John Vampatella - The Forgotten Game: Game 5 2004 ALCS Yankees at Red Sox

Advance Praise for
The Forgotten Game

When my favorite band releases their greatest hits album, I devour it. Years later after listening to it a million times, I enjoy the simple pleasure of hearing all the other songs and B sides. John Vampatellas book is uncovering incredible songs that werent played on radio. If youve devoured everything Red Sox-Yankees, youll LOVE IT. If you are new to the rivalry and era, you will understand it for the first time. I couldnt put it down and loved the historical context of each inning. I loved it.

Gar Ryness (Batting Stance Guy)

As a sports talk show host on WSKO in Providence and a diehard Red Sox fan in 2004, I remember that ALCS very well. While most people remember Bostons dramatic Game 4 victory or Curt Schillings bloody sock heroics in Game 6, Game 5 was truly the unsung hero of the series. John Vampatella does a magnificent job explaining why while providing tremendous background and anecdotes that all baseball fans will enjoy. The Forgotten Game is an absolute must for Red Sox fans of all ages!

Scott Cordischi , sports talk show host

A PERMUTED PRESS BOOK

The Forgotten Game:

Game 5 * 2004 ALCS Yankees at Red Sox

2021 by John Vampatella

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-64293-988-0

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-64293-989-7

Cover art by Tiffani Shea

Interior design and composition by Greg Johnson, Textbook Perfect

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Permuted Press, LLC

New York Nashville

permutedpress.com

Published in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to the game of baseball,

all those who have played it from T-ball to the Majors,

and the generations of fans

who have loved the game unconditionally.

A special dedication to the 2004 Red Sox,

who finally delivered for long-suffering Red Sox fans,

who had, until that point, endured one painful experience

after another. The wait was worth it.

Contents

AVG: Batting average. The number of hits divided by at-bats. H/AB

ERA: Earned run average. The number of earned runs divided by innings pitched times nine. (ER/IP)*9

ERA+: A pitchers earned run average adjusted for the era and ballpark in which he played. Thus, a 3.00 ERA in a time when teams average four runs a game is not as good as a 3.00 ERA in a time when teams average five runs a game. The ERA+ will reflect this.

K/9: Strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

OBP: On-base percentage. A measure of how often a player reaches base safely. It is calculated as: (hits + walks + hit by pitch) / (at-bats + walks + hit by pitch + sacrifice flies).

OPS: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage. The two are simply added together. Interestingly, in this simple-to-understand metric, both OBP and SLG are weighed equally, which may not be a true reflection of their on-field value.

OPS+: OPS adjusted for the era and ballpark in which they played.

RE: Run expectancy. This calculates the number of runs a team can expect to score based on the base-out situation theyre in at any moment. By base-out situation, we mean based on the number of outs and the position of base runners. There are twenty-four possible base-out possibilities. For example, no outs, runners at first and second. Or 2 outs, runner at third, and so on.

SLG: Slugging percentage. Its calculated by adding the total bases (1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple, and 4 for a home run) and dividing that total by the number of at-bats. The more extra-base hits (any hit more than a single) a player gets, the higher his slugging percentage is.

WAR: Wins above replacement. This is calculated differently, particularly by Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, but it tries to calculate a players valueusing an average replacement player as a baselineand taking into account hitting, base running, and fielding.

WE: Win expectancy. This indicates the chance a particular team has of winning the game at any moment. MLB.com explains that it is derived from the number of teams that faced a comparable situation in the past and went on to win the game.

WHIP: The number of walks plus hits divided by innings pitched. (W+H)/IP

A t 1:22 a.m. on Monday, October 18, 2004, New York Yankee relief pitcher Paul Quantrill threw an 88 mph sinking fastball toward the waiting mitt of catcher Jorge Posada, who was crouched behind home plate at a packed and boisterous Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who would ultimately become known as Big Papi, kicked his right leg and took a mighty cut. The barrel of the bat dropped into the path of the oncoming pitch and connected with the ball just above the knees. Ortiz shifted his weight and his body uncoiled, launching the ball toward the 380-foot mark in right field. Set against the backdrop of the dark Boston sky, it arced toward the Yankee bullpen.

Yankee right fielder Gary Sheffield gave chase, but the ball only needed 4.5 seconds to travel some 390 feet for a home run that gave the Red Sox a 64 victory in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. FOX broadcaster Joe Buck called the play: Ortiz into deep right fieldback is Sheffieldwell see you later tonight!

Ortiz rounded the bases, his fist raised in the air, the crowd in full throat, and Dirty Water by the Standells blaring over the parks PA system. The Yankees walked off the field defeated but still confident. They had led three games to none, and as far as they were concerned, they controlled the series. For the Red Sox, however, the moment had given them hope. They were alive. Barely. But alive nonetheless.

Before the game, Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan had written, The Red Sox have laid a brontosaurus egg in the American League Championship Series. They are down, 30and, in this sport, that is an official death sentence. Soon it will be over, and we will spend another dreary winter lamenting this and lamenting that. No team had ever come back from a 30 deficit to win a postseason series in baseball. In fact, in the history of baseball postseason play going into that game, there had been twenty-five series to start out three games to none. Of those, twenty of them ended in sweeps, and only two had made it to a sixth game. None had made it to a seventh game, never mind winning the series.

The night before, the Yankees had obliterated the Red Sox 198 at Fenway Park to go up three games to none in a series that wasnt even as close as that seemed. Game 1 had been a 107 Yankee win in Yankee Stadium, and Game 2 also went to New York, 31. The Sox had returned to Fenway, hoping that some home cooking would change their fortunes, but it was not to be. The Yankees piled up 22 hits and 19 runs, battering Red Sox pitching for 4 home runs, 6 doubles, and even a triple, hit by not-so-fleet-of-foot Rubn Sierra. Red Sox starter Bronson Arroyo gave up 6 runs in 2 innings. The relievers were not much better, with Curtis Leskanic giving up 3 runs in just a third of an inning and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield getting shelled for 5 runs in 3.1 innings. No Sox pitcher escaped the onslaught unscathed. The Red Sox had actually made the game interesting in the third by tying the game at six on a two-run double by shortstop Orlando Cabrera; but in the fourth, the Yankees exploded for five runs and the rout was on.