Well, the regular season ends today, and what a season it has been. Before we step into the bizarro-world that October can so often become I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the interesting events of this incredible season.
My personal favorite, perhaps because it happened so recently, is still what Varitek and Tavarez pulled off on Friday night. When Tavarez suddenly took off towards second to try his unassisted pick-off move we all thought he was perhaps starting to fray a bit at the edges at the end of such a long season. No one, and certainly not the Orioles, thought that it was actually part of a brilliant plan cooked up by the battery during a marathon Risk game the night before. It was only moments later, after another trip to the mound, that Tavarez tried it again, suddenly turning and tearing towards second, glove outstretched. And when he stumbled a few feet past the mound that was all it took for the runner at third who started to make a mad dash of his own towards home. As Tavarez writhed on the ground, his glove underneath his body, ‘Tek stood on the plate and looked towards the fallen ace with concern. As the runner approached it looked like an afterthought when he calmly reached out with his glove and tagged the surprised Oriole, and then when he pulled the ball out of his glove and the out call was heard it did take a few moments for the crowd to recognize that they had just witnessed the greatest hidden ball trick ever conceived.
But off the field things were even more bizarre. When in August Jerry Remy was outed by Bob Novak as being an off-season agent of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations Red Sox Nation lost a beloved friend, and gained a greater mystery than the fate of Babe Ruth’s piano. Wherever the RemDawg may be today, and whatever he is calling himself these days, we all do still wish him well. And who can forget the pictures of his hotel suite in Kansas City, with the mechanical bull in the middle of the room? I always thought he was joking about the thing.
Eckersley has done well in his place, and if anyone knows why he keeps calling Orsillo ‘Crab Cakes’ please let me know.
And what a fantastic Patriot’s Day we had this year! Loretta’s walk off homer was a moment of pure joy, but to then find out that NESN reporter Tina Cervasio had won the Boston Marathon was a piece of news that has left us all filled with pride. Now, of course, every player she interviews asks her if she will win Olympic Gold for Red Sox Nation in China and the latest news is that she plans to spend the winter in training. Go Tina go!!
Of course, 7/31/06 will be a day that every Sox fan will remember. First was Lucchino’s 7am press conference announcing that GM Theo Epstein was AWOL and that he himself was now ‘In control here’; bringing back memories of Al Haig many years ago. Then came the stunning news that Theo was in Las Vegas, involved in something ‘Important’ and had been too busy to call in all night. The press went nuts and daytime programming was suspended for continuous updates from hastily arranged interviews with anyone who seemed to know anything at all about what was going on. Nobody even seemed to notice that the Houston Astros had called for a Noon press conference while news continued to swirl about a coup on Yawkey Way and about Tom Werner emerging as the silent genius behind the events of the day. When the Astros announced that Roger Clemens and Lance Berkman were headed to Boston for Trot Nixon, Matt Clement, Drew Hansen, and David Murphy, it was hardly even noticed as the news from Las Vegas was even more stunning. Theo had just announced that he had ‘won’ Vladimir Guerrero from Bill Stoneman and the LA Angels in an all night poker game.
Clemens, Berkman, AND Guerrero? A poker game? As we tried to digest this news stories started to filter from Fenway that something else was going on, and before long Tom Werner himself appeared before the microphones and announced the ‘Resignation’ of Larry Lucchino and the addition of Jack Welch to the Red Sox ownership group.
Since then the ‘Cone Of Silence’ has descended upon the front office, and we may not know what will happen next until after the playoffs, but I bet that Theo’s appearance on the World Poker Tour will set new ratings records for the Travel Channel.
Of course, for many the real high point was the five game sweep of the dreaded yankees that marked the end of the empire’s run atop the AL East. And what a sweep it was, beginning with Wells’ perfect game, and the feeling of schadenfreude we all felt watching A-Rod commit 7 errors in the first two games, his subsequent benching, the tearful interview on ESPN and then his ultimate trade to the Nationals for a conditional set of draft picks. The ‘Monday Morning Massacre’ was the perfect cap to the weekend, when the Boss not only fired Joe Torre, but also Wayne Cashman and his entire baseball operations team. Why Piniella agreed to take the job continues to puzzle the baseball world, but it didn’t seem to matter much as he was tossed in the first inning after throwing a nutty on the field and trying to convince Kelly the ball girl to take over in left.
Another of the great moments was just last week when Papi hit his 61st and 62nd taters of the season, and the subsequent media frenzy as fed up fans all over the country were loudly proclaiming him to be the ‘Real’ Home Run King, drawing a line in the sand over the issue of steroids and asterisks. So far the league has huffed and puffed but the most curious thing was when Mark McGwire called in to WEEI all on his own only to say that he ‘was refusing to talk about it’. When asked what, exactly, he was refusing to talk about he kept repeating that he wasn’t going to discuss it. Eventually someone thought to ask him why he called in the first place and his response ‘Well, it’s a talk show, right?’ is now heard over and over on promos for almost every kind of talk show imaginable.
Some other memories to savor; Clemens and Tavarez throwing back to back no-hitters against Minnesota. After a missed signal, a confused but game David Ortiz stealing home against the Orioles and a suddenly terrified Javy Lopez. And, of course, the big shocker from Manny yesterday: that he ‘has enough money now’ and was volunteering to play for the league minimum the next two years if the team would agree to reduce ticket prices across the board.
Thanks Manny, you are now forever a hero to every Sox fan on the planet. Best of luck in the playoffs, hope you get another World Series MVP trophy. See you at the parade.
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