Thanks to Babe Ruth, Boston and New York just plain hate each other. And maybe the players don't hate each other, but the fans sure do. The two entities are like the antithesis of the most legandary love in the history of the world, whatever that romance may be.
While it's been the most illustrious pro sports rivalry to date, it's been so lopsided for so long until last year, and only this year do both teams have something to brag about. Now when Boston enters Yankee Stadium and see the 26 World Series banners, the Sox can say they've done that before too. Only 25 more to go.
Friday night featured these two battling at it yet again in the Bronx. The matchup is power vs. finesse — the flamethrowing Randy Johnson vs. the knuckleballing Tim Wakefield. One pitcher keeps you on your toes, the other lulls you to sleep.
Top 1: Robinson Cano, some guy I never heard of, bobbles the ball at second, and Johnny Damon is safe. Then Damon steals second because Cano can't apply the tag in time. Something tells me this guy's gonna make a few more errors in the rest of the game, or he might become an instant Luis Sojo sensation and get the winning hit in the bottom of the ninth or something. But even after Johnson walked two to load the bases, he still got out of the inning. I gotta keep my eye on Cano.
Bottom 3: Cano's first at bat was a roller to second base. Bellhorn bobbled the ball, recovered then threw wide letting him reach on an error as well. What goes around...
Top 4: Johnson gave up his fourth walk and also finally recorded his first strikeout. He's throwing fast, he's just not locating. He's falling behind and when a pitcher does that, they can't make batter chase pitches, something he does very well (especially with that crazy slider).
Top 5: With one on and two out, Johnson chucked a 2-2 splitter to Boston's captain, catcher Jason Varitek. The splitter was low, but not low enough for Varitek, who smacked it over the left field wall, putting Boston up 2-0. For a while this was shaping up to be one of the ugliest 0-0 games in that both pitchers kept allowing baserunners, not because of Johnson's face. Varitek showed why he's the captain.
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