Pennant fever grips Hub: Sox stage late comeback to beat Yanks on opening night.

BOSTON n For a while, it looked Sunday night as if all this talk about pitching and defense was for the birds. Josh Beckett was lit up like a Christmas tree, and the New York Yankees looked as if they?d be owning the Red Sox on Opening Night.But momentum takes funny turns. Just when it looked hopeless ? just when it looked like New York?s C.C. Sabathia would mow them down like finely tuned lawn mower, the Red Sox got off the mat. Then, they turned the game over to the bullpen, which restored order and preserved a heart-thumping 9-7 victory.?That was a tough game to win,” exhaled manager Terry Francona.”It looked especially tough after Beckett, who would appear to be on the verge of signing a contract extension, struggled with his breaking pitches and wound up having to throw too many fat ones to the Yankees. He left before the game was five innings old with the Sox losing, 5-1.?He couldn?t get the breaking stuff over,” said Francona, “and that?s not a lineup you want to struggle with.”The fun didn?t start, though, until after Beckett left, and after Scott Shoeneweis pitched an inning of scoreless relief to keep the Yankees from going further out ahead.?Those were huge outs,” Francona said. “We gave ourselves a chance there.”The Sox got one back in the fifth and then scored three in the sixth to tie the score ? the big hit in the inning being a two-run triple by Kevin Youkilis.But reliever Ramon Ramirez coughed that up in a hurry, putting runners on second and third to lead off the seventh. Both came around to score, giving the Yankees a 7-5 lead. Undaunted, the Red Sox came back again. Newbies Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro were 5-for-9 during the game, and it was Scutaro n the new shortstop n who started off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center field off Chan Ho Park. After Jacoby Ellsbury struck out looking, Dustin Pedroia hit a shot into the monster seats to tie the game at 7-7.Youkilis followed with a double to left, and reliever Damaso Marte got him around all by himself ? first by throwing a wild pitch that allowed Youkilis to advance to third, and then crossing up catcher Jorge Posada on a pitch that resulted in a passed ball, and it was 8-7, Red Sox.This put the game in the hands of what the Red Sox hope is their standard operating procedure game-closing committee n Daniel Bard in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.On this night, it worked. Bard got the first two outs easily, but walked Nick Johnson. That set up another confrontation with Mark Teixeira, who gave Bard fits last year.?I learned that you cannot pitch him the same way two times in a row,” Bard said. “He?s a good player, and he adjusts.”Teixeira hit a hot grounder, but it was close enough to Pedroia that he was able to snag it and toss to Scutero at short for the forced that ended the inning.For good measure, Cameron singled in the eighth and came around on Pedroia?s single ? and Papelbon n who said he was so focused he didn?t even notice that Neil Diamond sang “Sweet Caroline” in person between the top and bottom of the eighth inning (?I was busy warming up,” he said) hit the mound for the first time since blowing last October?s playoff game.?I?m not going to lie,” he said. “It felt to go out there in that situation and be lights out. I took it on the chin last year, and I?m back with a vengeance.”Like Bard, Papelbon got the first two outs easily n Alex Rodriguez on a grounder to third, and Robinson Cano on a fly ball to Ellsbury in left.However, Posada n a pest offensively all night long n singled up the middle to extend the 3:46 drama, which left it up to Curtis Granderson. But Granderson, who had earlier joined Posada in hitting back-to-back homers off Beckett, grounded out to Beltre this time.?I was pumped,” Papelbon said. “In spring training, you just want to get through it and not get hurt. Once the start playing for real, and they start to count, that?s a whole different story.”