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Van Every lifts Red Sox over Yankees in season finale

Sep 29, 2008 - 4:32 AM By Brian Devine PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Jonathan Van Every delivered a walk-off single in the 10th inning Sunday, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees in the second game of a doubleheader and the season finale for both teams.

The Red Sox will face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the opening round of the playoffs Wednesday, while the Yankees will miss the postseason for the first time since 1993. New York posted a 6-2 victory over Boston in Sunday's first game.

"It feels great, just trying to get through these first couple of days leading into the big games but, for the most part, it is new to me,

it is exciting and I am looking forward to it," Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay said of his first trip to the postseason.

Alex Cora led off the 10th with a triple to right field and then, after two intentional walks, Van Every ripped a single to right field off Jose Veras (5-3), which ignited a wild celebration.

"Just give myself a chance to win the game and we got to go home, that is what we were trying to do, fortunately, I came through in the situation and, any time you get to beat the Yankees in walk-off fashion, it is special," Van Every said.

Trailing by two runs entering the ninth inning, New York rallied by loading the bases with no outs and got one run in on a sacrifice fly, and then with two outs, Robinson Cano came through with a game-tying single to left field to plate Johnny Damon.

In the eighth, Sean Casey came to bat with one out and the bases loaded thanks to three walks by Darrell Rasner and smacked a single past Cano to score Coco Crisp and Cora.

The Red Sox did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard with Crisp leading off the bottom of the first with a double down the left-field line and later scoring on a ground out by Chris Carter.

Starter Tim Wakefield pitched an efficient five innings for Boston, allowing two hits and striking out three in just 56 pitches.

"Wake was good, he was efficient, he got us deep enough into a game on a long day where we didn't have to mess up our bullpen and do something we didn't want to do with somebody and he threw the ball very well," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

"He was great, in the bullpen it wasn't that great but he has that capability of just locking it into the game which he did, he threw a lot of first pitch strikes, it has to be a confidence boost for him going into the playoffs," Red Sox catcher Kevin Cash said.

The Yankees scratched across a run in the sixth inning when Cano and Jason Giambi started off the inning with back-to-back singles. Cano came home to score on a fielder's choice.

"It was a tough season for us, it's not where we want to be and we didn't reach our goals, when you get into a season and you prepare, you prepare to win a World Series, and we didn't reach our goals," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

New York starter Sidney Ponson, who is 3-13 in his career against Boston, allowed just one run over six innings while surrendering four hits and striking out five.