Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Exorcism Underway
It's not in the bag yet, but with last night's 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox appeared to be on the cusp of winning their first World Series since the Bambino was sold to the Yankees early in the last century. The key play of the game came in the second inning, with the Red Sox leading 1-0. The Cardinals had men at second and third and nobody out, with Larry Walker at the plate facing a somewhat erratic Pedro Martinez.
Walker did his job, hitting a sharp grounder to the right side of the infield. But instead of dashing home from third base, Jeff Suppan froze like a deer in the head lights, allowing David Ortiz to gun him down at third after forcing Walker at first. Instead of a 1-1 game with a man on third and one out, there were two outs and a man still at second, and the Cards came up empty. It was a remarkable play on many levels, not the least of which was the fine throw made by the lumbering Ortiz, who is a DH by trade and played the field in less than 40 games during the season. Pedro seemed to get in a groove after that, the Sox started tacking on runs, and the game was over before you knew it.
The great thing about post season baseball is that there is always something new to watch, like last night's play, or the out ruling on A-Rod's tomahawk chop of Arroyo in game 6 of the ALCS. If Boston closes out the series tonight it will be a great moment in the history of the game, but I'll still be sad that the season is over.
Walker did his job, hitting a sharp grounder to the right side of the infield. But instead of dashing home from third base, Jeff Suppan froze like a deer in the head lights, allowing David Ortiz to gun him down at third after forcing Walker at first. Instead of a 1-1 game with a man on third and one out, there were two outs and a man still at second, and the Cards came up empty. It was a remarkable play on many levels, not the least of which was the fine throw made by the lumbering Ortiz, who is a DH by trade and played the field in less than 40 games during the season. Pedro seemed to get in a groove after that, the Sox started tacking on runs, and the game was over before you knew it.
The great thing about post season baseball is that there is always something new to watch, like last night's play, or the out ruling on A-Rod's tomahawk chop of Arroyo in game 6 of the ALCS. If Boston closes out the series tonight it will be a great moment in the history of the game, but I'll still be sad that the season is over.
2 Comments:
By 
Gordon Smith, at
Wed Oct 27, 01:21:00 PM:
Jack,
Also interesting is the fact that a total lunar eclipse will occur tonight during the ballgame. What more poetic way to end the curse?
Also -
Scrutiny Hooligans invite you and your readers to pop over and celebrate our 25,000th hit by perusing The Best of the Hooligans Thanks for all you do.
By 
, at
Wed Oct 27, 05:08:00 PM:
Would it not be fitting if the turning point in the penultimate game for the Sox were a GOOD play by a poor-fielding first baseman? Ortiz helping remove the Buckner Burden!
TIGOBLUE
