A thrilla without Godzilla

For those of you who enjoy rollercoasters, your Uncle Buck suggests taking a ride on a Red Sox-Yankoff game, and if you rode last night's rubber game of the 3 game series you enjoyed a doozie. The game started off with Yankoff leftfielder Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui nearly making a great sliding catch, but he turned his wrist, breaking it and will now be out until August at the earliest:



Amazingly by breaking his wrist and coming out of the game in the 1st inning, Matsui's MLB record of 518 consecutive games played to start a career was ended because MLB requires players to finish at least half an inning in the field or have at least 1 at-bat to be considered having played in a game. The injury may be more devastating for Japanese fans of Matsui. The 31-year-old is reportedly Japan's most famous baseball star had a streak of 1,250 consecutive games with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Central League from Aug. 22, 1993, through 2002, before joining the Yankees the following year. Maybe it is better that Matsui leaves the streaking to the professionals:
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After Godzilla was removed, the Yankoffs took the early 2-0 lead when Tim Wakefield loaded the bases and then gave up a hit to "Rat Boy" Jorge Posada. From there it was a case of "Can you top this" between Bubba Crosby, who robbed Mike Lowell of a two run homer in the top of the 3rd:

And Johnny Damon, who robbed Doug Mirabelli of a two run homer in the top of the 4th:

The Sox closed the gap to 3-2 in the 6th, and with Wake holding down the Yankoffs, the Sox got a few breaks of their own in the 7th. Mirabelli singled to center, then Alex Gonzalez hit a ground rule double to right, that was misplayed by Bernie Williams, who came in after Matsui was injured. Williams appeared to over play the fly ball and it drifted behind him and bounced into the seats.

Two batters later, Mark Loretta grounded to Derek Jeter at short. Jeter made a nice stop, but his throw from his knee was wild and Miguel Cairo couldn't hang on to tag Loretta. The ball got loose and Loretta was credited with a single. Willie Harris and Gonzo scored on the play making it, according to a giggling WEEI morning show, the 1st ever 2 RBI on an infield single.

The Sox took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 7th as Mike Timlin relieved Wakefield. Timmy got Damon to ground out to 2nd (Johnny went 0 for 5 in the game and only had one hit in the series) before Jeter singled and then stole 2nd. Timmy got Giambi to strike out swinging, giving E-Rod a chance to tie the game with a hit:

...Instead he struck out on 3 pitches...nice work A-Fraud. Kevin Youkilis knocked in Harris an insurance run in the top of the 9th against Mariano Rivera, giving way to Jonathan Papelbon who had relieved Keith Foulke in the 8th and got Cairo to strike out swinging.

Paps smeared the Yankoffs in the bottom of the 9th getting Crosby and Damon to ground out and popping Giambi up to short, after Jeter walked, giving Paps his 13th save of the year and 1st against New York.

So after vanquishing the Yankoffs in two of the three games, the Sox now leave the Bronx, en route to Fenway Park where the Texas Rangers come to town over the weekend...

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