May 4, 2006 - Toronto Vs. Boston @ Fenway - Boston 7 Toronto 4
The grass was sun warm and the field was washed in gold sunset as Manny strode out alone to left field. "It has to happen once a year" Rem Dog said "Manny heading out alone to take his position in the outfield". He waves to the crowd smiling. Then the remainder of his posse all in red and white came from the home dugout to take their places. Why would Manny head out alone to left field before his teammates? I'll tell you why. For luck. His team wasn't in the dugout saying "what's he doing out there?" they were waiting for him to like it was a ritual. Like a kid waits to blow out candles on a birthday cake; like a pack of elephant seals waiting for the alpha male to give the all clear. I'm not sure about that last one.
Clement gets his win and manages to keep Toronto to 1 run before he is retired but it was our bats and a ####in' jump in the bottom of the first that carried us to sweet victory like crab apple blooms on the may breeze. Mike Lowell's first double of the night was the single greatest display of precise batting I've seen all year, until he did it again a half hour later. Varitek is 9 games deep into a hitting streak and Wili Mo and Nixon are 5 games. Youk smacks a 2 run homer up onto the wall and even Alex Gonzalez managed to get on base with a hit before it was over. In the end, Pap got his wish (the night before he'd said "I hope tomorrow night we're up by 1 in the last inning and they hand me the ball") except we were up by three. That didn't stop Jobu from putting us all on our feet with 2 outs as Toronto brought the tying run to the plate. Pap puts two strikes on him and then the whole team descends on the mound. If you are a lipreader you could see Francona telling Pap "Listen if this guy hits a home run it's going to destroy your ERA. It'll be a hit and three runs against you. One pitch." But Pap just kept saying "I can do it I can do it - trust me." They trusted him. He did it.
Tonight Kevin Millar returns to Fenway for the first time since swinging for the Orioles. How will his reception compare to Johnny Damon's? I suspect the crowd will cheer him but Jobu isn't really interested in my su####ions. The weather today will be the same though and it will be another perfect night for baseball.
I havent read such a fine commentary about a game in ages. There was a poetic massage to all the stats and facts that made it a pure pleasure to read. Thanks for the ride pal and I hope alot more people take the journey with you today. SSP
I watched the end of last nights game after class. I got to this little bar with like five people in it. It took me less than 10 minutes to get us all chatting up the game and Sox like old friends. I got a Guinness and Chicken Fingers. There were five fingers and a mound of celery and carrot sticks. Weirdest bar appetizer ever.
Oh yeah I almost forgot the good part. An old guy there was telling me everything I didn't know about the Red Sox. Things like Roger Clemens career would've sucked if he stayed in Boston. Mo Vaughn was the greatest cleanup hitter and we should have kept him around. He had opinions that were drawn up in psych wards. I amused him and drank my beer. Nice guy, just didn't see eye to eye.
I agree with Panda, this was a great read. I'm stuck here at crappy work for another hour on this awesome, beautiful day. I'd be cheering Millar if I was at the game tonight. It wasn't like he left for the money, he left for a full-time job. I'll never hate on somebody for doing that.
I'd be cheering him too. Few weeks ago on WEEI Kaplar was talking about how Schilling and Millar were always busting each others stones about when they were on opposing teams. Not all rivalries are fueld by hate. Should be something to see.
