In Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, the bottom of the eighth inning changed the course of history for the Boston Red Sox. This was a matchup of titans, Roger Clemens vs. Pedro Martinez.
Clemens got knocked out early, but Pedro turned in a gem. Still, he seemed finished after seven innings, the Red Sox leading 5-2. The Red Sox had a solid bullpen, and getting the final six outs of a 5-2 ballgame without relinquishing the lead seemed nearly a foregone conclusion.
Pedro returned to the mound for the eighth. After a couple of hits, the Yankees cut the deficit to 5-3 with a man on and one out. Grady Little emerged from the dugout and headed toward the mound. Anyone who knew anything about baseball was confident Pedro was coming out of the game. Lefty reliever Alan Embree was warmed up, ready to face Hideki Matsui. It was a no-brainer.
Shockingly, Little left Pedro in to give up not one, but two more hits. Jorge Posada delivered the final blow, a blooper that tied the game and finally got Pedro out of the game. The game went to extras and the Yankees eventually won in the 11th inning on Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run.
Grady Little got fired, paving the way for the Terry Francona era in Boston. The Red Sox famously won the World Series in 2004, Francona’s first season, after being down 3-0 to the Yankees in the ALCS.
It was that moment, though, the bottom of the eighth in the 2003 ALCS in the Bronx, that I will always remember. It was the very last time the New York Yankees held a stanglehold over the Boston Red Sox.
Since that eighth inning, the Red Sox have won three World Series titles to the Yankees’ one. The curse was over, the Yankees no longer ruled the Red Sox, and that night in the Bronx marked the last miserable moment vs. the Yankees in Red Sox history.
