With the Red Sox nine games back in the American League East and 6.5 games back of a playoff spot of any sort, a lethargic (if not despondent) crowd poured into Fenway for the opener of a three-game set with the White Sox. The weather was impeccable and there are many worse ways to kill three hours than at Fenway Park but the crowd had little reason for optimism as the Pale Hose were sending Jon Garland to the hill and the beleaguered Red Sox were countering with Julian Tavarez. Garland has been one of baseball’s best starters now for the better part of two months and quietly has cobbled together 16 wins in 2006 while Tavarez has, well…Julian Tavarez has been Julian Tavarez.
A few funny things happened, however. First, prior to the announcement of the starting lineups, Curt Schilling and his family were honored for Schill’s 3,000th strikeout and their collective efforts towards finding a cure for ALS. A large banner was unfurled on the Green Monster that listed all of the pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts. It’s short, and most impressive. Charles Steinberg then presented Schilling with a check for Curt’s Pitch for ALS. A crowd of about 25,000 or so – the early arrivers – showered applause on the Schillings.
Next, Trot Nixon came scampering out of the dugout to do his pre-game wind-sprints in shallow right field. Now would be as good a time as any to mention that we were fortunate to have seats just three rows behind the tarp on the first base side – in other words in shallow right field where Nixon and his mates were loosening up. The sight of Nixon sent the crowd in and around our section into a frenzy. There he was, hat still dirty (he didn’t have time to clean it?), sprinting hard and even stopping over to sign some autographs before it was time to take the field.
After the sprinters cleared right field, the buzz died down but not for long. Flanked by Julian Tavarez on his right and Dave Wallace on his left, Jason Varitek emerged from the bullpen and was walking through right field on his way to the dugout. Again, the crowd roared as the Captain – shit, their Captain – strolled with all of his gear on except his mask in his hand and his skull cap turned forwards. He was back – in all of his armor no less – ready to do battle.
It had been publicized that Nixon and Varitek would be making their returns for this contest and so while the site of the two generated genuine excitement and buzz, it was expected. What was not expected was that when they announced the starting lineups, there in his usual spots (left field and clean-up) would be Manny Ramirez. When Manny’s name was announced, it was almost too much. The crowd let out an almost cathartic round of applause with plenty of side chants and screams. Sure it would be another night until Papi would return but the Boston Red Sox as we know them were back and a beaten up fan base, having watched a team that was a mere shadow of the one we had hoped to cheer on to a post-season spot, could once again recognize its team. The game wasn’t going to mean much in the standings, but on a beautiful Labor Day evening baseball at its highest level with the players we love to cheer on so much had returned to the Hub.
The game did not disappoint either. Remarkably, Tavarez matched Garland for just about every frame. Both pitched tremendously with Garland going six before turning the ball over to Mike MacDougal while Tavarez lasted one out into the seventh. After six shutout innings and a Jermaine Dye ground out to start the seventh, Jim Thome got Tavarez for an impressive opposite field solo shot to tie the game up. Paul Konerko followed with a double to left field, after which Terry Francona took the ball and called upon Manny DelCarmen. The crowd cheered wildly for the battered Tavarez – who has endured a lot this season. I have to believe that when he hangs ‘em up, Tavarez will look back upon the outing and ovation as a standout highlight – a sort of temporary rediscovery of younger days that older players experience from time to time and are always fun for everyone involved. Unfortunately, after inducing a ground out to A.J. Pierzynski, DelCarmen yielded a bloop single to Joe Crede with two outs that plated Konerko with the go-ahead run.
By now, I can’t imagine readers do not know what happened next. The score remained 2-1 into the bottom of the ninth, when Manny worked a walk to lead off, advanced to second on a ground out by Trot and then Mike Lowell doubled off of White Sox closer Bobby Jenks to score Ramirez and tie the game. In the bottom of the tenth, the game ended in the most improbable yet appropriate manner possible.
The hero would be Carlos Pena, a local boy, a lifelong Red Sox fan whose career could liberally be described as a sort of microcosm of the 2006 Boston Red Sox season. He was highly touted, started off pretty good and then had his career seemingly crash and burn. Claimed off of waivers by his hometown team, he had been playing in Pawtucket for some time now. After September 1, Pena was called up and when Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch in the eighth last night and Coco Crisp came on to run for Youk, Pena was called upon to play first base in the ninth.
Now, to lead off the tenth in a tie ballgame, with a previously down-and-out crowd enthusiastic about their ballclub for the first time in weeks, the local boy came to the plate. And wouldn’t you know it; the kid knocked it out of the park to win the ballgame. Jubilation ensued, and a region was reminded of what the joys of baseball can feel like with or without the backdrop of a pennant race. Even if your club has fallen out of the race, the competition still goes on, and each and every ballgame still offers the possibility of the sort of mini-drama the Fenway crowd was treated to last evening. Sad though it may be, and I am as guilty as anyone as evidenced by my lack of posting of late, we forgot that over the last few weeks here. Expectations have become such that we now tend to root for this powerful entity to succeed rather than root for a baseball team to win individual games. But the games themselves, the competition, the drama, the ballpark – they don’t go anywhere until the season ends; no matter how far back your team may find itself. So now we have our guys back and the Boston Red Sox are once again recognizable and perhaps even formidable.
Let’s all try and enjoy the last few weeks of baseball around these parts.
