a Cabrera steal of second, Manny Ramirez lofted a fly ball to right field, and when Damon easily beat Gary Sheffield's throw, the Sox were on the scoreboard.

The Sox would strike again in their next turn at bat. Dave Roberts, who had entered the game in the second inning as a pinch hitter, tripled to deep center field with one out in the fourth for his second hit of the game. Bernie Williams attempted to cut the ball off, but since he is old and slow, it skipped past him and to the wall allowing Roberts to make it to third. Pedro Martinez then managed to put the ball in play, sending a chopper down the line that Alex Rodriguez inexplicably threw to first rather than home, which plated Roberts for the game's second run and a 2-0 Sox lead. Rodriguez, when asked about the rather odd play after the game, had this to say: "Well, I figured that if I am utterly incapable of doing anything at all that might constitute 'good baseball' during clutch situations, I might as well put my teammates in position where they might be able to do clutch things, and throwing away a run in a World Series game seemed like a good way to do that."

The Yanks would show some life in the next half-inning, though. John Olerud, the light-hitting and often pinch-hit for first baseman, lifted a two-out fly ball directly down the right field line. There was some debate as to whether it went through the wall or over it, but regardless of where it left the field of play, the right field umpire twirled his finger in the air and the Yankees were on the scoreboard. The Fenway crowd was briefly rendered silent; this was believed to be Olerud's first home run since his skull consisted entirely of bone.

Other than the Olerud home run, Pedro had dominated the Yankees' lineup; Bernie Williams' second-inning double was the Bombers' only other hit through six innings, and Pedro had struck out six, including Gary Sheffield twice. In the seventh, however, Pedro began to tire, and the Yanks took advantage. With two outs, Bernie Williams lofted his second double of the game to deep center field. Given Williams' prior RBI career, this is roughly the equivalent of winning the lottery once a month for a year. Jorge Posada, who has spent most of his RBI life in a slump, then doubled off the very top of the right field wall to drive home Williams and tie the game. Pinch-hitter Kenny Lofton followed Posada's double with a single to right, but Posada was thrown out in a close play at the plate to end the inning.

[This is the part of the write-up where we all take the time to muse at the irony/coincidence and humor of Jorge Posada hitting a game-tying double in the late innings of a Red Sox-Yankees postseason game off of a tiring Pedro]

Both Pedro and El Duque left the game after the seventh; they gave way to Keith Foulke and Mike Mussina, respectively. Derek Jeter tripled with two outs in the 8th off Foulke, but Alex Rodriguez followed that by hitting a ball with his steroid-filled purse that rolled weakly to the second baseman, ending the inning. Foulke dispatched the Yanks in the 9th with ease, but in the 10th inning he ran into trouble. Jorge Posada opened the inning with a weak tap-out to Foulke. Kenny Lofton then hit an infield single deep to the shortstop hole. Mann then pulled second baseman Miguel Cairo for pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra. On a 2-2 fastball middle-out, Sierra hit Foulke's offering halfway up the left-field stands for a 4-2 lead. Mike Mussina finished off the Sox in the bottom half of the inning to seal the win.

After the game, Yankees' manager Terence Mann had this to say: "Sure it's nice to come into their park and win the first game, but it's a seven game series and we have a long way to go. That's a tough Red Sox team over there, they've got Manny and Ortiz in the middle of that lineup, who no one wants to face, and almost every man on that squad is capable of hitting it into the parking lot on any pitch." Game 2 will be tomorrow at Fenway Park, at a time to be determined.

Box Score
~~YANKEES~~
D. Jeter: 1-5, 3B
A. Rodriguez: 0-4, 2 K
G. Sheffield: 0-4, 2 K
H. Matsui: 0-4, 2 K
B Williams: 2-4, 2 2B, R
J. Posada: 1-4, K, 2B, RBI
J. Olerud: 1-2, HR, RBI, R
a.) K. Lofton: 2-2, R
M. Cairo: 0-3, K
b.) R. Sierra: 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, R
El Duque: 0-3
c.) M. Mussina: 0-1

==Pitching==
El Duque: 7 IP, 1 ER, 2 R, 4 H, 7 K, 3 BB, 2B, 3B, SF, SB
M. Mussina W (1-0): 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 5 K, CS

~~RED SOX~~
J. Damon: 1-4 (reached on error), R, K
O. Cabrera: 0-4, K (reached on error), SB
M. Ramirez: 0-3, RBI, SF, K
D. Ortiz: 0-0, 4 IBB, CS
J. Varitek: 0-4, K
T. Nixon: 0-3, K
c.) K. Millar: 0-1, K
B. Mueller: 1-4, 2B, K
M. Bellhorn: 0-0
a.) D. Roberts: 2-4, 3B, R, K
P. Martinez: 0-2, K, RBI
b.) G. Kapler: 0-1

=Pitching=
P. Martinez: 7 IP, 2 ER, 2 R, 5 H, 7 K, 0 BB, 3 2B, HR
K. Foulke L (0-1): 3 IP, 2 ER, 2 R, 3 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 3B, HR