NEW YORK -- Everyone who was watching NESN remembers. Sports Illustrated wrote about it. It'll live forever on the Internet.
You remember . . . Manny Ramírez sitting on the bench in Minnesota, enjoying a Sunday off as the Red Sox played the Twins . . . Manny with his arm around his friend/countryman, Julian Tavarez . . . Manny stroking Tavarez's head while Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo giggle like a couple of high school sophomores reading The Onion in study hall.
It was hilarious.
Manny likes Tavarez. He does a lot of hitting in games Tavarez starts for the Red Sox. In the first inning last night, Manny stepped to the plate and drove a stake through the heart of the New York Yankees. Sucked all the air out of the place. Folks in Gotham were just starting to feel good about their once-great team when Ramírez walloped a 2-and-0 Mike Mussina cookie and drove it over the wall in left for a three-run homer.
And just like that, Joe Torre went back on the hot seat, the Yankees' pathetic little winning streak (two games!) was effectively over, and Brian Cashman wondered if Roger Clemens might skip Trenton and come back to New York tonight.
The Book of Earl Weaver holds that good pitching and three-run homers generally result in victory. Tavarez and Manny supplied both in this 7-3 win, which left the Sox again with a whopping 10 1/2-game lead in the American League East.
"Manny came up big today," said Tavarez, who has beaten the Yankees twice this year. "A three-run jack in the first inning. That's a big thing. Before I get to the mound, we're already ahead, 3-0."
Keeping a seat warm in the rotation for Jon Lester, Tavarez has been a serviceable starter this spring, and he was more than that last night. He outpitched Mussina (7 earned runs, swelling his ERA to 6.52). In 5 2/3 innings, Tavarez gave up two runs, surrendering only three hits. Faced with a huge jam in the fifth (bases loaded, one out, Derek Jeter up), he gave up only one run when the Yanks threatened to tie or take the lead.
Boston led, 4-2, when Tavarez came off the hill in favor of Javier Lopez after getting Jorge Posada to ground into a double play following an Alex Rodriguez walk. His teammates mobbed him when he got to the dugout. Nice way to celebrate his 34th birthday.
"I actually didn't feel strong at all," said Tavarez. "I've had a cold for the last seven days. But this is not about me beating the Yankees. This is about our whole team."
