Instant Classic

For the final time this season, the regular season at least, the baseball world stopped to take in what has become not only the best rivalry in all of baseball, but arguably the best rivalry in sports. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox clashed on a national stage Sunday night, leaving many of us hoping for another showdown in the ALCS come October.

It is certainly a treat when you get to see one staff ace on any given night, but we had two thrown at us in the rubber game and niether failed to impress. Roger Clemens took the mound for his 200th career start at Fenway Park and pitched up to his reputation despite battling recent elbow troubles. The future Hall Of Famer gave up one unearned run in six innings of work before handing the ball off to the bullpen.

The Rocket does not flash his dominating stuff anymore, but he is a far cry from some avergae veteran who is relying soley on savvy. Clemens ran his four-seam fastball up to 94 mph and mixed in a 2-seam fastball at 91-92 mph. Using a mid-to-high 80s slider to set up lefthanded hitters, Clemens uses his split to induce groundballs and strikeouts. We do not see the high-90s fastball, but credit to Clemens' talent and durablity, his stuff is still certainly good enough to control a great lineup like the Boston Red Sox. And no, the absence of Manny Ramirez does not take away from the outing.

On the other side, (possible) future Hall Of Famer Curt Schilling took the ball for Boston and turned in another big performance like he usually does in games like these. Schilling dominated for seven innings surrendering only a solo homerun to Robinson Cano, giving the Red Sox a chance to really put a dagger in the Yankees hopes of making a run at the AL East title.

Unfortuanetly for Boston, Derek Jeter has not forgotten his way to Fenway Park. The Yankee Captain, who time and time again comes through in the clutch for the Bronx Bombers, delivered a 3-run homerun in the top of the 8th inning to put New York ahead 4-1. The belt-high splitter would be the last pitch of the night for Schilling. Looking back on the outing, that will be the one at-bat that is remebered because it decided the outcome of the game.

That is unfortuanate because Schilling's outing was really quite a good one, but all of that will be lost in the shuffle. For each big-game pitcher, there is a big-game hitter, at least in this magnificent rivalry. It just happens to be that Derek Jeter comes out on top more times than not. Why? Nobody knows for sure, but the man is simply disgusting in hostile environments, in pressure situations, and with postseason implications on the line.

Baseball is such a great game that it will not allow you to see only one side of the coin. We can't have a Jeter-Schilling matchup alone determine the entire outcome, can we? No sir.

Closer Mariano Rivera was brought into the game in the 9th inning with a 2-run lead, needing 3 outs to lock up the series for New York and pull within 4.5 games of their divison foe.

Rivera was not his usual sharp self, issuing walks and eventually leaving the bases loaded with 2 outs and who else coming to plate but David Ortiz. Even when Rivera fell behind in the count 2-1 to Ortiz, there really is no advantage in the hitters perspective. Sure, Rivera has to come with a strike, period. But it is not as if Ortiz can sit on a fastball and just feast on anything over the plate.

With Rivera, the cutter is coming on mostly every pitch. Therefore, the count does not completely dictate the at-bat simply because you know what pitch is coming in an 0-0 count as well.

Rivera gets a cutter in on the hands of Big Papi who lifts as lazy pop-up into shallow center field. As Red Sox nation held its breath, hoping, praying, begging for the bleeder to fall into the neatly-cropped grass, Derek Jeter camped under the ball and caught it in his glove; followed by a series-ending fist pump. A fitting end to the game that will always be connected to Jeter's 3-run moonshot.

The action is complete and the series is concluded. Bitter rivals, ruthless enemies, are forced to wait in the wings of what is known as the playoff race. Could October possibly send us baseball fans into winter hibernation with one last Yankees-Red Sox hoorah?

We could only hope. But consider ourselves lucky if we ever get to experience another game like this. A game where five possible future Hall Of Famer (Clemens, Schilling, Jeter, Rivera, Ortiz) had chances to leave their distinct mark on what could possibly be the best game of the season. A true playoff series? No. But, in all honestly, who watched this game with the calendar in mind? The eyes of baseball surely weren't looking at the month.