BOSTON – How did Joba Chamberlain react to giving up his first big league earned run on a homer by Mike Lowell in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 4-3 win last night at Fenway Park? By focusing on pitching to J.D. Drew, the next batter.
“He hit a fastball, he is seeing the ball real well right now,” Chamberlain said of Lowell, who had three of the Red Sox’s five hits and cut the Yankees’ lead to two runs with his homer. “It was good to get J.D. Drew.”
Chamberlain’s first taste of Fenway madness didn’t bother him. In two innings he gave up two hits, one run and fanned three. He worked around Eric Hinske’s leadoff double in the seventh, not allowing a run with the score tied, 1-1.
“I saw him pat Gator [Ron Guidry] on the shoulder [after Hinske’s double] and I figured he was all right,” Joe Torre said of his confident rookie setup man.
In 13 games, Chamberlain has worked 18 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and fanning 23.
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Torre’s decision to play Doug Mientkiewicz at first base paid off. Mientkiewicz saved at least one run and possibly two in the first inning with a diving grab of Jason Varitek‘s two-out smash with runners on first and second and the Red Sox leading, 1-0.
“I thank Joe for letting me play tonight,” said Mientkiewicz, who started for the first time since June 2 when he broke his left wrist here. He went 2-for-3 and started the game-winning rally with an eighth-inning single.
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A fan raced out of the first-base stands in the seventh inning to high-five Hinske after he doubled. But when Hinske turned his back, the fan grabbed Robinson Cano‘s hat and raced toward the Green Monster, where he was tackled by security, who returned the hat to Cano.
“I was scared a little, I didn’t know what it was,” said Cano, who had his back to the fan.
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Torre dropped Hideki Matsui from fifth to sixth Saturday, and removed him from the lineup against Curt Schilling. Matsui, who is in a woeful 5-for-43 (.116) slide, watched from the cramped Fenway Park dugout as Johnny Damon played left and Jorge Posada was the DH.
“Obviously when you are not hitting and contributing to the team you feel like you are letting them down,” said Matsui who had his second day off in 11 days. “I don’t think it’s mechanical, I think it’s fatigue a little bit. My swing is not sharp.”
According to Torre, Matsui is cheating on a lot of pitches in order to get his bat through the zone quicker and consequently is ahead of pitches he is trying to pull.