Last night at Fenway Park, in what can only be described as magical, the Red Sox came back from a 7-0 shutout, starting in the bottom of the 7th inning, to WIN what I believe to be a historical game. Like many other fans were feeling, the first 6.5 innings were nothing to write home about. The Sox found themselves down by two in the 1st with no outs, down by five in the 3rd, and down by seven at the top of the 7th. I do admit to reading Wired magazine during these innings and just glancing at the screen from time to time. And with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th my friend told me this morning he turned off the radio on his drive home from a poker game (I was the first to tell him the news this morning).
7th inning, Papelbon comes in early to pitch
Lowrie, standing double off the right field wall
-Varitek, fly ball to center, 1 out
-Kotsay, fly ball to left center, 2 out
Crisp, line drive single to left, man on first and third
Pedroia, full count RBI to right (1-7 score), man on first and third
***Fenway goes nuts*** starts shouting “Papi Papi”
Ortiz, drives to deep right field, 3 run homer (4-7 score)
***Fenway goes nuts*** rally caps everywhere
-Youkilis, 3-2 count flys to right to end the inning
8th inning, Papelbon pitching
Bay, walks to first
Drew, 0-1 count, 2 run homer to right (6-7 score)
***Fenway goes nuts***
-Lowrie, flys to right, 1 out
-Casey pitch hitting, strikes out, 2 out
Kotsay, doubles deep to left center
***Fenway is standing room only***
Crisp fights off 10 pitches, RBI base hit to right (7-7 score), Kotsay scores before Crisp is thrown out at second for the third out
***Fenway is jumping up and down***
9th inning, Masterson pitching
-Pedroia, grounds out to third, 1 out
***Fenway crowd on their feet***
-Ortiz, tries to bunt to an open left infield then strikes out, 2 out
Youkilis, ground ball to third, bad throw (E5) to first goes into the seats, Youk goes to second
Bay, intensionally walked, man on first and second
Drew, 3-1 count, line drive right field, 1 bounce over the wall (Sox WIN 7-8, final)
The game was amazing to watch and also recall some of the earlier events in Red Sox history. Winning this game was the complete opposite of losing Game 2 in the 11th inning last week. Winning the World Series in 2004 marked the end of the Curse of the Bambino. For me, the 8th inning, E5 throw to first on the Youkilis drive to third base made amends for the 1986 Game 6, Bill Buckner play that cost the Sox a World Series. Early this year Buckner threw out the first pitch at Fenway to start the home season and I think it’s time we instead recall he was a rital player on that 1986 team. The game also beat a 1950′s come-from-behind postseason record and was only one run shy of the all-time 1920′s, 8 runs back record.
Now I’m looking forward to more baseball this weekend as the Red Sox go into game 6 and 7. It’s not the first time they trail a series, we all know what they did in 2004. GO SOX !
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Go Sox!!