It’s been a minute since we’ve done a best of the rest entry, and to be honest I’ve been looking for some inspiration on this front for a while. But a few weeks ago, the anniversary of one of my Yankee series from years gone by passed and after seeing my fellow fans mark the occasion on Instagram, I found my pick. So, in this edition of the BOTR, we’re going to talk about the Boston Massacre…no not the one that essentially kicked off the American Revolution. We’re talking about one of the baseball variety, involving the Yankees and their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
Now it’s important to make the distinction here, there have technically been two Yankee “massacres” of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The first coming in 1978, as the bombers turned around their massive deficit in the standings to catch Boston and eventually win their second consecutive World Series. The Yanks outscored the Sox 42-9 in that series, and it was seen just another chapter in the painful life of Red Sox Nation, only topped by Bucky “Bleepin” Dent’s heroics in that season’s one game playoff and Aaron Boone going deep in 2003. All of that pain was seemingly washed away in 2004 when Boston came back from down 3-0 in the ALCS on their way to their first title in 86 years, but just when you think you have baseball figured out, the game has a surprise up its sleeve for you.
So, with that in mind, let’s go back in time to the year 2006. In 06, yours truly turned ten, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight planets, Twitter was launched, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest dominated the box office and the New York Yankees were trying to recapture their place among baseball’s elite. The previous fall, the Yankees were bounced by the Angels in the ALDS in five games, a series in which I attended a game four win in the Bronx to save the season. The 2005 squad was coming off of the worst elimination in the history of the franchise and were out sorts for chunks of the season, at one point being eight games under .500 in May and nine games out of first. But as spring turned to Summer, they’d rally and win the division in the final weekend of the season. The highlight of the otherwise disappointing campaign was more intense battles with Boston, a carry-over from the years ALCS.
With all that in mind, 2006 was supposed to be a year about re-establishing dominance in the American League, as The Boss was less than thrilled with going out of the playoffs to Anaheim. In the offseason they signed relivers Octavio Dotel, Mike Myers, and Kyle Farnsworth to sure up the bridge to Mariano Rivera, but the crown jewel of their offseason was adding Red Sox star and fan favorite Johnny Damon to patrol centerfield. Taking Damon off of Boston was big on and off the field as his production was an immediate boost to the team and his fun personality an immediate lift to the clubhouse.
Now we have to establish something about this incarnation of the team, and really the mid 2000’s Yankees overall. They didn’t exactly have dynamic starting pitching…nor did they seem particularly bothered by that, as GM Brian Cashman really went out of his way to assemble “The Bronx Bombers.” Damon was the table setting leadoff hitter for a lineup that that could burn you from any spot, one through nine, thanks to the emergence of Melky Cabrera, the continued growth of Robinson Cano and the addition of slugger Bobby Abreu. They scored 930 runs, hit 210 homers, and at times needed just about every one of them in support of a pitching staff whose combined ERA awas 4.41.
Thirteen different pitchers would start games for this team, a staff that boasted names ranging from Sidney Ponson to Randy Johnson…it was eclectic mix of big money stars and also rands, that was saved by rookie Chien-Ming Wang who went 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA, the second lowest of the group behind Mike Mussina. The bullpen’s workload honestly made the starters time on the mound seem calm, as manager Joe Torre loved to dial up the pen during games. If you think Paul Blackburn is over worked…Scott Proctor says hold my beer.
As impractical as it felt to win like this, Yankee fans enjoyed this team as evidenced by the season attendance number of 4,248,067. After a start that saw them hover around .500, the Yanks got hot built up an impressive record as the summer rolled on, hitting August 1st at 62-41, tied for first place in the East with the Red Sox. With Abreu now in tow and the stretch run commencing, all eyes were on the series that is the focus of our piece, a five-game set at Fenway Park from August 18th to the 21st that would likely determine both teams’ fates. As the series began the Yankees actually took a 3.5 game AL East lead into enemy territory and they had designs on dealing a killer blow to Boston on this long weekend.
The series kicked off Friday afternoon for the first of a day night double header, game one being the makeup of a May 2nd rainout. Chien Ming Wang would get the ball against Jason Johnson who wasn’t setting the world on fire in 2006 and wound up being no match for the Yankee bats on the day. Johnny Damon would set the tone with leadoff triple and Jeter would single him home to begin the series, and from there the floodgates would open as Damon would later homer in the 5th to give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish, going onto win the game 12-4. With game one in the books, the nightcap would pit Ponson against Jon Lester and both offenses went to work on putting runs on the board in this one. Boston held a 10-7 lead going into the top of the 7th inning, but that lead evaporated as the Yankee bats put up a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead, a rally punctuated by a clutch go ahead double by A-Rod. The bombers would give up another run, but Rivera would close it out, a four hour forty-five minute 14-11 win to take the first two of the set.
Now, in case you were wondering, what was yours truly up to at this time? Well nine-year-old Yankee obsessed Nick was in the midst of two weeks down at the Jersey shore with both sides of his family, spending the first week with my grandparents on my dad’s side, before joining my mother and my grandparents on her side for the second. The common thread between these two groups, a lot of Yankee fans, in particular my two grandfathers who watched every pitch of these five games with me. We had the time of our lives on Friday watching the Yanks sweep the double dip at my father’s parents’ house in Brick, NJ, and even managed to squeeze in a trip to the Lakewood Blue Claws (the Phillies minor league affiliate) game in between. Now as the series rolled into the weekend my mom picked me up in Brick to head to my grandparents’ house in Manasquan just in time for the first pitch of game three.
The Saturday tilt was yet another clash between the Yanks and Sox on a Saturday afternoon on Fox with two of my broadcasting heroes, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the call. It pitted Randy Johnson against Josh Beckett, two aces of varying ages with Boston looking stop the bleeding from Friday’s pair of losses. Once again, the Yankees jumped out to an early lead thanks to a Bernie Williams home run and built up 3-0 lead, but Boston would answer with a four run fourth, an inning keyed by a Manny Ramirez blast that cleared the Monster. The Yankees would respond though and with the game tied at five the offense would erupt again, building a lead that Robinson Cano solidified with a three-run homer to go up 13-5, which wound up being the eventual final score.
Now the Yankees and their fans were getting greedy. They already won the series and now it was time to see if they could really go for the jugular. Game four of five saw Mike Mussina matchup with Curt Schilling, two veterans of the Yankee vs Red Sox wars of years gone by. Both gave up three runs over and Boston would take 5-4 lead into the ninth with closer Jonathan Papelbon on the bump trying to get the Sox a much-needed win. Down to their last out with tying run in scoring position, the Yankees had the perfect man at the plate…
Of course, Jeter came through, 5-5 after nine, to extra’s we go. Now as we mentioned earlier, one of the key themes of the 2006 Yankees was the depth of their lineup, and a big part of that was the resurgent Jason Giambi who put together a huge season offensively and seemed to relish big moments. Facing Craig Hansen in the tenth, number 25 would step to the plate and smash his second homer of the night into the Boston bullpen, giving the Yanks a lead, setting up an eventual 8-5 lead that they would not relinquish.
Now that was four wins in the bank and the series finale loomed on Monday, and the Torre would send the recently acquired Corey Lidle to the mound against former Yankee ace David Wells. Lidle felt like a throw in piece in the Abreu deal with the Phillies but it didn’t stop from performing well on the day throwing six shutout innings in route to a 2-1 Yankee win to sweep the series. The bombers left town 6.5 games ahead of Boston in the division and the massacre was etched in the memory of both fan bases forever.
Now for a postscript on the wild weekend series. The Yankees would go onto win the division by ten games over the Blue Jays, as Boston would finish in third and miss the playoffs with the Tigers claiming a wild card spot while the Twins and A’s won the Central and West. This dominant offense had the fans buzzing down the stretch and stores around the big ballpark in the Bronx sold plenty of the shirt you see below to celebrate the achievements of the team on that August weekend in Beantown.
Of course, in Yankee land, it’s not about the regular season, as the goal is to win it all, especially when you’re the number one side like the Yankees were in 2006. They would draw the upstart Tigers in the ALDS a series they were big favorites to win after Detroit struggled in September, but the lone highlight of this trip to the playoffs was a game one win led by a 5-5 night by Derek Jeter, who should have been the American League MVP that season. The Yankees would lead game two 3-0 by eventually lost in four games, in rather embarrassing fashion at the hands of failed Yankee Kenny Rogers with A Rod batting eighth due to his playoff struggles. The Boss was furious and he wasn’t about to get any happier.
There is a far sadder story here than just the season ending, as on October 11th Corey Lidle, one of the heroes of the sweep tragically died. He was a flying enthusiast and accidentally crashed his plane into the Belaire apartment complex on 72 street. I can remember the story breaking like yesterday and it is as sad now as it was then. We also just tragically lost Octavio Dotel, in April of 2025, as he was a victim of a horrific tragedy in his native DR. Dotel was at a popular nightclub when the roof collapsed, sadly killing many inside. May both Corey and Octavio rest in peace and our thoughts are with their families.
Back on the diamond, the starting pitching wasn’t good enough to win in October and Steinbrenner and company tried to address that for 2007, but it was to no avail. The Yanks would lose a heated divisional race in 07, and Boston would have the last laugh, winning their second World Series in three years while the Yankees fought off midges in Cleveland. Joe Torre would leave after the 2007 elimination and Joe Girardi would take over for 2008, a season in which the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 1994, before he and the team would go onto win title number 27 in 2009.
As for yours truly I would turn ten two days after this series wrapped up, and 20 years later at age 30, I am still here yelling at the TV while watching the Yankees, often with my grandfathers who are still going strong and love their bombers. I suppose its series like these that help solidify the kind of fan you are, as it was so full of vivid memories for me, I can recall it cold in conversation with people when it comes up. Those 00’s Yankee teams were flawed and often had their seasons end in disappointment, but they were the teams I grew up on, and I’ll always have a soft spot for them in my heart because of games like these. They helped to bring me to the point that I was rooting just as hard for wins this past weekend against Boston in the Bronx.
If you have the time, check out the full highlights of the massacre in the video above, as it’s a fun journey through time. I hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed putting the story together. We’ll have more BOTR’s to come as well as plenty of other content in the days and weeks ahead. Go Yankees everyone! Check out our Instagram feed for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our friends show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.
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