Instant Classic

By David Marasco

Around three in the morning Thursday Boston time, Red Sox fans numbly clicked off their televisions. After tying the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Oakland A's squeezed across the winning run in the bottom of the twelfth. Maybe Boston fans are used to this by now.

It started as Pedro Martinez vs. Tim Hudson. The opposing lineups managed to get baserunners against these two great starters, which made the game more exciting than a bunch of 1-2-3 innings. For most of the game fans were at the edge of their seats. The scoring started when Todd Walker, who went four for five with a pair of dingers, lofted a shot that was just fair down the right field line.

Tim Hudson dodged a bullet in the third, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam. In the home half of the inning Chris Singleton whacked a one-out double. This seemed to rattle Pedro. He walked the next batter on four pitches, and then started 3-0 to Durazo. The A's first baseman then doubled to center, plating both Ellis and Singleton. An out later Tejada singled to right, scoring Durazo, but got caught in a rundown. That first blown opportunity for the A's.

The Red Sox closed the game to 3-2 with a Veritek homer in the fifth. The A's almost answered. With Ellis on first Pedro threw a wild pickoff, and Ellis ended up on third. Durazo grounded to Pedro, who quickly threw to the plate to nail Ellis coming in from third. Ellis kind of bounced off the catcher, another wasted chance.

In the top of the sixth Tim Hudson appeared to injure himself. He survived the inning, but was coming up on 100 pitches as he opened the seventh. He walked the leadoff hitter, but got clutch help in the form of a 4-6-3 double play. Nomar singled to left, and that was it for Hudson. The A's brought in Rincon, who gave up a blast to Todd Walker on his third pitch. The Sox now owned a 4-3 lead, and only needed nine more outs.

Pedro was running out of gas though. Hernandez led off with a single, and it looked to be a quick two outs when Dye bounced to second. But Walker air-mailed to first and Dye ended up on second. Pedro retired Singleton, and walked Ellis. Durazo battled for eleven pitches and drew a magnificent walk to load the bases. On Pedro's 130th pitch of the night he got out of his last jam, popping Chavez up to the catcher.

The momentum shifted to the Sox. They pounded Rincon, and with an out in the eighth they had runners on second and third. The A's brought in Bradford, who struck out Adrian Brown for the second out. They then walked Veritek to face the leadoff hitter. With bases loaded Damon grounded to first. A huge opportunity missed.

Kim took the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Everyone in the stadium was having World Series flashbacks. Even though it was the bottom of the lineup, their was a lot of faith. McMillon drew a one-out walk and moved up to second when Singleton was hit by a pitch. Ellis k'ed for the second out. Kim was removed for Embree. The entire crowd stood on its feet, and then exploded when Durazo singled to left, scoring the tying run.

There was some nuttiness in the A's half of the tenth. Hatteberg had a one-out walk, and appeared to have second stolen. But he was called out on a double-play, Guillen watched strike three and then walked across the plate, runner out due to interference. The crowd was not happy about that one.

Foulke had pitched a strong ninth and tenth, but had a scare in the eleventh. It took him ten pitches to strike out Kapler, struck out Veritek, but then walked Damon. Damon stole second, and Nomar was intentionally walked. Jackson struck out to end the inning.

Lowe, the game three starter, came out for the bottom of the eleventh. He faced a scattering of baserunners, but seemed in control. In the top of the twelfth the Red Sox put together the beginning of a rally. Manny drew a lead off walk from Harden, the new reliever. Manny went to second on a wild pitch. Ortiz struck out and Millar popped to third. Given the choice between facing the batting champion and a bench player, the A's gave Mueller the Barry treatment. Kapler almost proved them wrong, scorching a drive by third. Chavez fielded the ball and dove to the bag just before Manny in an amazing play.

The bottom of the twelfth started poorly for the Red Sox. Lowe gave up a walk to Durazo, and the Sox couldn't turn the double-play on Chavez's grounder to second. Chavez took second on Tejada's ground out, and then stole third during Hatteburg's at bat. Hatteburg walked and then stole second. Long was granted the intentional walk, bringing Hernandez to the plate. On the second pitch he dropped one to Mueller, who looked at the catcher, but never threw the ball. Chavez crossed the plate for the late-night victory.

Both teams made a shamble of their bullpens. With Pedro going 130 pitches deep and Lowe tossing an additional thirty, it's a good thing the Wakefield can flutter up knucklers all day, the Sox bullpen will be needed in the next few games. Who knows what must be going on in Kim's head right now? Foulke went three innings, will how effective will he be on Saturday?

In Oakland, this game has achieved instant classic status. If the Sox don't right their ship, in Boston this will just be situation normal.