Oh Captain, My Captain

Matt Stone, Boston Herald
Jason Varitek hits a solo home run in the sixth inning.

One more game. One more win.

Last night was a great win for the Red Sox, but it was not fun. It was tense. And it started out with a cable disaster, as TBS didn't have the game on. They were showing a rerun of some not-funny show. We were in full panic mode. Checked Fox, the nets, ESPN, no game. Ran to computer, no video. My friend is on the floor trying to find a radio station -- we are lost in the wilds of Central Mass., lousy radio. Then after about 10 minutes TBS finally runs the technical difficulties crawl. Finally find the game at 1280 AM and THEY STARTED WITHOUT US! They couldn't postpone the game until the fans could see it? We hear that Upton has hit a home run, but don't know if anyone was on and the score.

Finally, picture and we learn that it is only 1-0. Much cursing of TBS. If our curses work, Ted Turner is going to hell. Go and take your lousy announcers with you. (OK, you can leave Ron Darling behind.)

The game itself was tight. We were tight. Beckett was pitching like a pitcher, not a young fireball, not trying (probably unable) to blow by hitters with his diminished fastball. Most of the scoring came from one run homers that landed in the front row. We kept leaving men on base, 12 in total, which made everything all the more ominous. Wasted opportunities, leaving the door open for the Rays.

When Varitek got up with two outs in the 6th I (dramatically) announced, oh, just call the inning and take the field; the guy's 0-for-the-series. And Varitek promptly hit the homer! I took full credit. And Crisp gets on, Bartlett commits an error (which ends up wiping out his HR) and The Large Father singles in an insurance rune. But even with a lead we were still quiet. Could this really be happening? Yes, it is. Okajima looked like 2007 Okajima. Masterson put on one runner but settled down after John Farrell came out to the mound and talked to him. And Pap was Pap, Mr. I Do Not Give Up Postseason Runs. Ever. shut down the Rays and lifted his index finger as Youkilis caught the final out. One more win. One more game.

The Red Sox are 9-1 in elimination games, including 9-0 in ALCS elimination games, with Terry Francona as manager. Let's make it 10-1 tonight.

Boston Globe Photo Gallery: Game 6 ALCS

Boston Globe Photo Gallery: The scene in St. Pete

Boston Herald Photo Gallery: Game 6 ALCS

Boston Globe: For Varitek, 'C' stands for clutch
Captain hits crucial blow

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: Captain deserves a big salute

Boston Herald: Homer is good sign for Sox
’Tek adds to crazy run

But on those occasions when Varitek produced anything even remotely above average on offense, the Red Sox were nearly unbeatable. They went 9-0 when he recorded a two-out RBI with runners in scoring position, 11-0 when he recorded a two-out RBI of any kind, and 29-5 (.853) when he drove in a run, period.

Boston Herald: Storybook ending
Time to write off the Rays

Nancy Lane, Boston Herald
Jonathan Papelbon celebrates the Red Sox win.

One more game for all the marbles, baby. One more game.

No No No No!

"He's not just a good kid because he threw a no-hitter," Terry Francona said. "He's a good kid because he's a good kid."
(Reuters Photo)
Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter for the Red Sox tonight. Amazing. The miracle boy, 24-year-old cancer survivor, who already came back to win the last game of the 2007 World Series last year, with another career moment. The local TV news just reported that he had invited his girlfriend's parents to see him pitch tonight. I imagine they were suitably impressed!

He pitched really well, but an amazing diving catch in centerfield (video) by who else, wonder boy Jacoby Ellsbury, in the fourth made it possible.

Boston Herald: Photo by Matthew West
Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury dove to catch Jose Guillen’s line drive to end the 4th inning.
Everyone is always excited when a pitcher throws a no-hitter but you could see all the emotion from the players and coaches who watched Lester battle and come back from his cancer diagnosis. If you didn't have a tear in your eye as the game ended you are one cold MF.

Another record-setter tonight is Jason Varitek who is now the only catcher in the modern era to catch four no-hitters (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz, and now Lester). If Curt Schilling hadn't shaken him off with two outs in the ninth of his no-hitter last June and thrown the slider Varitek called for (instead of the fastball that got smoked) Varitek may have caught his fifth no-hitter tonight.

The last two no-hitters in the majors are now the Red Sox (Clay Buchholz's in September being the previous.)

ProJo Sports Blog: Here is the full list of no-hitters for the franchise:

May 19, 2008: Jon Lester, vs. Kansas City
Sept. 1, 2007: Clay Buchholz, vs. Baltimore
April 27, 2002: Derek Lowe, vs. Tampa Bay
April 4, 2001: Hideo Nomo, at Baltimore
Sept. 16, 1965: Dave Morehead, vs. Cleveland
Aug. 1, 1962: Bill Monbouquette, at Chicago
June 26, 1962: Earl Wilson, vs. Los Angeles
July 14, 1956: Mel Parnell, vs. Chicago
Sept. 7, 1923: Howard Ehmke, at Philadelphia
June 3, 1918: Hub Leonard, at Detroit
June 23, 1917: Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore, vs. Washington
Aug. 30, 1916: Hub Leonard, vs. St. Louis
June 16, 1916: Rube Foster, vs. New York
July 19, 1911: Smokey Joe Wood, vs. St. Louis
June 30, 1908: Cy Young, at New York
Sept. 27, 1905: Bill Dinneen, vs. Chicago
Aug. 17, 1904: Jesse Tannehill, vs. Chicago
May 5, 1904: Cy Young, vs. Philadelphia

Boston Herald: Jon Lester to Royals: No way
Sox lefty unhittable at Fenway

Boston Globe: Lester throws no-hitter against Royals

Joy of Sox: JON LESTER PITCHES A NO-HITTER!!!

AP: Cancer survivor Lester throws no-hitter vs Royals

A-Rod: Stay Out of Our House

Alexa Rodriguez was in the upper deck behind home plate, where the tour was being seated. The hawk swooped down as the student was getting ready to leave.
(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

A middle school teenage girl on a tour of Fenway Park -- whose nickname is A-Rod -- was attacked by a red-tail hawk in the stands behind home plate. The hawk had a nest in front of the press box overhead, with one egg in it. The hawk scratched the girl's head, and she was taken to the hospital, treated and released. After the attack the hawk's nest was removed:

This spring the raptor used a brown-knit cap and twigs from trees on Yawkee Way to build a nest on a green overhang near the press booth above home plate. She laid a brown-speckled egg last week, but it rolled off the nest, wasn't properly incubated, and was no longer viable, French said.

Wildlife officials removed the egg and the nest yesterday after the hawk lashed out at Alexa.

Obviously the hawk struck out because the girl's name was A-Rod. For all we know, she was in the park on July 24, 2004, during the famous fight where Varitek took A-Rod by the throat.

The hawk wasn't just protecting her nest. She was protecting our house.

The Boston Globe article used above contains a hilarious typo. "Yawkee Way" is actually "Yawkey Way". The writer must have been thinking about the Yankees, not the Yawkeys. Just like the hawk; a little confused, but heart in the right place.

Boston Globe: Teen finds fowl territory at Fenway

Boston Globe Photo Gallery: Hawk attack at Fenway Park

Boston Globe: An omen? Hawk attacks girl with a familiar-sounding name at Fenway

July 24, 2004

MLB Steroid List: Leaked, Yanked, Here It Is (Updated)

Raw Story

Only one surprise to me: Jason Varitek. But if you look at him, it makes sense. Update: Should have remained surprised. Here's the pdf file of the Mitchell Report; Varitek's name does not appear (I used the search function).

I'll post a better list when ESPN makes it available; obviously the one yanked from WNBC was not correct.

Update 2: Here's the real list, from the New York Times:

Chad Allen
Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
Mike Bell
David Bell
Gary Bennett Jr.
Marvin Benard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Giambi
Jeremi Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
David Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Randy Velarde
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Todd Williams
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

Wait 'Til Next Year

Listen to the Captain - Re-Sign Lowell. (Actually the sign says "RESIGN LOWELL", kind of like "SURRENDER DOROTHY", but I know what it means.)
Boston Globe
The baseball season is officially over. The rallying cry in Red Sox Nation used to be "Wait 'Til Next Year". Doesn't really seem appropriate any more. How 'bout "Let's Go 3 For 5!" It's so....positive...and so unlike the old Red Sox mentality.

Some final Red Sox goodness:

Tom Verducci's great article summarizing the Sox season, with this prize nugget:

Or maybe, just maybe, they won it when a very large, angry man cleared the clubhouse of everybody but Red Sox players after Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in Cleveland, which Boston had lost to the Indians to go down 2-1.

"Listen," designated hitter David Ortiz began, "we're not just a good team. We're a great team. And don't you f------ forget that. And let's go play one at a time and go prove that. Because let me tell you something...."

Ortiz pulled on the sides of his gray road jersey. "There's a reason why you wear this Red Sox uniform...."

Ortiz paused for a beat, letting the suspenseful silence fill the rapt room.

"Because you're a bad mother------."

Now I ask you, who among us does not love Big Papi?

Boston Globe photo galleries:

Papelbon (that boy is crazy); Rolling Rally; the plane ride home.

Nice piece from Basegirl about the joys of watching the Sox win it all, with family; and another one from Sawxblog about taking his dad to Game 1 of the World Series.

World Series Heroes

After several signature moments in the World Series, Jacoby Ellsbury took time out to have his teammates sign his jersey.

(Globe Staff Photo / Stan Grossfeld)


Hope he is enjoying the parade today. Every local TV station is showing it live. Papelbon is dancing up a storm. Varitek is holding a "Sign Lowell" sign that must have been passed to him from the crowd. Boston loves their Red Sox.

I went to the Celtics championship celebrations in 1984 and 1986 and those were pretty special, but I bet there were 1/20th there compared to the huge crowd of people at this rally. Maybe 1/100th. This is a one team town. We love the other teams when they're successful. but everyone is a Red Sox fan, no matter whether they're world champs or 86-76 (that would be last year, folks).