Sox Outlast Yanks; Ortiz Defends A-Rod (Sort Of)

Yankees and Red Sox fans who stayed awake through last night's rain delay were rewarded with a pretty strange yet exciting game. It wasn't nearly as exciting as those come-from-behind victories against the Yanks in Boston just over a week ago, but it was close, right down to the final pitch. Here are the highlights:

1. The ball really does fly out of the new park. Mike Lowell and Jason Bay went deep for the winners. Mark Teixeira hit two home runs, one from each side of the plate. Johnny Damon hit the upper deck with a one handed follow-through. Now that's what I call a jet stream.

2. Jon Lester (2-1) remains undefeated against New York. He did run into trouble in a hurry, though, after Joe Girardi got tossed for arguing balls and strikes and Damon and Teixeira went back-to-back. Lester hung in for the win, striking out ten.

3. The empty seats were strange to see. Apparently the New York media is referring to the most expensive seats--often unfilled--that surround the park at field level as "the moat." It looked at times like a Kansas City-Oakland game. Apparently there was some confusion with the rainout and some fans either left the stadium thinking the game was called or weren't let back in. Click here for the article.

4. Both managers often say the games in this rivalry are just one of 162. But last night you could see how much Girardi and Francona wanted this game. Girardi got thrown out for rightfully arguing some really bad calls by umpire Jerry Meals which sparked an instant rally and Francona went to Papelbon for a five-out close--something he almost never does.

5. Papelbon made it out of the eighth, but got into a world of trouble as he loaded the bases in the ninth. He struck out Robinson Cano to get the third out, but I have to admit the game was much closer than I would have liked.

Before the game, David Ortiz was asked about his pal, A-Rod, and the allegations made by Selena Roberts in her new book, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez. Here 's what Big Papi had to say regarding the possibility that Rodriguez tipped pitches to opposing players in the hope that pitchers would repay the favor by letting him beef up his average in lopsided games:

"I heard about that the other day. And I don't know how that can happen. Especially A-Rod -- from what I know about him, he's a guy that he plays the game. I'm not saying that he didn't, but I don't see how that can happen."

Seems even Ortiz needs to qualify his statements about A-Rod with "I'm not saying that he didn't..."

He then said that if found out a player on the Red Sox were tipping off the opposition "I would beat the crap out of him. I mean, seriously. You're my teammate. I mean, I don't care if that's your brother ... out there. We're trying to win the game."

Ortiz went on to say he didn't know how A-Rod deals with all the scrutiny. "It's not easy," he told reporters. (Source: Providence Journal).