Papelbon delivers signature moment

BOSTON -- There was an anticipatory roar as Jonathan Papelbon sprinted in from the bullpen the first time, set to face Alex Rodriguez in one of those powerful individual showdowns that has marked the Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry so many times over the years.
Papelbon stepped on the mound and started his warmups. But another force called Mother Nature -- which spit out rain, thunder and lightning -- delayed the marquee matchup for two hours and 11 minutes. In the end, it was worth the wait. For the Red Sox at least.

Papelbon, who came on with two on and two outs in the eighth, his team clinging to a one-run lead, overpowered A-Rod in the signature moment of Boston's 4-3 victory over the Yankees on Saturday at Fenway Park.

Despite having three separate bullpen warmups -- halfway into the delay, it appeared as if the game was about to start again only to have another downpour burst through -- Papelbon had all kinds of life left on his arm.

He blew Rodriguez away on three straight pitches, the last of which was a 96-mph heater that the superstar whiffed on.

"It was pretty amazing," said Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek. "He got hot for the third time. And to go out there with that kind of stuff still, he accepted a lot for this team and for him to be able to do that shows a lot to his teammates. It was a well-needed win for us."

With the victory, the Red Sox evened the three-game set with their rivals to set up Sunday night's rubber match.

Papelbon certainly had all kinds of time to think about how he'd pitch to the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. He started the at-bat with a fastball, which Rodriguez fouled off. Then, Papelbon fired a nasty splitter that A-Rod didn't even come close to squaring up. And then, the finale, which A-Rod took a mighty cut at, only to get air with his bat.

"I just wanted to move the ball around on him, and I did, I went right after him," Papelbon said. "I said to myself, 'This is the ballgame right here.' I feel like our team went out there, and everybody from top to bottom worked their butts off to put us in a situation to win, and I definitely was not going to let that go."

Rodriguez tried to duplicate his moment from last June, when he took a Papelbon offering over the wall in right field to deliver a win to the Yankees.

"You take your hacks," said Rodriguez. "Sometimes you get him and sometimes he gets you. I thought it was a good pitch to hit. I just missed it."

Before all the chaos of the shifting weather patterns, the focus was on Boston's other overpowering righty, ace Josh Beckett. Over 6 2/3 innings, Beckett gave up five hits and three runs, walking one and striking out five to earn his first win of 2008.

"I felt good early," said Beckett. "[I] got some pitches up later in the game."

A tiring Beckett walked off the mound with Robinson Cano (RBI double) on second and two outs in the seventh, protecting a 4-3 lead. On came Manny Delcarmen, who fired a 96-mph fastball by Jose Molina to keep Beckett in line for the win. In Beckett's last start, Delcarmen replaced him with the bases loaded and surrendered a grand slam to Frank Thomas.

Boston's other Manny -- star slugger Manny Ramirez -- also played a key role in this one. The cleanup man bashed a two-run double into the gap in right-center against Mike Mussina in the bottom of the sixth, overturning a 2-1 deficit.

The most interesting aspect of that sequence was the chess match. After Jacoby Ellsbury's single and Dustin Pedroia's double off the Green Monster set up second and third with one out, Yankees manager Joe Girardi elected to pitch to the heavily slumping David Ortiz (.070 average). That paid off, as Ortiz struck out.

But pitching to Ramirez didn't prove to work out nearly as well. Almost as if to take advantage before the Yankees changed their mind, Ramirez belted Mussina's first pitch, a fastball.

"You always want Manny to hit," said Pedroia. "[Manny] and David are our big guys, especially while Mike [Lowell] is out. I thought they would pitch to him, but kind of pitch around him and get him to chase. But Manny just came out first-pitch [swinging] and drove it in to the gap. I'm sure that's not the way they wanted it to happen, but it was definitely a great at-bat. Manny smells those RBIs."

Kevin Youkilis kept the pressure on with an RBI single up the middle, bringing home Ramirez.

Earlier on, Ramirez had gotten the Sox going by clocking a solo homer off the Volvo sign above the Green Monster in left-center with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. That broke a scoreless tie. It was career home run No. 492 for Ramirez, and his 53rd against the Yankees, tying Hank Greenberg for third on the all-time list. Only Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams had more career homers against New York.

"Manny had an excellent game -- the home run and a big double," said Varitek. "We aren't quite firing on all cylinders offensively yet."

The Yankees at last got something established against Beckett in the sixth, opening the inning with back-to-back singles. Johnny Damon sacrificed the runners to second and third, setting up Melky Cabrera for a sacrifice fly to center that could have been a lot more if not for a diving catch by Ellsbury. Beckett then unleashed a wild pitch, giving the Yankees their first lead of the day at 2-1.

But Ramirez and Co. would swing things back in Boston's favor. And despite the distraction of the weather, the Red Sox kept it that way.

This, after a truly heroic finish by Papelbon.

"That was pretty remarkable what he did -- to warm up three times and still pitch and get outs against the best hitters in baseball," said Pedroia. "You never have to worry about Pap. You know what he's going to do. It's not going to be lack of intensity or effort, that's for sure."

As difficult a decision as it was for Red Sox manager Terry Francona to bring Papelbon out after the lengthy delay, his closer made him look smart.

"His stuff was phenomenal," Francona said. "I'm not sure what's better, his arm or his heart. It was pretty impressive."