The Cora-olis Effect

(Photo from Boston.com)

The Sox took their fifth win out of six games thus far this season against the Yankees this afternoon in the Bronx. The 7-4 win was the result of a solid start from Crazy J. Tavarez, the classic offensive combo of Manny Ortez, and some big contributions from Utilities Included.

Papi soloed off Wang in the 1st to get the game started off on the right foot. Not much more action until the third inning. The second time through the order the Sox got more aggressive. They had been seeing a lot of first pitch fastballs from Wang; rather than get behind in the count, they started attacking him early, trying to jump on that first decent pitch.

Coco tripled to lead off in the 3rd. Cora then sac bunted him home - a nice play. Lugo singled and got a lot of attention from Wang while at first base. Youk singled and Lugo sped through 2nd, testing Damon's glass arm to get to 3rd. Great baserunning there by Lugo. Unfortunately, with men on 1st & 3rd with 1 down, Papi hit a dribbler in front of the plate and got thrown out at first. Lugo waited until after the throw and broke for home, where he was easily thrown out - horrendous baserunning play after his great one the play before, giving up the inning with two men in scoring position. An awful mistake that thankfully did not hurt the Sox, although it quickly appeared to, given subsequent events.

Tavarez, after cruising to start the game, couldn't find the strike zone and walked the first two batters. Mientkiewicz, after trying to sac bunt and move the men over, hit a 3-run HR. 3-2 Yanks. Great.

Crisp got hit in the shin in top of the 5th. Cora, who started the game at 2B, homered to make it 4-3.

Things were quiet until Cora tripled in top of the 7th. If Abreu had a foot's worth more ups he might have snagged that wall ball. A sacrifice fly brought Cora home.

Papi singled to lead it off in the 8th. Manny, who has been flirting with rising above the Mendoza Line this month, jacked a 2-run shot to make it 7-4.

Jeter soloed in the 8th, the final offensive contribution from a Yankees lineup that wasn't quite as effective as it purported to be on paper in this series.

Giambi doubled to lead off the 9th, which would have been threatening if we didn't have the Papelbot on the mound. Paps fanned Matsui and got the final out on a fly ball.

Fantastic outing by Cora: 2H, 3RBI, including a HR, triple and sac bunt RBI. Great game, great series, great season series, and frankly there's enough positivity with this team to make everyone in Red Sox Nation all fat and giggly for the time being (I'm sure there will be complaining on WEEI tomorrow morning, but that's life in the Hub sports scene).