6:28 p.m.: Yanks bring in Mariano Rivera.
Mid 9th, Yankees 6-2: Sox fans can be happy with the bullpen’s outing today — especially Tazawa’s. The young righty worked a one pitch, one out with leadoff hitter and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who nubbed one back to the mound. After getting Granderson to line out to second, Tazawa ended the 1-2-3 frame by getting A-Rod to fly out to center.
End 8th, Yankees 6-2: Sox can’t crack the scoreboard for the third straight frame. Gonzo sliced a base hit through the left side but was left stranded after Youk struck out on a check swing.
Mid 8th, Yankees 6-2: Tazawa escapes the frame without issue. Sox had an old-fashioned pickle, too. So that’s fun. David Robertson now in for the Yankees.
For those keeping track at home, the Sox sold out again — 36,770 paid attendance.
5:57 p.m.: Righty reliever Junichi Tazawa making his 2012 debut, replacing Justin Thomas.
Tazawa made his major league debut in 2009 against the Yankees. In it, he allowed a walkoff homer to A-Rod in the 15th inning at Yankee Stadium.
5:50 p.m.: In comes Justin Thomas after Atchiston gives up a double to Swisher to lead off the Eighth.
End 7th, Yankees 6-2: The Sox get a base hit from Aviles, who now has two hits on the day. He and Papi are the lone Sox with multiple hits today while the Yanks have two of their own in A-Rod and Chavez.
Mid 7th, Yankees 6-2: Atchison gets out of the jam by retiring three straight Yankees.
5:26 p.m.: After a walk to Granderson, Bobby V makes the call to the pen as Atchison replaces Buchholz.
Buchholz went six-plus innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits — five of which were solo homers. He struck out two and walked two more. He threw 103 pitches, 69 for strikes.
End 6th, Yankees 6-2: Nova escapes a little jam as he gets a double-play ball with two on and one out to end the frame.
Youk was drilled by a pitch (elbow pad area) and Papi sliced a single but were both stranded.
Mid 6th, Yankees 6-2: Russell Martin tries — and barely fails — to put a hole in the Sports Authority sign atop the Monster to give the Yankees a 6-2 lead. That’s five solo shots given up by Buchholz in six innings of work.
Buchholz strikes Jeter out looking to end the frame in what was likely his last pitch of the week.
End 5th, Yankees 5-2: Cody Ross lifts one far to deep center but finds a piece at the top of the wall for a stand-up double.
Repko, who did his best Milan Lucic impression with the Green Monster last inning after making a fantastic running catch in left-center, lined out to Cano at second base. Cano timed the ball perfectly to rob the young outfielder of an RBI-single.
With Ross at second, Aviles lofted a soft liner to right which Swisher lost in the sun. Ross rounded third and scored for the Sox’ second run while Aviles replaced him at second base. That sun’s been an issue all day — we saw Pedroia drop a routine pop out in shallow right to kick things off in the first.
Speaking of the sun, the ever-popular shadow has made its way between the rubber and plate, which means that ball comes out of the pitcher’s hand in sunlight and crosses into the shadows as it reaches the dish.
Mid 5th, Yankees 5-1: Ouch. A-Rod ropes a long, far blast over everything in left field for his second homer of the season and 631st homer of his career. That shot by A-Rod passes Ken Griffey Jr. for fifth place on all-time list.
Chalk up four homers on the day for the Bronx Bombers and two RBIs for A-Rod so far.
End 4th, Yankees 4-1: Nova makes quick work of the Sox in the 4th frame, getting groundouts from Papi and Youk before striking out Salty to end it.
Mid 4th, Yankees 4-1: Eric Chavez continues to give Buchholz a hard time as he unloads his second homer of the young afternoon. Chaves came into this game with two doubles in two at-bats against Buchholz. My take? He owns the young hurler.
End 3rd, Yankees 3-1: Gonzo was caught admiring Nova’s work and leaves Sweeney stranded at second base to end the third inning.
Sweeney got on via double to left — he now has a .429 batting average.
Mid 3rd, Yankees 3-1: Buchholz allows one hit and one walk in the third frame but escapes without any damage done.
Sox ended the inning on a nice 3-6-1 double-play ball.
End 2nd, Yankees 3-1: Big Papi wastes no time getting the Sox on the board as the DH launches a solo shot over the far end of the Monster in deep left-center. Because it short-hopped the top of the fence and bounced back onto the field, the umps reviewed it while Papi stood waiting at second base. Sure enough, the umps confirm the dinger and Papi finishes off his well-deserved trot.
One batter later, Youk keeps things going with a sharp double down the right field line. After Salty gets him to third on a groundout to first base, Cody Ross strikes and Jason Repko grounds out to leave Youk stranded.
4:01 p.m.: Good news, Sox fans, Pedro Martinez will be joining Don and Jerry LIVE in the booth momentarily.
Mid 1st, Yankees 3-0: Buchholz allows two more in the second as Swisher and Chavez both smash solo shots.
Shortly after the taters, Derek Jeter gets on with an infield single, his 3,111th career hit. With that, the Yankee legend passes Dave Winfield for 18th place on baseball’s all-time hits list. A single by Granderson leads to a visit to the mound for Clay, who isn’t looking his sharpest.
MLB commissioner Bud Selig will be joining Don and Jerry in the booth in the top of the 4th inning.
End 1st, Yankees 1-0: Dusty starts to make up for that first-inning blunder by lacing a two-out single up the middle.
Aviles led off with a pop out down the right field line which was caught on a nice running play by Cano. Another nice defensive play by Granderson who snagged a flyout to deep left-center off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez.
3:30 p.m.: Fenway faithful giving Barack Obama some boos as our Nation’s leader delivered a message on the big board in centerfield.
Mid 1st, Yankees 1-0: Dustin Pedroia allows Derek Jeter to reach by dropping a can of corn pop up a dozen steps into the outfield grass. That’s Dustin’s first error of the season — he had seven last year (in 159 games) and three the year before (in 75 games).
With Jeter at first and one out, Buchholz unloads a wild pitch high above Salty’s reach to allow the Yankee captain to advance to second. A-Rod would make the wild pitch hurt after smacking a rope to left-center for the RBI-single.
Jason Repko showing off the leather once again with a nice leaping grab with one out at the centerfield wall.
3:07 p.m.: And we’re just about ready to go here now that the Fens faithful was treated to a tremendous ceremony.
Follow pregame ceremony with NESN.com’s 100th Anniversary live blog by clicking here.
2:20 p.m.: Jim Rice, Dwight Evans and Bill Buckner are first three to take the field in that order. Buckner with a tremendous ovation.
2:16 p.m.: Let the festivities begin!
It looks as though former players will come out through canvas alley and the gate in left field.
1:03 p.m.: A few pregame notes from Sox PR worth mentioning:
Today also marks the 73rd
anniversary of Ted Williams Major League debut. (bid on some of Teddy Ballgame’s stuff here)
Ryan Sweeney has hit safely in 9 of
10 games with the Sox with a team-high .424 clip (14-for-
33)…Sweeney ranks 2nd in the AL in AVG (min. 30 PA) and
leads Major Leaguers with a .500 AVG vs. right-handers
(min. 30 PA vs. RHP).
Red Sox hitters lead the Majors with 31 doubles
and are 4th in the AL with a .262 AVG (107-for-409)…
Boston has scored 35 runs in the club’s 4 wins compared to
24 runs in its 8 losses.
Dustin Pedroia hit at a .406
clip (28-for-69) in 17 games against New York last year with
5 doubles, 2 homers, 13 RBI, 9 runs and 9 walks…It was
the 5th-best mark in the Majors last year vs. the Yankees…
Pedroia hit safely in all but 1 of his games vs. the Yanks last
year and hit in all 9 against New York at Fenway Park, going
17-for-38 (.447).
12:49 p.m.: Here is the Sox lineup:
Mike Aviles, SS
Ryan Sweeney, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Cody Ross, LF
Jason Repko, CF
12:26 p.m.: Greetings from the old ballyard. Here are today’s lineups:
Yankees
6…Jeter
8…Granderson
DH…Rodriguez
4…Cano
3…Teixeira
9…Swisher
7…Ibanez
5…Chavez
2…Martin
1…Nova
Granderson’s coming off a pretty hot night, to say the least. The centerfielder slugged three taters on Thursday night against the Twins and added a couple of singles to go 5-for-5.
8 a.m. ET: Clay Buchholz and Ivan Nova square off in Game 1 of the first Red Sox-Yankees series of the season on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on NESN, shortly after a highly anticipated 100-year anniversary pregame celebration.
The Sox received an off day after getting swept by the Rangers in a quick two-game series at Fenway. Buchholz won his last outing, going seven innings and allowing five earned runs on six hits against the Rays. Nova is 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in two starts. In his last outing, he struck out eight Angels in six innings and allowed just four earned runs on eight hits.
Below is a release from the team regarding pregame ceremonies.
Oscar-winning composer John Williams will conduct members of the Boston Pops in the debut of his new composition, “Fanfare for Fenway,” in ceremonies that are expected to begin shortly after 2 p.m. Gates will open at 12:30 p.m., a special opening time in light of the occasion.
Keith Lockhart will conduct members of the Boston Pops for the National Anthem as well as “Hymn to New England,” also composed by Maestro Williams.
The details of the First Pitch Ceremony will not be announced in advance.
At the conclusion of the anthem, the Air Force’s Heritage Flight team will fly in a four-ship formation fly-over that will include two F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base and two World War II era P-51 Mustangs. Military personnel from Hanscom Air Force Base will be on hand to present the colors, which will be draped over the Green Monster.
Friday’s ceremonies will also include a toast to Fenway Park. When fans arrive at their seats, they will find a grape juice drink and cups beneath their seats or in cup holders. The crowd will be invited to participate in the toast at the end of the pre-game ceremonies, in an attempt to set a world record for the largest toast in a single venue. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 2 p.m. to enjoy the pregame ceremony and to participate in the toast.
