Yankees Vs. Red Sox: Friday’s Game In Boston Means Everything ... Until The Next One

April 8, 2011. Boston Red Sox. New York Yankees. Fenway Park.

It’s just one game, and a single game in April simply can’t be all that important.

Except it’s the Red Sox, and the Yankees. And oh, the Red Sox haven’t won any games this season yet.

So yeah, whether this one’s important or not, it sure feels important.

But then, so have all the other initial meetings between these ancient rivals in recent seasons.

Below, the last four ...

**********

Yankees (8-6) at Red Sox (9-5)

It began as a battle of veteran starters Curt Schilling and Andy Pettitte, and Pettitte won that battle; after seven innings the Yankees led 5-2, and tacked on another run in the top of the eight for the four-run lead.

Then, the shocking bottom of the eighth.

Left-handed specialist Mike Myers entered the game to retire one hitter: David Ortiz, who doubled into the gap in right-center field. Myers was replaced by Luis Vizcaino, who walked Manny Ramirez, then retired J.D. Drew on a grounder that pushed Ramirez and Ortiz to second and third. But Mike Lowell followed with a single, plating Ortiz.

Yankees manager Joe Torre, still holding a three-run lead, then did something unorthodox. With just one out in the eighth inning, Torre summoned Mariano Rivera from the bullpen ... and the move absolutely blew up on Torre. In quick succession, Jason Varitek singled, Coco Crisp tripled, Alex Cora singled ... and suddenly the Red Sox were up 7-6. Cora was thrown out stealing and Rivera struck out Julio Lugo, but the damage was done.

In the top of the ninth, rookie Hideki Okajima worked around a Bobby Abreu walk to earn his first major-league save.

The next two games would go much the same, as the Red Sox would pound Yankee starters Jeff Karstens and Chase Wright (remember them?) for 7-5 and 7-6 victories, exiting the series with a five-game winning streak and a four-game lead over the Yankees. The Sox would pile up a huge lead during the summer, before fading late and finishing the season with just a two-game edge over the Yankees, who won the Wild Card.

Yankees (5-5) at Red Sox (5-5)

Rookie Clay Buchholz started for the Red Sox and tossed six strong innings, but his effort paled next to that of Chien-Ming Wang, who pitched a complete-game two-hitter, the only blemish being J.D. Drew’s home run.*

Boston would bounce back from that 4-1 loss to take the next two from New York, 4-3 and 8-5.

And while the Red Sox would not ultimately win the American League East, neither would the Yankees. For the first time since 1997, the division title would go somewhere else as the Tampa Bay Rays shocked the baseball world by going from 66-96 and last place in 2007 to 95-67 in 2008. The Red Sox won 95 games to earn the Wild Card, and the Yankees won 89 and missed the postseason for the first time since 1994.

* Wang’s two-hitter against the Sox remains the high point of his career. In his next start, five days later against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, he would give up eight runs in four innings. And while he would pitch decently enough afterward, he missed the second of the season with an injury and has won only one game in the majors since.

Yankees (9-6) at Red Sox (9-6)

This wasn’t a battle for first place, as both clubs entered their series two behind the surprising Blue Jays.

In the first inning, rookie Jacoby Ellsbury showed his speed. After singling, he moved to second on Joba Chamberlain’s balk, then stole third and just kept on motoring home when the pitch got past Jorge Posada. 1-0, Red Sox.

Chamberlain would stiffen, though, and the Yankees cobbled together a couple of runs against Jon Lester in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Nick Green singled home Mike Lowell, tying the game 2-2 and knocking Joba out of the contest.

The battle of the bullpens didn’t go well for the Red Sox, initially. Phil Coke replaced Chamberlain and escaped the inning with the tie intact. And in the top of the seventh, the Yankees touched Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen for a couple of runs.

The Yankees still led 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth when Torre, with one Boston runner aboard and two outs, summoned Mariano Rivera for a four-out save. Rivera gave up a bloop single, but struck out Dustin Pedroia to preserve the Yankees’ two-run lead.

In the top of the ninth, Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez got into a heap of trouble, but Terry Francona didn’t make a move and Lopez somehow wriggled out of it. Which was nice for Boston ... except there was still Mariano Rivera to deal with.

Big Papi led off the bottom of the ninth, and Rivera struck him out. Kevin Youkilis drove a single into left field, but Drew grounded to second. Next up: Jason Bay, who -- and many Red Sox fans will remember this moment for a long, long time -- drove one of Rivera’s pitches far over the center-field fence and deep into the night, tying the game 4-4.

Rivera did strike out Jason Varitek to end the inning, and on they went to the 10th. And in the bottom of the 11th, Kevin Youkilis ended the game with a home run over the Green Monster.

The next two games were easier for the Red Sox, as they completed their sweep with 16-11 and 4-1 victories. The series would ultimately be irrelevant, though, as the Red Sox won 95 games and earned the Wild Card but finished far behind the 103-59 Yankees.

Yankees (0-0) at Red Sox (0-0)

If you wanted an augur of how Josh Beckett’s 2010 was going to go, you only needed to watch his Opening Day start against the Yankees, wherein he gave up a couple of home runs and got knocked out in the fifth inning, the Red Sox trailing 5-1.

But the Red Sox would get to CC Sabathia, too, and after six innings the score was 5-5. The Yankees would score two in the top of the seventh, but the Sox responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, thanks to Pedroia’s two-run homer and a passed ball. Pedroia would drive in an unnecessary insurance run in the eighth, and Jonathan Papelbon closed out the victory in the ninth.

For one day, all was good in Red Sox Nation.

The Yankees would win the next (and last) two games in the series, though, and those games started a Red Sox slide that would leave them 4-9 through 13 games, and six games out of first place. Due to a terrible rash of injuries, they would never recover.

*******

Did any of these games mean anything? No, not really. In none of these seasons was a playoff spot determined by one or two games. But for three or four hours, these games did mean a great deal to the players involved and the millions of fans who live and die with every win and loss. So, yes: Today’s game in Boston means everything ... until the next one.