With One Swing, Alex Rodriguez Ends Marathon Thriller

NEW YORK -- The only good news for the Red Sox out of Friday's marathon at Yankee Stadium was that David Ortiz doesn't have to hold his news conference Saturday, because the game lasted so long that all the names on the steroids list leaked out.

The game lasted so long, three Mets came off the disabled list. And six went on.

The game lasted so long, Stephen Strasburg signed with the Nationals.

The game lasted so long, the Yankees added five more No. 5 starters off the scrap heap.

The game lasted so long, the Pirates and Indians each dumped four more players.

And then Alex Rodriguez deposited a pitch from Junichi Tazawa into the visitors' bullpen.

That gave the Yankees a 2-0, 15-inning win.

"It was a big game," said Rodriguez, who had gone 72 at-bats without a homer before the game-winner, "and it just kept getting bigger and bigger."

It was a good October simulation, because of the heightened tension and strong pitching. The latter also made it an unusual Red Sox-Yankees games.

These teams have hooked up for some regular-season classics, but rarely of the low-scoring kind. Usually it's a slugfest that lasts until one team's pitching finally gives out worse than the others.

This time, A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett set the tone, combining for 14 2/3 scoreless innings (five hits, 13 strikeouts).

Friday's game was the first time the Yanks and Sox ever went scoreless through 14 innings and the first time they went to extra innings without a run since May 22, 1976 -- when Catfish Hunter threw an 11-inning shutout and the Yankees won 1-0.

That game lasted two hours, 12 minutes. Friday's game took 5:33.

"We were excited when the ball went over the fence," A-Rod said, "not just because we won but because we we got a chance to go home and get some sleep."

Despite the homer drought, the longest of his career that didn't span two seasons, A-Rod has been sleeping fine. One confidante said he has never seen Rodriguez this happy as a Yankee -- his divorce behind him and his teammates interacting with him more than ever.

"I never even thought about [the homerless streak]," said Rodriguez, who tied Harmon Killebrew for ninth all time with 573 career homers. "Home runs is something I've never really worried about."

The game lasted so long that all the names on the steroids list leaked out.A year ago, Tazawa was pitching in the amateur Japan Industrial League. The Red Sox signed him for $3.3 million and hoped he'd be in the majors by September, but he arrived early because the rotation and bullpen are almost as beat up as the Boston lineup.

The Red Sox are in serious trouble.

Boston's lead in the wild-card race is down to a game over Texas. The Red Sox don't have a fifth starter, having cut John Smoltz, and with Jason Bay out, the lineup has been reduced to three threats: Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez (0-for-9 in the series so far) and Kevin Youkilis. Ortiz is hitless in his past 20 at-bats with runners on base, tying a career worst.

Meanwhile, the Yankees have a season-high 4 1/2-game lead in the AL East.

Friday's game will be remembered as much for the close calls as the A-Rod homer.

Boston got its first two batters of the game on base but didn't score because Martinez hit into a double play. Robinson Cano's leadoff double in the bottom of the third went to waste.

With two on and none out in the fifth, Hideki Matsui screwed up and didn't tag up on Cano's drive to right, thinking it would fall. J.D. Drew made the catch, Matsui had to go back to second instead of advancing, and there went the rally.

It got hairier later. Daniel Bard balked runners to second and third in the ninth but struck out Jorge Posada to escape. In the bottom of the 11th, Mark Teixeira unloaded on a pitch from Jonathan Papelbon, bringing cheers from the crowd. But it only made it to medium-deep center field. Three innings later, Martinez drove a ball to right that Eric Hinske caught with his back up against the fence.

And then the cappers in the bottom of the 14th.

After one-out singles by Posada and Cano, Hinske crushed a ball to right. Drew ran toward the corner, leaped and reached back and up to snare the ball.

Hinske, stunned, ripped off his helmet in disbelief.

"That's when I thought the game was never going to end," Derek Jeter said.

Six pitches later, Melky Cabrera smoked a ball down the right-field line that was foul by inches. And then Tazawa struck him out.

Finally, on the 494th pitch and well into Saturday morning, it ended.

"That would be a very hard game to lose tonight," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Don't the Red Sox know it.