Manny's 2 HRs power Red Sox past Yankees
Slugger passes Gehrig, McGriff with 494th, 495th HRs before game gets testy
 | Boston slugger Manny Ramirez unleashes his second home run of the game against the New York Yankees on Thursday night. |
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NEW YORK - Unable to slow down Manny Ramirez, the New York Yankees nearly knocked him flat — whether they intended to or not.
Ramirez hit two more homers off an ineffective Mike Mussina, leading Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox past the Yankees 7-5 Thursday night in a game that almost got testy.
With Ramirez enjoying his latest outburst against his favorite foe, New York reliever Kyle Farnsworth threw a 97 mph fastball behind the slugger’s neck on the first pitch of the seventh inning, drawing cheers from the sellout crowd of 55,088.
“It just slipped. I was trying to be aggressive and go in on him,” Farnsworth said.
Ramirez flinched and dropped his bat, but never made a motion toward the mound. Plate umpire Larry Vanover immediately warned both dugouts, and Ramirez eventually grounded out. The Red Sox never retaliated.
“He throws 100 mph. That’s career-ending if it hits him,” Boston’s Dustin Pedroia said.
But for the most part, the Red Sox didn’t voice much anger about Farnsworth’s pitch. Ramirez said he wasn’t particularly bothered, mentioning that Alex Rodriguez got plunked Wednesday night — by Boston reliever David Aardsma.
“We hit one of the best players and I guess they want to send a message and that’s what they did,” said Ramirez, batting .478 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs in 33 games against the Yankees since 2006. “They’ve got to back up their players and he did.”
Boston manager Terry Francona said “it’s just part of the game,” and Yankees captain Derek Jeter had a different take.
“He said it got away, so I guess that’s the end of it,” Jeter said. “I get hit all the time. Getting hit hurts. Close doesn’t hurt.”
Ramirez hit his 494th home run in the first, passing Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for sole possession of 24th place on the career list, then added No. 495 an inning later with a mammoth, two-run shot to left.
“I’m going to 600,” Ramirez said.
That gave the slugger, who likes to admire his prodigious drives, five homers this season — three in six days off Mussina (1-3). It also gave Ramirez 13 hits in his past 26 at-bats against Mussina, with four homers and 11 RBIs.
“He’s pretty good, huh?” Beckett said. “Hopefully, he’ll invite me to his Hall of Fame speech.”
Ramirez finished with three hits for the second consecutive night and scored three times. J.D. Drew added a two-run double for the Red Sox, who earned a two-game split after losing 15-9 Wednesday night in a plodding game that took 4 hours, 8 minutes. This one was played in 3:20.
Boston won for the fifth time in six tries and snapped a five-game skid at Yankee Stadium since its previous win May 22 last year. The next time the rivals meet is a four-game series July 3-6 in New York.
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“He understands his responsibility and he’s good enough to carry it out,” Francona said. “He looked healthy.”
Jason Varitek and Pedroia each had an RBI single in a four-run third against Mussina, who hit Jacoby Ellsbury with pitches his first two times up. Mussina gave up five runs and seven hits in three innings, foiled again by his long-haired nemesis.
Ramirez, who grew up minutes from Yankee Stadium, has 55 homers against New York. Jimmie Foxx (70) and Ted Williams (62) are the only players with more.
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