New York won its eighth consecutive AL East title on Saturday, scorching Tim Wakefield for three homers and riding Randy Johnson to an 8-4 victory over Boston. Posted on 10/01/2005 4:10:51 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
BOSTON (AP) -- The New York Yankees are going to the playoffs. And the Boston Red Sox still have a couple of chances to join them there.
New York won its eighth consecutive AL East title on Saturday, scorching Tim Wakefield for three homers and riding Randy Johnson to an 8-4 victory over Boston.
Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui homered, and Rodriguez had four hits to help Johnson settle down and win his sixth consecutive decision.
When Johnny Damon hit a high chopper back to the mound, Mariano Rivera grabbed it and first baseman Tino Martinez pumped his fist as he caught the final out. The Yankees streamed out of the dugout with purpose -- but not quite joy -- a celebration befitting a 26-time World Series champion that survived its most difficult regular season in a decade.
Players gathered on the mound for just a few minutes, hugging and high-fiving, before returning to the visitors' clubhouse.
"I can't take my glasses off. I'm crying like a baby," Yankees manager Joe Torre said after the final out.
The Yankees' victory, their 16th in 20 games, clinched a playoff berth, and they took the division because Cleveland lost 4-3 to the Chicago White Sox a few minutes earlier. The Red Sox finished second in the division for the eighth straight year, but it's not all bad news for them.
Because of the Indians' loss, the defending World Series champions can do no worse than a tie for the AL wild card -- news that got a medium-sized cheer when it was announced on the Fenway scoreboard.
If Boston loses on Sunday and Cleveland wins, they will meet at Fenway Park on Monday to decide the AL's last playoff berth. If Cleveland loses on Sunday, the Red Sox get the wild-card berth no matter what they do.
Curt Schilling (7-8) is scheduled to go against Mike Mussina (13-8) on Sunday at Fenway, though Mussina might get a rest instead now that the game doesn't matter for the Yankees. If the Red Sox have a one-game playoff against Cleveland, Matt Clement (13-6) would pitch on three days' rest.
Johnson (17-8) allowed three runs, five hits and three walks, striking out eight in 7 1-3 innings. He walked leadoff batter Damon in the first before Manny Ramirez homered -- his first of two homers on the day. The 6-foot-10 left-hander walked a pair in the second, glaring at plate umpire Gary Darling when the calls didn't go his way.
But Johnson retired 16 of his last 18 batters after David Ortiz doubled to start the third. Only Tony Graffanino, who had three hits including a homer, seemed to solve the five-time Cy Young Award winner, acquired during the offseason to anchor their $67 million rotation.
Wakefield (16-12) started on three days' rest for the first time this year and gave up seven runs on seven hits, striking out one in five innings. He had won eight of his last 10 decisions while avoiding the clunker of an outing that the knuckleball seems to produce, only allowing three homers in September.
But he quickly matched that on the first day of October.
Sheffield hit a two-run shot as New York took a 3-0 lead in the first.
"I took responsibility for all the guys," he said. "I just told them ride me all the way."
Ramirez's two-run homer in the bottom half cut the deficit to one run. The Yankees scored on a pair of sacrifice flies in the second inning and then made it 5-2 on Matsui's homer in the third.
Rodriguez added a solo shot in the fifth -- his 48th of the year, moving him ahead of Ortiz for the AL lead. Wakefield also allowed one of the more painful homers in Red Sox history when he gave up Aaron Boone's shot that ended Game 7 of the 2003 AL championship series.
The Red Sox recovered the next year and won their first World Series title since 1918. But they'll have to wait at least one more day to find out if they've got a chance to defend their title.
Under baseball rules, the Yankees (95-66) clinched the division over Boston (94-67) because of Cleveland's loss to Chicago in the AL Central. The loss by the Indians (93-68) eliminated the possibility of a three-way tie -- and an unprecedented two-game, three-team tiebreaker -- and gave New York the East because the Yankees clinched the season series against Boston, 10-8.
New York began the year 11-19, its worst start since 1966, and dropped nine games off the division lead. The Yankees trailed Boston by 5½ games on the morning of Aug. 11, but the Yankees went 35-12 the rest of the way. Johnson was a big reason why, going 6-0 in eight starts since Aug. 21.
Game notes Derek Jeter reached the 200-hit milestone for the fourth time. Only Lou Gehrig, who had 200 hits eight times, has more as a Yankee. ... When Boston manager Terry Francona heard that the Yankees had brought in a knuckleball pitcher to pitch batting practice to them Saturday to prepare for Wakefield, he quipped, "we imported a 6-foot-11 guy."... Torre said facing a knuckleballer in batting practice is more to get the Yankee hitters adjusted to the speed of the pitch rather than the movement. "So much today is based on timing to a certain speed of pitch," he said. ... Torre moved Robinson Cano up to sixth in the batting order and Martinez up to seventh largely because of the success they've had against Wakefield in the past.
I also have an autographed baseball from a non - Yankee. Mr. Williams gave it to me in 1961 when I was visiting Massachusetts [My Pop was born in New Bedford]. He was a very gracious man. It was also the year of my only trip to Fenway. We beat the Sox something like 12-4.
How were you seduced by the Dark Side of the Force?
Must be a KC Royals fan....
What are the "Yankees"? Should I know this?
That's why they suck so bad.
Go Phils!!!
I'd rather qualify as a wild card and win the World Series than go 162-0. Without that ring...it just don't mean a thing.
I'm going to re-read this after my cup of coffee.
As far as that goes... so should've the Bosox.
........never mind.
(BTW, what's baseball?)
Personally, I think this Red Sox team needs to be put out of its misery. The pitching staff is so truly awful that they cannot win in the playoffs. It's really sad that a team with that much offense can't find a couple of relief pitchers to help out the hideous starters.
When Tim Wakefield is your ace, you have a problem. I like Wakefield but his ball needs heavy air to work. Yesterday was a nice warm dry day. Can you say "meatballs?" Wake should stick to pitching at night.
Or they could play teams who buy championships . . . like the Marlins and Diamondbacks. Course, they're out of business after a year, while the Yanks are right at the top, decade after decade. It's more than money. It's called talent and organization.
Uh uh...I haven't followed baseball at all this year, other that to read the 'roid stories about Bonds*
It is kind of weird, though, that a .500 team wins the division!
PS - is Bullhead getting nice now that fall is here? The Coachella Valley is beautiful right now...A/C finally off for the morning hours.
Yes, Bullhead is getting nicer, although we had a bit of a setback yesterday. Temperature about 105. It'll be better today I hope. Compared to when we first got here, it's almost chilly!!! But we're loving the river life. Thanks for asking!
The Red Sox aren't exactly poverty stricken. It's not like thay are the bA's or something.
Boy....will we ever have to agree to disagree!
I think all wild card wins should have an asterisk beside them.
You probably think Bonds' HR records should stand unchallenged because....well....they're bigger! Doesn't matter how he got there.
The Red Sox were the WC team last year and won it all. If you can find one player on any other team in the league who says (either publicly or privately) that the Red Sox WS victory should have an "asterick" beside it because of their wildcard status I'd be shocked.
(The last three teams to win the WS were wildcard teams, btw).
Remember the 2001 Mariners? They won more regular season games than any team in the history of baseball, yet the Yanks beat them in the ALCS. I can assure you that every last Mariner from that squad would trade places with any of the last three WS "wildcard" winners in a heartbeat.
I have been riveted for ALL 162 games and enjoyed (or agonized) many, many post season games for FOURTEEN straight years.
It's an achievement that will probably never be equaled.
Put it there with DiMaggio's 56.
Perhaps, but substitute Blue Jays for Yankees. The Braves have won 14 straight division titles to the Yankees' 8, yet the Yanks (in that time frame) have won 4 WS to the Braves' 1 (including two WS victories over the Braves) and 6 pennants to the Braves' 5. It's pretty clear that Yankee fans are the more satisfied customers. ....by a wide margin.
And it's also clear (as I pointed out in my last post) that the last three WS winners (who all happened to have been WC teams) had vastly more satisfying seasons than the record-breaking 2001 Mariners squad.
I don't know...91, 92, 93, 95 and 97 had to suck for you.
I've been happy each year.
PIck your poison.
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