Be Still and Wait
I figure, if you didn't watch or attend the game yourself, you're going to visit Dirt Dogs or ESPN.com or even Ed's blog to get the highlights, so I'll just list a few of the things you might not have noticed:
The MGM-soundstage-style, extravagantly beautiful sunset draping itself over Fenway in the early innings. Wild shades of indigo, magenta, violet, and orange; until that moment I didn't think it was possible for Fenway Park to be more beautiful. I was wrong.
When Manny Ramirez hit his home run to give the Sox the lead in the third, the Fenway yell went up before the ball had even passed over the shortstop on its way over the Monster. How's that for faith in the slugger?
Something I've been meaning to mention but have forgotten till now: I absolutely love the blatant, unabashed, no-holds-barred bias on the part of Jerry Trupiano on WEEI's Sox broadcasts. Example: a Sox player strikes out, and his call is, "And DAMON swings and MISSES on an outside pitch, looked like it woulda been ball four..." An opposing player strikes out and his call is, "HE struckimout!!! Pedro fooled him on an outside pitch!"
Rock on, Jerry. You are the anti-McCarver.
Is it me, or does Curt Schilling have the unlikeliest physique ever? Tiny feet, spindly ankles, reed-thin calves, slightly pudgier thighs, and then, plopped down on top of a string-bean lower body, a Roger-Clemens upper body complete with, as I heard it expressed, "a big front porch." Well, whatever works.
Yooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk. No-mahhhhhhhhhhhh! Man-ny! Man-ny! Man-ny! Man-ny! Po-key! Po-key! Po-key! Po-key! We've got a great team for nicknames this year. Also, I feel that it's fortunate we have Youkilis, if for no other reason that it seems to benefit a team when at least one of their players has a name or nickname that sounds like "boo" when said by a crowd. See also: Teddy Bruschi, Dwight Evans.
Nomah hit a two-run double, which was great. But when there was nary a "boo" to be heard when he grounded weakly to first with two men in scoring position later on, that was even better.
David McCarty at first base. Every night. There should be a UN resolution about this.
There should be a special "Pedro Cam" focused on the dugout on nights Pedro is not pitching. The few times the lens does swing that way, what Pedro is doing is almost always utterly hysterical. Tonight, he was perched on the top step with a glove with David Ortiz at the plate. When David yanked one foul down the first base line (as he seems to do at least once per at bat), Pedro made a valiant effort to field it. Then, with Manny standing at third base after Cadillacking on over as usual, Pedro ran in place in slow motion in the dugout, his arms waving robotically in an uncanny imitation of his friend's slow-motion run. And finally, during the torturous ninth inning, when a foul ball into the dugout forced Pedro to duck and cover, he reappeared making a grandiose Fidel-Castro gesture to show he was unscathed. It brought down an otherwise tense house.
And it made me wonder how many comedic gems we miss from Pedro during the course of the game. I'm not saying we should forgo covering the action on the field in favor of Pedro's antics, but someone should keep a closer eye on him during slow moments in the game. Just a thought.
Curt gave up precisely two runs that the Padres had to squeeze painfully out of sacrifice flies and ground-outs. He gave up two runs and just four hits in seven innings, and struck out Padres in bunches--despite the fact that they're the toughest team in baseball to strike out. And yet still he mouthed more "FUCK"s than Jake Delhomme during the Super Bowl. Goddamn, I love that man.
Is Khalil Green the first transsexual ballplayer, or what?
I hope that woman who caught the Pokey Reese home run ball up on the Monster puts it in a glass case. That's a rare gem, right there.
Go Pokey, it's your birthday. We gonna party like it's your birthday. We gonna sip Bacardi like it's your birthday. Literally--the Poke turned 31 tonight, and celebrated in style.
On behalf of those of us who hang out on Ed's blog's comments section, I must apologize for apparently having jinxed Jason Varitek today. His 0-fer and our intensive discussion of his butt may not be coincidence.
Since I am a Red Sox fan, I cannot allow this time on my soapbox to pass without at least one complaint. So here it is. What in the name of sweet weeping Jesus was with the cast of thousands on the mound in the late innings? Was Tito having arm spasms? Lefty, righty, lefty, and before you know it, we have Lenny DiNardo as our closer. Predictably, DiNardo tried every way he knew to blow a six-run lead in the ninth inning.
After what happened last season, it's understandable that Tito would want to prove he's quick with the hook. But that doesn't mean the pendulum should swing the other way. The phone lines to talk radio are probably already jammed up.
But. But. Take a deep breath and think about the following:
Pokey and Nomar, together at last.
An intentional walk to Manny Ramirez only put No. 5 in the batter's box tonight, for which the Padres paid dearly with aforementioned 2-RBI double. Now put Trot Nixon and Billy Mueller back in that lineup. Then try not to run around giggling uncontrollably and bouncing off walls.
Trot in Pawtucket. Scott Williamson chatting with Keith Foulke on the bullpen bench.
An embarrassment of riches in the infield. The bench runneth over.
The rotation this week: vintage Pedro, decent Bronson, ol' reliable Curt.
Things are coming together. Be still and wait.
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