Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Boston Redsox at Oakland Athletics
boxscore | how they scored | questions
for Grady | Gordon Edes | Dan Shaughnessy
| Jim Caple | pictures
OAKLAND,
Calif. (AP) -- It was the last thing anyone at the Coliseum expected:
a bases-loaded, two-out bunt by slow-footed catcher Ramon Hernandez.
And it was just crazy enough to give the Oakland Athletics a marathon victory.
Hernandez pulled off the surprise with a perfect bunt in the 12th inning, scoring Eric Chavez with the winning run to lift the A's over the Boston Red Sox 5-4 in their playoff opener Wednesday night.
At 4 hours, 37 minutes, the game was the longest in Oakland's postseason history, and it ended in the most improbable way: with the hard-hitting A's executing a small-ball play to eke out a run.
"It was the biggest hit in my career," said Hernandez, Oakland's All-Star catcher. "When you're playing a team like the Red Sox that's got good pitching and good hitting, you've got to try whatever you can to win."
By the time Chavez crossed the plate shortly after 11:45 p.m. PDT, the teams were less than 14 hours away from the start of Game 2 on Thursday.
After Boston reliever Byung-Hyun Kim's troubles set up a tying single by Erubiel Durazo with two outs in the ninth, Chavez did his part.
Chavez helped prevent Boston from taking the lead in the top of the 12th, making a tremendous play at third base. On the basepaths moments later, he alertly stole third, and Derek Lowe later intentionally walked Terrence Long to load the bases.
"Freaky, just freaky," Chavez said. "It was probably the best game I've ever been involved in."
Hernandez and Chavez both acted on their own, according to manager Ken Macha.
"What an ending. Who would have thought that? A's win with a bunt," Macha said. "Shame on anybody who missed it."
Todd Walker homered twice and had four hits, putting Boston ace Pedro Martinez in position to pull off a win in the AL's toughest road ballpark. Then came the latest postseason misadventure for Kim, whose struggles nearly cost Arizona its World Series title two years ago.
In the ninth, Kim walked a batter and hit another before Durazo drove home pinch-runner Eric Byrnes with a tying two-out single off Alan Embree.
"Both teams were battling, and the game has got to end somehow," Boston manager Grady Little said. "We've had losses like that during the season. We've rebounded well before, and hopefully we can do that tomorrow."
Little said Lowe will be fine to start on Saturday in Game 3.
In the 11th, Little showed just how much he trusts his bullpen by calling on Lowe.
Lowe got into trouble in the 12th, walking three batters and allowing Chavez's steal with his deliberate motion.
After seeing Bill Mueller playing deep at third, Hernandez dropped an exceptional bunt down the third-base line, and Chavez scored without a throw. The A's mobbed Hernandez at first base.
"I looked over at third when I took the first pitch and watched what's over there," Hernandez said. "I thought he was very deep, and the first thing that comes through my mind is if I get it down the third-base line, I've got a good chance to be safe."
After Keith Foulke pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the A's, they went to rookie Rich Harden. He walked two batters and threw a wild pitch in the 12th, but Chavez saved the inning by fielding Gabe Kapler's sharp grounder and diving to tag third base before Manny Ramirez got there.
Harden, called up to the majors after the All-Star break, got the win.
Durazo, who had an early two-run double against Martinez, tied it with a clean single to center that delighted most of the 50,606 fans in the packed ballpark.
The Red Sox, who added another heartbreaking playoff defeat to the star-crossed franchise's overflowing collection. Boston has lost seven of its last eight playoff openers.
Martinez and Walker were the stars of the first seven innings. Martinez remained unbeaten in his playoff career by narrowly outpitching Tim Hudson, but he didn't get the win.
Martinez yielded six hits and four walks in seven innings, throwing a season-high 130 pitches. But Boston's imposing ace was never far from trouble: He allowed three runs in the third, threw out a runner at home in the fifth and barely escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
Until Kim and Embree blew it, Boston's heavy-hitting lineup appeared headed to a win thanks to two big blows from one of its lightest bats.
Walker, a well-traveled second baseman in his first year with the Red Sox, hit a solo homer in his first career playoff at-bat. After two singles in the middle innings, he hit a two-run homer off reliever Ricardo Rincon in the seventh, giving Boston a 4-3 lead.
Walker had the eighth multihomer game in the long postseason history of the Red Sox, who are in their 85th season since their last World Series championship.
Jason Varitek also homered and reached base four times for the Red Sox, who tagged Hudson for 10 hits and three runs. The damage could have been worse, but Ramirez stranded five runners while going 0-for-5.
Though he also escaped several jams, Hudson's postseason struggles continued: He has just one victory in six career playoff starts. The right-hander appeared to be pitching through pain in his final two innings, drawing the concern of Oakland's medical staff.
Durazo got the biggest hit in Oakland's third-inning rally, driving home Chris Singleton and Ellis with a hit into the right-center gap. Miguel Tejada, who batted .143 in the division series last season, followed with a single.
Game notes
A's owner Steve Schott said there's nothing to the rumors of the Seattle Mariners
coveting Oakland general manager Billy Beane to replace Pat Gillick. ... The
game was played 100 years to the day after the Boston Americans faced the
Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series game ever.
BOSTON (4) VS OAKLAND (5) - FINAL IN 12 INNINGS
BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Damon cf 5 0 1 0 1 0 4 .200
N Garciaparra ss 5 1 2 0 1 1 2 .400
T Walker 2b 5 2 4 3 0 0 0 .800
D Jackson 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
M Ramirez lf 5 0 0 0 1 1 5 .000
D Ortiz dh 5 0 0 0 1 2 1 .000
K Millar 1b 6 0 2 0 0 1 2 .333
B Mueller 3b 5 0 1 0 1 1 2 .200
T Nixon rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000
a-D McCarty ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-A Brown ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
c-G Kapler ph-rf 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
J Varitek c 3 1 2 1 2 1 0 .667
Totals 46 4 12 4 7 11 23
a-hit for T Nixon in the 8th; b-struck out swinging for D Mccarty in the 8th;
c-struck out looking for A Brown in the 11th.
BATTING: 2B - B Mueller (1, R Rincon). HR - T Walker 2 (2, 1st inning off T
Hudson 0 on, 2 Out, 7th inning off R Rincon 1 on, 2 Out), J Varitek (1, 5th
inning off T Hudson 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - T Walker 3 (3), J Varitek (1). 2-out
RBI - T Walker 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Damon 2, D
Jackson 1, M Ramirez 3, G Kapler 1. GIDP - J Damon. Team LOB - 13.
BASERUNNING: SB - J Damon (1, 2nd base off K Foulke/R Hernandez).
FIELDING: E - P Martinez (1, throw); T Walker (1, throw). Outfield assists -
J Damon (M Tejada at 2nd base). DP: 1 (J Varitek).
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Ellis 2b 4 1 1 0 2 2 3 .250
E Durazo dh 4 1 2 3 2 0 0 .500
E Chavez 3b 6 1 0 0 0 1 8 .000
M Tejada ss 6 0 1 1 0 1 0 .167
S Hatteberg 1b 4 0 0 0 2 1 0 .000
J Guillen lf 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 .333
a-T Long ph-lf-rf 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 .000
R Hernandez c 4 0 2 1 2 0 1 .500
J Dye rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000
b-B McMillon ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000
E Byrnes pr-lf 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 .000
C Singleton cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .250
Totals 41 5 8 5 10 10 18
a-struck out swinging for J Guillen in the 8th; b-walked for J Dye in the
9th.
BATTING: 2B - C Singleton (1, P Martinez); E Durazo (1, P Martinez). RBI - E
Durazo 3 (3), M Tejada (1), R Hernandez (1). 2-out RBI - M Tejada, E Durazo, R
Hernandez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Ellis 1, E Chavez 3.
Team LOB - 13.
BASERUNNING: SB - C Singleton (1, 2nd base off D Lowe/J Varitek), E Chavez
(1, 3rd base off D Lowe/J Varitek).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (M Ellis-M Tejada-S Hatteberg).
----------------------------------------------------
BOSTON - 100 010 200 000 -- 4
OAKLAND - 003 000 001 001 -- 5
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
P Martinez 7 6 3 3 4 3 0 3.86
M Timlin (H, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00
B Kim (H, 1) 2/3 0 1 1 1 1 0 13.50
A Embree (B, 1) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
S Williamson 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.00
D Lowe (L, 0-1) 1 2/3 1 1 1 4 2 0 5.40
OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era
T Hudson 6 2/3 10 3 3 1 5 2 4.05
R Rincon (B, 1) 2/3 2 1 1 1 1 1 13.50
C Bradford 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
K Foulke 3 0 0 0 2 3 0 0.00
R Harden (W, 1-0) 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0.00
WP - R Harden. IBB - J Varitek (by C Bradford), N Garciaparra (by K Foulke),
B Mueller (by R Harden), T Long (by D Lowe). HBP - C Singleton (by B Kim).
Pitches-strikes: P Martinez 130-80; M Timlin 13-9; B Kim 15-7; A Embree 5-4; S
Williamson 18-8; D Lowe 42-23; T Hudson 106-71; R Rincon 23-12; C Bradford
12-5; K Foulke 51-28; R Harden 20-9. Ground balls-fly balls: P Martinez 6-11; M
Timlin 0-1; B Kim 0-1; A Embree 1-0; S Williamson 0-0; D Lowe 3-0; T Hudson
10-4; R Rincon 0-1; C Bradford 1-0; K Foulke 0-6; R Harden 1-1. Batters faced:
P Martinez 30; M Timlin 3; B Kim 4; A Embree 2; S Williamson 3; D Lowe 10; T
Hudson 29; R Rincon 5; C Bradford 3; K Foulke 11; R Harden 5.
UMPIRES: HP--Randy Marsh. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Wally Bell. 3B--Gary Darling.
LF--Tim Welke. RF--Greg Gibson.
T--4:37. Att--50,606.
Weather: 63 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 17 mph, out
to right.
BOSTON 1ST: J Damon grounded out to second. N Garciaparra struck out swinging. T Walker homered to right. M Ramirez struck out swinging. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) BOSTON 1, OAKLAND 0.
OAKLAND 3RD: J Dye flied out to right. C Singleton doubled to right. M Ellis walked. E Durazo doubled to right, C Singleton and M Ellis scored. E Chavez flied out to left. M Tejada singled to center, E Durazo scored, M Tejada out at second on rundown attempting to advance on throw. (3 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) BOSTON 1, OAKLAND 3.
BOSTON 5TH: T Nixon flied out to center. J Varitek homered to right. J Damon grounded out to first. N Garciaparra singled to left. T Walker singled to center, N Garciaparra to third. M Ramirez grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, T Walker out at second. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) BOSTON 2, OAKLAND 3.
BOSTON 7TH: J Varitek walked. J Damon grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, J Varitek out at second. N Garciaparra singled to left. R Rincon relieved T Hudson. T Walker homered to right, N Garciaparra scored. M Ramirez flied out to right. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) BOSTON 4, OAKLAND 3.
OAKLAND 9TH: D Jackson at second base. B Kim relieved M Timlin. R Hernandez
flied out to center. B McMillon hit for J Dye. B McMillon walked. E Byrnes
ran for B McMillon. C Singleton hit by pitch, E Byrnes to second. M Ellis
struck out swinging. A Embree relieved B Kim. E Durazo singled to left center,
E Byrnes scored, C Singleton to third. E Chavez grounded out to shortstop.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) BOSTON 4, OAKLAND 4.
OAKLAND 12TH: E Durazo walked. E Chavez grounded into fielder's choice to second, E Durazo out at second. M Tejada grounded out to third, E Chavez to second. S Hatteberg walked, E Chavez stole third. S Hatteberg to second on fielder's indifference. T Long intentionally walked. R Hernandez reached on bunt single to third, E Chavez scored. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) BOSTON 4, OAKLAND 5.
1. Why not pinch run for Ortiz in the 8th? Ortiz had to hold up at 3rd on Mueller's double, while a fast runner would have scored easily.
2. Why send Adrian Brown to the plate for Trot Nixon with a much needed insurance run on 3rd base and one out in the 8th inning? This is the insurance run that would have already scored had you pinch run for Ortiz. Brown, who batted .200 as a member of the Red Sox, shook like a leaf as he waved at strike three.
3. Why was Nixon even playing when he said just the day before that his timing was all messed up? He had been out for nine games with a strained calf. Kapler should have started instead.
4. Why pull Timlin when he mowed down the A's best hitters in the 8th? Let him start the 9th and if he lets a runner on, put in your closer (which should be Williamson, instead of Kim).
5. Why pull your supposed closer for Embree? Embree may be left handed, but he is a fast ball pitcher, and Durazo is a fast ball hitter. Pulling your closer like that is just something that you do not do.
6. Why are you making no effort to hold runners at their bases, particularly in the 12th inning, where Chavez got a free ride to 3rd after walking?
7. Why walk Long with an 0 and 1 count in the bottom of the 12th to load the bases? He had struck out twice already and Ramon Hernandez always seems to come up with clutch hits, even when he isn't bunting.
8. Why was your third baseman playing so deep with a runner on third in the bottom of the 12th?
Martinez's
performance inspiring
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff, 10/2/2003
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The hope, Grady Little had said, was that Pedro Martinez would enjoy a low-intensity start. A Pedro-on-a-Dominican-beach kind of start, complete with flip-flops, stereo headphones, and a big glass with an umbrella sticking out of it. Give him that kind of night, and Martinez would be back three days later. As if.
October baseball is a day at the beach for no man, not even the Red Sox ace, who might as well have shown up in eye black and Ninja Turtle shoelaces for the street fight he walked into last night in Oakland.
But unlike Roger Clemens's memorable blowup in Game 4 of the ALCS in 1990, the last time the Sox were here for a playoff game, Martinez never lost his composure.
Not even when he threw an un-Pedro-like seven consecutive balls in the third inning.
Not even when Erubiel Durazo took advantage of that temporary seizure of wildness and drilled a Martinez cutter into the gap for a two-run double, the first runs Martinez had allowed in 20 innings of postseason pitching.
Not even when good buddy Manny Ramirez left the bases loaded in the third and runners on the corners in the fifth.
Not even when he threw away a pickoff attempt, his first error all season, which left a runner on third and one out in the fifth.
Not even when he gave up a leadoff single to Ramon Hernandez in the seventh and Sox hitting star Todd Walker threw away an easy double-play relay, putting a runner in scoring position after Walker's second home run had retrieved the lead for Boston.
Not even when his pitch count eclipsed 100, and Alan Embree and Mike Timlin arose to warm up in the Sox pen, and he went three balls on the next two batters, Chris Singleton and Mark Ellis, Singleton flying out to Ramirez, Ellis drawing a two-out walk that brought Grady Little to the mound for a visit.
Not even during an epic 11-pitch duel with Durazo (which included five two-strike fouls), though he spun like the Tasmanian Devil when third base umpire Gary Darling refused to concede that Durazo went around on pitch No. 11 and gave him first base.
Not even when the most dangerous lefthanded hitter in the A's lineup, Eric Chavez, stepped into the box with the bases loaded and Martinez already had thrown 128 pitches, equaling the most pitches he'd thrown in a start this season.
Chavez fouled off pitch No. 129, then popped up the next pitch, Martinez punching his fist in triumph as catcher Jason Varitek swallowed up the ball in his oversized mitt.
This was myth-making time again, the after-midnight ride of Pedro Martinez, a performance that evoked comparisons to his closeout of the Indians in '99, and El Tiante in Game 4 of the '75 Series. It matters little if the A's to a man swore that they'd seen Martinez with better stuff than he had last night, when his fastball seldom strayed above 92 miles per hour and his legendary command was more rumor than reality.
And in a jubilant Sox dugout, where Martinez was embraced over and over like a long-lost lover, it mattered little that Martinez almost certainly won't be seen again in this series until Monday, if a Game 5 is required.
What was of lasting importance last night is that Martinez squeezed everything he could from the most meaningful 130 pitches of the 21st Century for the Red Sox. A's ace Tim Hudson was cuffed around by the Sox in a manner foreign to him, the Sox posse of cowboys cranking out 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings off Hudson before Walker delivered the momentum-turning, two-run home run off Ricardo Rincon.
Little got to witness what happens when you place your ace's fate in someone else's hands, as A's manager Ken Macha did when he lifted Hudson for Rincon.
When the Sox infielders gathered around Martinez in the seventh, none of them thought for a moment Little would take the ball away from Martinez.
And Mike Timlin, who whiffed two A's in a 1-2-3 eighth, knew better than to come in and spoil Martinez's handiwork. That would have run counter to Sox claims that this team bears no relation to its forebears, the ones that succumbed to history's high hard ones.
And then came the ninth, and Byung Hyun Kim, which in Korean means Son of Schiraldi, and Alan Embree, which meant one more time in this season of breathtaking highs and unbearable lows, the Sox were left to contemplate the abandonment of memory, while hoping for one more dawn.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
Game
One slips away from Sox
12th-inning bunt wins it for A's, 5-4
By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist, 10/2/2003
OAKLAND - What is it about October and the Red Sox? One might say the Sox are haunted in the 10th month. Through the years it's certainly been Boston baseball's season of the witch.
In one of the more excruciating losses of any Red Sox postseason, the Sox dropped a 12-inning, 5-4 decision to the A's last night. It was downright ghoulish. Boston's flammable bullpen blew a 4-3 lead with two outs in the ninth. Sox manager Grady Little, certain to be barbequed long into the winter, went with his Saturday starter, Derek Lowe, in the last two innings and it was Lowe who walked off the hill in defeat when A's catcher Ramon Hernandez scored Eric Chavez from third with a perfectly placed, two-out, bases-loaded bunt single at precisely 2:47 a.m. Boston time.
In other words, this one was Buckner, Dent, Galehouse, and Frazee all rolled into one tight package. The Red Sox not only lost the game, they undoubtedly lost Pedro Martinez (season-high 130 pitches) for Game 4 and their Game 3 starter, Lowe, threw 45 pitches in taking the emotional loss.
Little is going to take some flak for lifting Mike Timlin after the eighth inning. Timlin pitched a perfect eighth, fanning two, but he did not come out to start the ninth. Little went with much-maligned closer Byung Hyun Kim. After getting one out, Kim walked a batter, then hit another. Kim was pulled after fanning Mark Ellis, but Alan Embree came on and surrendered a game-tying single to Eubiel Durazo.
Oakland won it in the 12th with three walks (one intentional) and Hernandez's perfect, surprise bunt single.
"Ramon does that from time to time," said Oakland manager Ken Macha. "It was all him. What an ending. The A's win on a bunt."
"It was a tough game," said Little. "We fought hard. The game has to end somehow. We've had losses like that this season and we've rebounded well. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that tomorrow."
Excruciating. Any Sox fans who were still awake could only curse the October sky. Take away baseball and October certainly presents New England at its best. October brings dry air, crisp apples, and dazzling foliage. Before turning the clocks back, before Halloween, we enjoy a string of sunny, cool days while crimson and orange leaves fall and the Harvest Moon rises.
Unfortunately October has not been a friend of the local baseball team. Since the end of World War I, October has brought nothing but agita to Red Sox fans. There have been four World Series defeats, all in seventh games, plus assorted playoff flops. Today is the silver anniversary of Bucky Dent's playoff homer, for gosh sakes. Unless you are at least 90 years old, you have no memory of the Sox winning their final (postseason) game in October.
The best thing about last night's game might have been the late start and the hideous late finish. Hopefully, New England children were shielded from the horrible loss.
On the bright side, the Sox had Todd Walker stroking four hits and two homers. Jason Varitek also hit a homer and Martinez threw a Tiant-esque seven innings, struggling throughout. He walked four and struck out only three, and got Chavez to pop up with the bases loaded on his last pitch. There were were high-fives and chest-bumps all around when Pedro got to the dugout.
In addition to staying up late to watch Martinez duel Oakland ace Tim Hudson (who struggled more than Pedro, giving up 10 hits in 6 innings) Sox fans found themselves monitoring a couple of other Division Series. Winning the Fall Classic remains the goal, but most members of Red Sox Nation have mapped out the magic path that would lead to the ultimate moment. In a perfect world, the Red Sox would beat Oakland, thrash the hated Yankees in the American League Championship Series, then smother the Chicago Cubs in a World Series for the ages.
Call it greed, but elements of revenge and symmetry call for the Sox to play the Yankees, then the Cubs after this first series with the A's. Boston CEO Larry Lucchino has tabbed the Yankees the "Evil Empire," and the Yankees hold a 26-0 edge over the Sox in World Series titles since Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees for $125,000 and a mortgage on Fenway Park. The Cubs, meanwhile, bring a 95-year World Series drought into October 2003. The Sox and Cubs have not played a game that counts since Carl Mays beat Chicago, 2-1, in the sixth and final game of the World Series at Fenway Park on Sept. 11, 1918.
Standing in front of the Sox dugout a couple of hours before the first October game, Red Sox owner Tom Werner acknowledged he's pondered the A's-Yanks-Cubs sequence.
"If you were going to write the perfect story, that's what you would do," said Werner. "You wouldn't go to Minnesota or Florida for the next rounds. I know this is getting ahead of ourselves, but I believe a Red Sox-Cubs World Series would galvanize the country in a way that baseball hasn't seen in a couple of decades."
Standing nearby, Lucchino, who is superstitious about what he eats for lunch, wouldn't have any part of the discussion.
"I don't care who we play," said the CEO. "I'd play the Little Sisters of the Poor to get to the World Series. It doesn't matter. I believe you only have so many hopes and wonders you're entitled to. Getting there is the thing - who we play is a luxury we can't afford to think about."
Most of those who are thinking about it hope the Yankees can come back from losing their first game against the Twins Tuesday. The Steinbrenner Gang has routinely won playoff series after losing the opener (they beat the A's three straight after losing the first two games two years ago), and Sox fans seeking ultimate revenge find themselves in the rare position of rooting for Pinstripes this week. Meanwhile, the Cubs have a 1-1 split in their first two games with the Braves.
Red Sox Nation made its presence felt at Network Associates Coliseum throughout the first game. When the gates opened two hours before game time, a contingent of New Englanders gathered behind the Sox dugout. Many held signs of support. Spotting Boston's 29-year-old general manager standing in front of the dugout, one fan hollered, "Thank you, Theo." Theo Epstein smiled and waved.
It was like that all night. Chants of "Let's Go Red Sox," no doubt made the Sons of Grady Little feel right at home.
In the end, it's just as well the Sox were on the road. This one might have been too much for the Fenway fans to take.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
A's-Red
Sox classic is no yawner
By Jim Caple, ESPN, 10/2/2003
OAKLAND -- It was such a long, draining, emotionally exhausting game that even Theo Epstein must have had gray hair by the time it finally ended.
There were 435 pitches, 17 walks, 12 innings, 11 pitchers, four starting pitchers (and nearly five) and three lead changes. There were home runs that soared deep into the night and bunts that bounced past the mound and straight into postseason lore. There were controversial moves and surprise plays and beautiful diving plays. And by the time it ended 15 minutes before midnight in Oakland and 45 minutes after the bars closed in Boston, there wasn't an eye that wasn't bloodshot or a cuticle that hadn't been nibbled to nothing.
On the 100th anniversary of the first World Series game, Oakland and Boston delivered a four-hour, 37-minute autumn classic that finally was decided when catcher Ramon Hernandez dropped a beautiful bunt past the mound, allowing Eric Chavez to race home with the winning run in the Athletics 5-4 victory in Game 1 of their division series.
Asked when he might be able to fall asleep after such a game, Boston catcher Jason Varitek replied, "Tomorrow night.''
He might be right about that. The game ended so late that when players finally boarded the team buses, barely 11 hours remained before the start of Game 2 (first pitch is 1:05 p.m. Oakland time).
Memo to Lumbergh: You're going to have to wait on your TPS reports today. Between the lack of sleep last night and Thursday's game, there won't be a whole lot of production from the cubicles in Boston or Oakland today.
What type of game was it? Chavez said it was the best he's ever been involved with -- and he went 0-for-6. Boston second baseman Todd Walker had four hits and two home runs that each put the Red Sox ahead -- and he said he couldn't enjoy a bit of it.
"There are a whole lot of ways to not feel good about a baseball game,'' he said.
And the Red Sox felt them all.
This was a crushing loss for Red Sox Nation. On the centennial of their first World Series game, the Red Sox used starting pitchers Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe (and had a third starter, John Burkett, warming up in the bullpen when the game ended) ... and still lost.
They had 12 hits, seven walks and three home runs ... and still lost.
They were one out and two strikes from victory ... and still lost. They didn't allow a ball out of the inning in the fatal 12th ... and still lost.
They also yanked Boston closer Byung-Hyun Kim with two out and two on in the ninth and saw his replacement, Alan Embree, blow a 4-3 lead.
So, the Sox starting rotation is a mess and their closer is questionable. But other than that, everything is just fine.
"We've had a lot of devastating losses this season, none more so than tonight,'' Walker said. "But we have a lot of character in this clubhouse, and we'll come back. Going into (Game 2), if we score early it will change, but Oakland certainly feels good right now and has the momentum.''
The Red Sox were supposed to hold that momentum after Game 1 for no other reason than they started Pedro, considered the key to this series. With him able to start two games, Boston fans felt confident their team would win both. It didn't work out that way.
Matched up against Oakland starter Tim Hudson, Martinez allowed three runs in seven innings and threw 130 pitches (his highest total of the season), including 11 pitches in one dramatic at-bat with Erubiel Durazo in the seventh inning. Martinez wound up walking Durazo to load the bases that inning but retired Chavez to end the threat and preserve Boston's 4-3 lead.
That lead lasted into the ninth when Boston manager Grady Little brought in Kim to begin the inning. Kim walked one batter, hit another and got the hook in favor of the left-handed Embree when Durazo came up again with two out. Little defended the move as lefty-vs.-lefty strategy, but Kim was clearly upset when the move was first made and fumed in the dugout when Embree gave up a game-tying single.
That was questionable bullpen move No. 1. The next was Little's decision to use Lowe, the scheduled starter for Saturday's Game 3, as a reliever in the 11th inning. Lowe threw 42 pitches in two innings, but Little said he will start Game 3 as scheduled. He also said that even though Martinez threw 130 pitches, he could pitch Game 4 if necessary.
"That's just weird,'' Chavez said of the decision to use Lowe. "Hopefully, it works out for us. We'll have to see how all that stuff works out.''
Oakland manager Ken Macha's bullpen moves worked a little better. Rookie Rich Harden, normally a starter, pitched a scoreless 12th to earn the win, and closer Keith Foulke was more impressive, pitching three hitless innings.
"I'm kind of waiting to see how that works out, too,'' Chavez said of Foulke's 51-pitch effort.
Chavez made a game-saving play in the top of the 12th when he stopped a shot down the line and dove to third base in time to get the force for the final out. He found himself there again as a runner in the bottom of the inning when Oakland put runners on second and third with two out.
Boston chose to intentionally walk left-handed hitting Terence Long (who struck out his previous two at-bats) to load the bases and bring up the right-handed hitting Hernandez, which seemed like a strange move. Long isn't much of a hitter and by loading the bases, Lowe had no margin for error.
Macha said he noticed that Boston's Bill Mueller was playing deep at third base but that Hernandez decided to bunt on his own. It was a beauty, bouncing off the plate and past Lowe and into no-man's land.
"Derek Lowe is a pretty good athlete out there on the mound so a lot of things had to go right for them on that,'' Varitek said. "If the ball hadn't hit the plate first, I'm confident Derek makes that play.''
But it did hit the plate, and by the time Mueller fielded the ball, it was too late to do anything but watch Chavez score and Hernandez run past first base and into right field where his teammates chased him down and mobbed him.
"I thought he was going to jog around the field,'' Chavez said.
"I'm sure that if you ask their guys they're pretty down, but that was a great game and there were a lot of great performances out there, and it was great to be a part of it.''
Easy for Chavez to say. He doesn't have all New England planting the loss into its collective memory.
"I know Boston fans live and die by this team, just like we do, so they're probably as drained as we are,'' Walker said. "But at least they get three more hours to sleep. They don't have to get here early for batting practice so they can sleep in later.''
Right. As if anyone in Boston could sleep after that one.
Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
