By DAN MARTIN
Posted: 3:44 am
July 6, 2008
Just how lacking in intensity was this Yankee-Red Sox series before yesterday's ninth-inning drama?
Seven players got hit yesterday - tying a major league record - and not only were no elderly coaches flung to the ground, no words were even exchanged or warnings issued.
"It's just the way the game was played," said Mike Mussina, who plunked Manny Ramirez two of the three times the slugger was hit yesterday in the Yanks' 2-1 win at the Stadium. "I know it happened seven times, but I could tell that there was no intention."
That was clear, given the location and speed of the guilty pitches and the situations in which they were made. Even Mariano Rivera hit a pair of Red Sox before wiggling out of trouble in the ninth.
"It was amazing," Rivera said. "I don't think I've ever seen it happen before."
Despite the number and the potential for trouble, there was none.
"I don't think it was an issue on either side," Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We didn't question their intent, let alone our own."
Still, it was hard not to picture past series, like the 2003 ALCS, when Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens dueled and both pitchers made noise by throwing hard, high and inside. The end result was Martinez tossing Don Zimmer to the ground.
Yesterday's lack of theatrics was due primarily due to the soft-tossing of Mussina and Justin Masterson. Also, the series hasn't been as heated recently.
-Additional reporting by Fred Kerber
