Boone Dents Red Sox
NEW YORK — His name will live in infamy in Boston, in glorious legend in New York. He will be cursed at Fenway Park, toasted at Yankee Stadium.
Aaron Boone is a bit player for the New York Yankees. Then again, so was Bucky Dent.
On a crisp fall day 25 years ago, Dent hit the home run that sent the Yankees into the World Series and the Boston Red Sox home for a long, bitter winter. On a crisper fall evening Thursday, Boone hit a walkoff home run in the 11th inning, propelling the Yankees into the World Series with a 6-5 victory in Game 7 of the American League championship series.
Bucky Dent -- Bucky Dent's home run helped the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff for the American League East title in 1978. A Sports article Friday on the American League championship series incorrectly reported that Dent's home run sent the Yankees to the World Series; the Yankees defeated Kansas City in the AL championship series to get to the 1978 World Series.
"You always emulate these moments in your backyard," Boone said.
"That's a highlight forever," Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said. "That will never go away. It will be included on postseason reruns forever."
The World Series starts Saturday at Yankee Stadium, against the Florida Marlins.
In Boston, the winter of 2003 will be longer and more bitter than the one a quarter-century ago, with venom directed at Boston Manager Grady Little. The Red Sox, still in search of their first World Series title since 1918, were five outs away from victory, with a 5-2 lead and ace Pedro Martinez on the mound.
"I think we're always going to have this game in the back of our minds for the rest of our lives," Boston center fielder Johnny Damon said. "This is probably as close as we'll ever get to the World Series without going. We wanted to erase a curse and it seems like that curse is going to be with us for another year."
The so-called "Curse of the Bambino," the pox on Boston for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920, lives.
"We've got some ghosts in this stadium," Yankee catcher Jorge Posada said. "I don't know about a curse, but we've got some magic."
The Yankees scored three times off Martinez in the eighth inning, tying the score at 5-5. Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, the series' most valuable player, pitched three shutout innings, earning the victory when Boone homered against Boston's Tim Wakefield.
Rivera had not pitched three innings in a game since 1996. As Boone raised his arms, circled the bases and disappeared beneath a mass of teammates at home plate, Rivera rushed to the mound and knelt there.
"I was kissing and hugging it," he said.
