NEW YORK -- It's true. The Red Sox really are put on this earth to torture and test the faith of their fans.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any more hideous, the Sox did it again last night. With a bad moon risin' over the Bronx, they blew a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 13th when the Yankees had two outs and no one on base. Three straight hits by Ruben Sierra, Miguel Cairo, and ex-Sox John Flaherty made a loser of journeyman Curtis Leskanic.
It looked as if Terry Francona's Lost Boys might leave town with a desperately needed victory when Manny Ramirez hit his second homer of the night to give Boston a 4-3 lead in the top of the 13th . . . But no. These are the Red Sox. This is Boston vs. New York. You can chant "Yankees Suck" all you want. At the end of the day, New York answers with "1918" and the Yankees win in the clutch.
It truly was one of the best regular-season games in the century-old history of this lopsided rivalry -- a night when Derek Jeter saved the game, catching a two-out popup, then messing up his handsome face with a headfirst dive into the third row of box seats. It made for an interesting juxtaposition because in the other dugout, Nomar Garciaparra (Achilles') was unable to contribute, having told his manager before the game that he was too sore to play. The Sox used 17 players in all. Nomar and Doug Mirabelli were the only non-pitchers who did not play.
"He was trying his [butt] off to be available," Francona said, explaining why Nomar sat.
"There was a time I thought I might get in," said Garciaparra. "From the ninth inning on, I was getting loose, trying to get ready."
Francona never called Nomar's number. But he did just about everything else, including a five-man infield that at times featured a lefthanded second baseman (David McCarty). The trick worked as the Sox got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 12th.
McCarty, who changed gloves five times during the inning, said, "This was one of those games you're going to remember when you're done playing."
And there is so much to remember. It was a night when the Sox failed to score with the bases loaded and no outs in the 11th. It was a night when they failed to score with runners on first and third and one out in the 12th. It was a night when Kevin Millar played first base, third base, and right field in that same inning.
Oh, and did we mention Leskanic? A little-known righthander at the end of the Sox bullpen, he made some of the most pressure-packed pitches of the season before coughing up three straight hits and the ballgame in the midnight hour. If we could interject another positive note, the Red Sox failed to commit an error for the first time since last Friday.
