Swooning with the Sox…..

Posted on June 11, 2012 by fenwaypark100

The Red Sox lost yesterday completing a sweep by the Nats, ending the home stand 1-5 and dipping  two games below .500 for the first time since May 20th. They have now dropped six of their last nine after winning six of the previous nine. So the streaky season of 2012 continues and we are left to wonder which edition of the Red Sox is the true 100th anniversary Fenway version.

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 8: Bobby Valentine #25 of the Boston Red Sox argues with umpire Doug Eddings when Kevin Youkilis #20 was ejected in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park June 8, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts. Youkilis was ejected from the game. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Bobby V is still looking for answers to Red Sox consistency.

I’m not sure why, but this recent Sox swoon has got me to thinking of their, what I will call, “Big Time Swoons”. Now if the vast majority of you were asked to name the biggest, “Big Time Swoon”, I’m betting you will all say, 1978. You know the mantra, they blew a 14 game lead, blah, blah, blah….But I’m here to tell you today, you would be wrong. And this is something I never understood.

Manager Don Zimmer, Carlton Fisk and Rick Burleson, 1978.

First off, the biggest lead the Red Sox had during the 1978 season was 10 games up on the Milwaukee Brewers from July 5th through July 8th. The Yankees were 14 games out at one point.

Second, that team DID NOT CHOKE! What? I can hear you all screaming and I will repeat it, they DID NOT CHOKE! Here’s the deal!

We all remember the “Boston Massacre”, but let’s refresh, and remember those thrilling days of yesteryear. It’s Thursday September 7, 1978, the Yankees are at Fenway for a four game series and the Sox hold a four game lead. The Sox lost, 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4 and the Yankees left Boston tied for first place. The Orioles followed the Yanks into Fenway and the Sox split two games with them and moved on to Cleveland where they dumped two more before going to Yankee Stadium down a game and a half.

They dropped the first two games to fall three and a half back and they were now officially free-falling having dropped nine out of ten and SIX of them to the Yankees. Yikes!

Dennis Eckersley salvaged the last game of the series in New York and the Sox left the Bronx two and a half out.

“Eck” won four games the last two weeks of the 1978 season.

Eck’s win showed a spark of life in the dying body of the Red Sox and kept the plug from being pulled on the 78 campaign. Oh everyone thought it was but a matter of time, everyone that is but the twenty-five guys in uniform.

They headed to the Motor City for four and after they took the first two they cut New York’s lead to a game and a half. A loss in the third game put it back at two and set the stage for what can only be termed a remarkable finish!

There were 10 games to go, one more in Detroit, three in Toronto and then home for six, three with the Tigers and then three more with the Blue Jays. They beat the Tigers and headed to Toronto where they lost the first game of the series. However, the Yankees were dropping one in Cleveland so they remained two out and when they won the following night and the Indians beat the Yankees again the lead was one game with seven to go!

The Red Sox won the next six games including a dramatic 7-6, 14 inning comeback win in Toronto. The Yankees were undaunted as they also won six straight bringing everything down to the last game of the season. Toronto was in Fenway and the Indians were in Yankee Stadium. If New York won, it was over, if the Sox won and New York lost, it was an all of nothing game, at Fenway, the next day!

Pitching in what would turn out to be his last game in a Red Sox uniform, the incomparable Luis Tiant shut out the Jays 5-0 and all that was left to do was wait for the results from New York.

Rick Waits became every Red Sox fan’s favorite player on October 1, 1978.

The word came and it was good, Rick Waits and the Indians beat the Yanks 9-2 and when I left Fenway Park, I headed over to buy an Indians hat to wear in tribute for the rest of the day. They were sold out!

There was one more day of baseball, the following day at Fenway.

to be continued….

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history June 11, 2012. 

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And on the seventh day He rested…..

Posted on June 10, 2012 by fenwaypark100

And former Red Sox manager Don Zimmer and Jackie Robinson, played golf.

Zimmer and Robinson were Brooklyn Dodger teammates from 1954 through 1956.

Some interesting tidbits about the former Sox skipper.

  • His first managing job was in 1967 with the Knoxville Smokies, the double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. He was 36 years old and he pitched in 12 games that season, the only pitching he ever did in his entire professional career which included 12 years in the majors.
  • “Popeye” managed for 13 seasons in the majors winning 885 games with four different teams.
  •  In 1989 he was named the National League “Manager of the Year” after piloting the Cubs to first place in the NL East.
  •  He is one of only four Red Sox managers to have three consecutive seasons of 90+ wins.
  • From 1977 through 1979 he averaged 96 wins a year.
  • In five seasons with Boston he went 411-304 for a .575 winning percentage.
  • He replaced Darrell Johnson as Red Sox skipper 86 games into the 1976 season.

He was at the helm in 1978 when the Red Sox won 99 games, their most wins in a season since 1946. That number has not been equaled since.

  • He was a member of the 1955 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • He made the National League All Star team in 1961 while playing for the Chicago Cubs.
  • Joe Torre made him his right hand man as a bench coach with the New York Yankees from 1996-2003. 

  • The Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays employed “Zim” as a coach.
  • He worked as an on field player, coach or manager in professional baseball from 1949 through 2006.  
  • At 81 years of age he is still employed by the Tampa Bay Rays.

  •  In 2010 Don Zimmer was elected into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 10, 2012.

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Shutout History at Fenway Park…..

Posted on June 8, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Last night at Fenway Park, Clay Buchholz threw the first real shutout of Fenway’s 100th anniversary season. It was the third shutout thrown by the staff but you aficionados know what I’m talking about when I say it was a real one. Buchholz finished the game! That’s right folks he went the distance, nine whole innings, a complete game shutout!

The Red Sox jumped out 2-0 in the first inning and never looked back winning 7-0 and once again getting them over .500.

It was the third complete game of Buchholz’s career, all shutouts and all against the Orioles.

Buchholz no hit the Orioles at Fenway Park September 1, 2007, his first complete game shutout of his career.

The first shutout in Fenway Park history was pitched by “Smokey Joe Wood” and it came against the White Sox.

Wood squared off against Big Ed Walsh of Chicago and won 2-0 for Fenway Parks first shutout.

It occurred on May 20th of 1912 and it came in the 27th game of the season. It was the first of 10 shutouts he would throw in Fenway Park’s inaugural season and it set a Sox record, a record he still holds.

Two of Wood’s 1912 shutouts came against the Senators and both times he bested Walter Johnson, once, this 1-0 duel at Fenway Park on September 6th.

The Red Sox staff of 1912 hurled 18 shutouts in Fenway Park’s first season, all of them, of course, of the complete game variety. But that was really no big deal for 108 of the Red Sox 154 games that season were complete games. Six of Joe Wood’s 10 shutouts came at Fenway. Twice he threw goose eggs against the White Sox, both at Fenway. Twice he got the aforementioned Senators, once in Washington and once at Fenway. He blanked the Tigers once, at Fenway, the St. Louis Browns twice, once home and once away. His favorite whitewash target was the Yankees as he shut them out three times, twice at Fenway and once in New York!

Ray Collins fired four shutouts in 1912.

Collins was the first southpaw to hurl a Fenway Park shutout and that came on July 19th and it was also against the White Sox. Two of them came at home. Buck O’Brien (Fenways first ever starter) and Charlie “Sea Lion” Hall each threw a pair of shutouts in 1912, one each at home.

The Red Sox fired 18 shutouts in their inaugural season of 1912, 10 at Fenway Park. To gain some perspective and really see how much the game has changed, let’s take a look back at the last 18 Red Sox shutouts and the last 10 at Fenway Park.

Believe it or not you have to go all the way back to 1998 to begin counting. We have to reach back 14 seasons to add up 18 complete game shutout wins by Red Sox pitchers and 10 at Fenway. Both take us back to the 1998 season. Four of them were no-hitters! One was a no-hot bid by Curt Schilling when he shook off Varitek with two outs in the eighth in Oakland and another was a Josh Beckett one hitter in Tropicana Field last year! And there was yet another one hitter tossed by Pedro at the Trop in August of 2004, his last shutout with the Sox, a 17 strikeout effort!

Pedro fired eight shutouts for the Red Sox from 1998 through 2004, five of them at Fenway Park.

In four seasons from 2003 through 2006 the Red Sox pitching staff completed only one shutout, Pedro in ’04’.

The nature of the game has changed dramatically and, for the most part, a pitcher only completes a game when something exceptional is taking place. An attempt at a no-hitter, or an otherwise, low hit, high strikeout game in progress.

There were 37,307 patrons at Fenway Park last night and I’m not sure how many of them left knowing they had witnessed what has become a Fenway rarity, a Red Sox complete game shutout. It was the first of Fenway Park’s second century and it’s first since July 12, 2009 when Josh Beckett three hit the Kansas City Royals.

Clay Buchholz threw a complete game shutout last night, it was the third complete game shutout of his career. In 1912, “Smokey” Joe threw three in a span of 16 days!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 8, 2012.

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Of Road Warriors, Championships, Drafts and GPA’S…..

Posted on June 6, 2012 by fenwaypark100

On Sunday night, the Venice Indians said goodbye to their 2012, 7A Florida State Championship baseball season. The team gathered at the local Elks Club to break bread, express gratitude, relive, revel and remember.

Head Coach Craig Faulkner with his captains, left to right, Mike Iorio, Kevin Guthrie and Grant Banko. (photo Brian Banko)

It was quite a week for the young men. It began on Tuesday with a parade through the City of Venice.

photo Allison Banko

Thursday was measuring day and they gathered to be measured for their hardware, State Championship rings. On Saturday eight seniors graduated and Sunday night the Indians gathered as a team, one more time!

On Monday, the Red Sox made Arizona State  junior shortstop Devin Marrero their first pick in the 2012 major league draft. The 6′ 1″ 195 pound right-handed hitter is a product of American Heritage High School in Plantation Florida, a perennial Florida baseball power house. This years edition of American Heritage High lost in the State Finals 2-0 at Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie.

Marrero was the captain of his 2009 team which won the Florida State Championship as well as the National Championship.

They then tapped a 6′ 3″ 235 southpaw pitcher with their second pick. The University of Florida hurler came via Cocoa Beach High School in Cocoa Beach Florida.

As a senior at Cocoa Beach, Johnson was 5-1 with a 17 strikeout no-hitter to his credit. He had a 0.76 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 55 innings. He also hit .551 with nine homers and 25 RBI.

Johnson has worn a Red Sox uniform before, playing with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League.  

The first 15 rounds of the draft were completed yesterday and there will be 25 more rounds to wrap it up today. Thirty four players were drafted off the campuses of Florida High Schools. Three from Archbishop McCarthy High alone. McCarthy won their third straight Florida State Championship this year.

Many of these players are known to the “Road Warriors” of Venice High School. They have met many of them on the diamonds of Florida and in some cases played with them on Florida travel teams.

Manatee High School pitcher/first baseman Corelle Prime was tabbed in the 12th round by the Colorado Rockies, the 378th overall pick.

Prime is an old friend and nemesis to the Venice Indians squad as the Indians and Hurricanes have developed quite a rivalry during the last few seasons, playing each other as many as five times a season. Last year it was the Hurricanes who made it to the State Final Four while this year the Indians traveled there on their way to the 7A State Title.

The Venice Indians graduated eight seniors from 2012 championship squad. Not one of those eight names was called by a major league team the past two days. These guys will pursue their futures at Brown University, Eckerd College, Florida Atlantic, State College of Florida, Florida State University and more.

They leave Venice High as part of a team with a GPA of 3.3, the highest of any public school in the state of Florida’s 7A division.

Senior Michael Knott led the team with a 4.6 weighted GPA.

They leave Venice High School having played a significant part in epitomizing Head Coach Craig Faulkner’s motto of “Excellence on and off the field.” They leave Venice High School having made their community a better place by devoting time to community endeavors such as Reading Mentors, the Center for Hope, Care Autism, the Wounded Warrior Program, Challenger Baseball and more.

They leave Venice High School having come to understand the true meaning of team, coming together with each player taking on, embracing their role and executing it. They leave Venice High School knowing the possibilities and with memories of a time in their lives that will echo down through the ages.

They leave Venice High School as champions and “the world is theirs and all that is in it.”

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 6, 2012. 

 

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Of Bard and O’Doul and Ehmke…..

Posted on June 4, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Daniel Bard was atrocious yesterday! He faced a total of 12 batters and gave up exactly one hit. He had two strikeouts and even induced a double play ball right back to him. Hmmmm, not bad you say. I guess not, unless of course you count the fact that he walked six of those 12 and plunked another two of them. Yikes.

Bard is 5-6 with a 5.24 ERA. He has 37 walks and 34 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched.

A Boston scribe called it one of the worst outings in baseball history and that sent me scrambling.

As bad as Bard was yesterday, I will submit to review some pitching outing which may well have been just a tad worse.

Ever heard of Lefty O’Doul? Pretty good player, hit .349 in 11 big league seasons, not bad. Included in that was a 254 hit season in 1929 with the Phillies.

1980 Laughlin Famous Feats 2nd Series #31 - Lefty O'Doul - Philadelphia Phillies

He hit .398 in 1929 and .383 in 1930.

However before all that, he pitched. First for the NY Yankees and then for the Boston Red Sox and on July 7, 1923, he pitched his way into the Red Sox record book.

O’Doul’s pitching career encompassed 34 games, 1 start and 77 2/3 innings pitched. His record was 1-1.

It was the first game of a doubleheader in Cleveland and the Sox were 26-38, mired in last place 19 games out and on their way to a 91 loss season.

The Red Sox starter was a gentleman by the name of Curt Fullerton.

Fullerton was 2-15 with Boston in 1923.

Curtis didn’t exactly have it working on this particular Saturday afternoon at Dunn Field. In fact in three innings he was tagged for seven hits, eight runs. He walked four Indians and did not have a strike out! The Red Sox scored a couple in the top of the fourth and manager Frank Chance turned the ball over to O’Doul.

Frank Chance (right) he of Tinkers to Evans to Chance fame, managed the Red Sox for one year, 1923.

Lefty surrendered a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and when Cleveland came to bat in the sixth they did so with an 11-2 lead. By the end of the inning, the Indians had added 13 runs to their lead. That’s right 13 runs! Lefty had walked a half a dozen hitters and his defense abandoned him as only three of those 13 runs were earned! None the less, he sits in the Red Sox record book having surrendered the most runs in any one inning in their history. His six walks in one frame is also a Red Sox record. His stats on the day, 16 runs, 11 hits, eight walks and no strikeouts in three innings. Oh, the final score, Cleveland 27 the Red Sox 3! That too is a Red Sox record for most runs allowed in one game.

That winter O’Doul was optioned to the minors and after four years in the Pacific Coast League he made it back to the bigs and was one helluva hitter. Perhaps all owed to a Saturday afternoon shelling in Cleveland!

However, that may not be the worst outing ever by a Red Sox pitcher! What? Really, this guy may have out done old Lefty.

Ehmke won 20 games for a very bad Red Sox team in 1923, going 20-17.

He is Howard Ehmke and on September 28th of that very same 1923 season, he went to the hill in front of 3000 people at Fenway Park to battle the first place Yankees. The Yankees took a 6-3 lead into the top of the sixth inning and when the Red Sox came to bat in their half of the sixth, the score was 17-3 and Howie boy was done for the day. His line, six innings pitched, 17 runs (16 of them earned), 21 hits, four walks and six strikeouts. Oh, and the final score? Yankees 24 Red Sox 4.

Daniel Bard was abysmal yesterday and he is struggling in his attempt to transition from set up man to starter. But his day was a cake walk compared to the afternoons endured by Lefty O’Doul and Howard Ehmke, a cake walk!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 4, 2012, draft day.

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And of the seventh day He rested…..

Posted on June 3, 2012 by fenwaypark100

 And Mr. Robert Gordon Orr and Big “Papi” played a little golf.

A few tidbits about the one, the only, the incomparable Bobby Orr.

Bobby Orr in the first skate at Fenway Park.

Bobby Orr first caught the eye of the Boston Bruins when he was 12 years old.

  • First and only defenceman to score nine hat tricks
  • First defenceman to score 30 goals and 40 goals in a season.
  • First player to record 100 assists in a season.
  • Only defenceman to lead the league in scoring.
  • Only player ever to win the Norris Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Conn Smythe Trophy in one season.
  • Fifth in league history in career point-per-game average, all-time, (1.393) (highest among defencemen)
  • Fifty-ninth overall in league history in career assists and 90th in career points. 

The Bruins won two Stanley Cups with Bobby Orr. 

He garnered a few awards along the way as well:

  • Awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) in 1967, the youngest ever to win the award, and the youngest ever to win a major NHL award up to that time.
  • Named to the Second All-Star Team in 1966–67 (his only full season when he did not make the First Team, as a rookie)
  • Named to the NHL First All-Star Team eight times consecutively (1968-1975)
  • Awarded the James Norris Trophy eight times (from 1968 to 1975, his last full season)
  • Played in the NHL All-Star Game eight times (from 1968 to 1975)
  • Won the Art Ross Trophy in 1969–70 and 1974–75.
  • NHL Plus/Minus leader in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975, the most in history
  • Awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy three times consecutively (1970–1972).
  • Awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1970 and 1972, the first two-time winner of the playoff MVP award.
  • NHL All-Star Game MVP in 1972.
  • Received Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsman of the Year” award in 1970.
  • Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, with the mandatory three-year waiting period waived, making him the youngest inductee at 31 years of age.
  • Ranked 31 in ESPN’s SportsCentury: 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century in 1999.
  • Named the top defenceman of all time in 2010 by The Hockey News.

Oh and it is noteworthy that his career was virtually over at the age of twenty-seven! Think about that! He did it all in but 657 games!

In 1975 the Boston Globe conducted a poll among New Englanders to name Boston’s Greatest Athlete. The fans chose Orr over the likes of Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy.

Teddy Bruschi, Bill Russell and Bobby Orr at Fenway Park’s opening day ceremonies in 2005.

In 2010 NESN conducted their poll to name Boston’s Greatest Sports Legend and once again the fans chose Number 4.

Bobby Orr and Bobby Orr at the dedication to his statue on May 10, 2010.

When Orr arrived on the scene in Boston, EVERYONE started playing hockey. Those of us who couldn’t skate played street hockey. Kids all over New England got up in the middle of the night to go to hockey practice because 3 AM was the only time available for ice.

On a personal note I will simply add, on more than one occasion, I slept (sort of) on the streets outside Boston Garden to get tickets to see him play. Last season marked the first time I watched a complete hockey game since Orr’s retirement. 

I have been witness to many exciting events at Fenway Park and have also seen my share of great Celtic moments at the old Gaaaaahden. However I will categorically state that I have never witnessed anything as electrifying as Bobby Orr coming out from behind his own net, puck on his stick and heading a charge up ice, nothing!

And today the Red Hot Red Sox go after their 16th win in 22 games in Toronto of all places, a spot that has been a graveyard for them in the past. I’m starting to REALLY like these guys!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 3, 2012.

 

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Chicks Dig the Long Ball!

Posted on June 1, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Remember the ad campaign a few years back, “chicks dig the long ball”? It came about in the late 1990s and it was a Nike ad. It featured Mark McGwire, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddox with the lovely Heather Locklear. Locklear was paying all her attention to McGwire and all his home runs and ignoring the Cy Young award winners Maddux and Glavine.

Those of you who read this blog know that I’m an aficionado of the pitchers duel. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the homer however nothing beats baseball when every pitch means something. I’ve written about Fenway pitching accomplishments, 16 plus strikeout games, no-hitters etc. Today I thought I’d give some love to the long ball and also do my first interactive, so here goes.

What is the most home runs the Red Sox have ever hit in a game at Fenway Park? What do you think? I’ll give you a hint. The names of the guys involved were Lynn, Scott, Rice, Carbo, Hobson and Yastrzemski.

Freddy Lynn hit two home runs in the Red Sox record-setting homer game.

And another hint, Yankee Doodle Dandy. The names tell you it was probably the 1970s and you are correct but Yankee Doodle Dandy? A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam born when? That’s right it was July 4th 1977 and the Toronto Blue Jays were at Fenway Park. The Sox were battling the NY Yankees for supremacy in the AL East and they were in second place a game behind Reggie Jackson and the Bronx Bombers.

Fergie Jenkins was the Red Sox pitcher that day and his counterpart was Blue Jays lefty Jerry Garvin. The Blue Jays got runs in the first two innings and when the Sox came to bat in the bottom of the fifth, they were on the short end of a 2-0 pitchers duel. And that is when the fire works started.

Yaz started the frame with a single, was forced at second by Carlton Fisk bringing up the “Boomer” George Scott. The “Boomer” bombed a patented “tater” and the Sox had drawn even.

It did not last long as the Jays grabbed the lead back in the sixth on their own two run shot by right fielder Otto Velez (no relation to Jose). This began a four inning stretch of punch, counter punch and balls flying all over and out of the Fenway yard.

In the bottom of frame number six, Lynn hit his first dinger and once again the home town boys were within a run, but Toronto countered with two more and took a 6-3 lead into the seventh inning stretch. After Fisk led off with a walk and was doubled up by the “Boomer” it appeared as if the Sox would go quietly on this July 4th. But wait, third baseman Clell Lavern “Butch” Hobson stepped in and rocketed one out.

Third baseman “Butch” Hobson hit 30 home runs and knocked in 112 runs out of the nine hole in 1977. 

Pinch hitter Bernie Carbo was next and he duplicated Hobson’s effort and now the Red Sox were back within one at 6-5.

Bernie Carbo pinch hitter extraordinaire.

Toronto threatened in their half of the eighth, loading the bases with one out but closer Bill “Soup” Campbell induced an inning ending double play and the Sox came up still trailing by only a run.

Shortstop Rick Burleson led off with a pop out to short bringing up Lynn who rifled his second homer of the day tying the score and bringing up Jim Rice.

In 1977, Jim Rice hit .320 with 39 homers and 114 RBI in a stretch where he was the most dominant hitter in all of baseball.

Rice homered giving the Red Sox their first lead of the day 7-6, and that brought up Carl Yastrzemski.

Yaz was 37 in 1977 and he hit .296 with 28 home runs and 102 RBI. He was one of four 1977 Red Sox to hit 25 plus homers and knock in over 100 runs.

Yaz homered, the Sox led 8-6 and the Fenway Faithful were in a frenzy! After Fisk grounded out, George Scott closed out the scoring with his second home run of the day giving the Sox a 9-6 lead to take into the ninth inning.

Campbell closed out the Jays and earned the win in the 9-6 final. Now those of you who have been counting will know that the Red Sox hit eight home runs that day at Fenway! That’s right eight! Interestingly seven of them came with nobody on base!

On four other occasions the Sox have hit seven homers in a game. Two at Fenway (in 1950 and 2002) and two on the road (Detroit in 1999 and New York in 2003). However the record set on July 4, 1977 still stands!

Now comes the part where you guys can play along if you want to. Here’s the deal, email me at fenwaypark100@gmail.com with who you think are the Red Sox record holders for home runs in a season at each position. What Red Sox catcher hit the most homers in a season, first baseman, second baseman, right around the diamond. Don’t forget the pitcher and DH. Now you can cheat and look them up if you want or you can simply test your Fenway prowess and I’ll let you know next week.  

Oh and even though the Sox dropped the fourth game of their series with Detroit last night, they enter June, 26-25, three games out of both first and the last Wild Card spot. Not bad, not bad at all.

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, June 1, 2012

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Over the Hump!!!!!

Posted on May 30, 2012 by fenwaypark100

They did it!           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU&feature=related

Yes they did, for the first time this year the Red Sox are over .500, following a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers last night at Fenway Park! It was their seventh attempt to get over the hump and going in, it did not look good as they faced last year’s MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander. However when it was said and done, the Tiger ace had surrendered more runs (5) and more hits (10) than any outing this year.

David Ortiz had three hits and a pair of RBI including a home run into the Monster seats.

Daniel Nava’s three run double in the fourth inning broke the game open giving the Sox a 4-0 lead.

Daniel Bard drew even 5-5 with 5 2/3 innings in which he surrendered two runs.

Four Red Sox relievers recorded holds last night paving the way for Alfredo Aceves 12th save of the year.

Scott Podsednik has become the latest Red Sox scotch tape and glue guy.

The Red Sox most recent center fielder, 36-year-old Scott Podsednik, last played in the major leagues with the Dodgers in 2010. Since then his baseball journey has taken him from Clearwater FL, to Dunedin FL, out for a stint in Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League before returning east to Lehigh Valley PA and Pawtucket Rhode Island before landing in centerfield at Fenway Park. Last night he contributed two more hits and scored a run. He is hitting .467 in six games with the Red Sox and he still can run like the wind!

Last night Bobby Valentine started his 40th different line up in 49 games. And it was that 40th line up which finally got this Fenway rendition over the hump!

On May 10th, the Indians shelled Josh Beckett on their way to an 8-3 win at Fenway Park. The loss put the Red Sox at 12-19, mired in fifth place seven and a half games back. Since that time they have won 13 of 18, Beckett has had three starts, pitched 21 2/3 innings, given up three runs for a 1.24 ERA, only 15 hits and the Red Sox have won all three games, Beckett winning two of them.

Since Beckett’s “golf” scrum with the media, he has been lights out!

I must confess that the 2012 rendition of the Boston Red Sox was, going in, not an easily likeable bunch. My son asked me early on, how many of those guys can you really like? And going down the list he was correct, they were a bunch who collectively would be hard to root for, however, it’s always about the name on the front of the jerseys and that is for whom to root.

Last night the Red Sox got over the hump. They are 25-24, still in last place in the AL East but they are only 3 1/2 games out of first place and 2 1/2 out of the Wild Card race. Youngsters named Doubront and Middlebrooks and Nava and Aviles have emerged as forces and then you throw in a 36-year-old reborn outfielder looking for his last grasp at the brass ring and you know, it’s  pretty easy to root for them.

Tonight Bobby Valentine will make out his 50th line up card. In all probability it will be his 42nd different line up. In the line up will be Dustin Pedroia, playing with a splint on his thumb to protect a torn abductor muscle in his thumb. What the hell is that? He’s going to try to play through it. Of course he is and that is why anybody who loves the game of baseball roots for that guy because I am convinced that if you closely examine what runs through his veins, you would find a bazillion kabillion microscopic baseballs.

Ya know what? I’m starting to like these guys!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, May 30, 2012, over the hump day.

 

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Of getting over .500 and walk off homers…..

Posted on May 29, 2012 by fenwaypark100

The Red Sox beat the Tigers yesterday 7-4 and for the sixth time this season they pulled even at 24-24. So tonight at Fenway Park, Daniel Bard will attempt, once again, to get the Red Sox over the .500 mark. In the way will be Justin Verlander who earlier this year allowed them two hits in eight innings.

Justin Verlander Justin Verlander #35 of the Detroit Tigers delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on August 13, 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts.

The good news is that the Red Sox, despite being forced to play their third line in the outfield, have won 11 of their last 16 games. The bad news is well, Justin Verlander.

They started to show some chipiness this weekend manifested in a late game group discussion with the Tampa Bay Rays.

And with their first walk off home run of the season by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. It was the first ever walk off home run by the Red Sox catcher and now places him in position to become only the sixth player in Red Sox history to hit more than one walk off Red Sox homer in a season.

David Ortiz

The king of the Red Sox walk off homer is “Big Papi” himself, who nine times has ended a game with a dinger. He is one of only two Red Sox players to have multiple walk off homers in more than one season. He had three in 2005 and a pair of them in 2006.

“Double X”

The other guy is Jimmie “The Beast” Foxx. The slugging first baseman, and my choice as the All Fenway first baseman, hit eight career walk off homers and in 1940 did it a season record four times. He also did it twice in 1938, the year he became the first Red Sox player to hit 50 homers in a season.

The Red Sox have had two shortstops who have had multiple walk off homers in a season.

“Junior” Stephens hit 122 home runs for the Red Sox in five seasons. Five of them were walk offs.

The first one was Vern Stephens, who twice in the 1948 season hit walk offs and 50 years later, Nomar Garciaparra hit a pair of them as well.

Nomaaaah, an all time favorite of the Fenway Faithful.

The fifth and last Red Sox player to hit more than one walk off homer in a single season is the most interesting. He appeared on these pages just last week and that’s because he is a pitcher who hit home runs.

Wes Ferrell (right) chats with Lefty Grove before a game in 1935. In 1935 he went 25-14, with a 3.52 ERA. He led the league in wins, starts, complete games and innings pitched. He also hit .347 with seven home runs and 32 RBI. Two of his homers ended games.

Wes Ferrell twice hit game ending home runs in 1935, Tom Yawkey’s second year owning the team. He also was the first Red Sox player to end a game with a home run, more than once in the same season. He finished second in the 1935 AL MVP voting behind the Tigers Hank Greenberg.

There are some pretty hefty Fenway names on the list of Walk Off leaders. Five of them have their numbers watching over Fenway Park from the venerable right field Fenway facade.

  • Number 9, three career walk offs.
  • Number 1, six career walk offs.
  • Number 8, four career walk offs.
  • Number 14, five career walk offs.
  • Number 27, two career walk offs.

Williams, Doerr, Yastrzemski, Rice and Fisk had a combined 20 career walk off home runs but never had more than one in a season.

There are 13 other Red Sox players with multiple career game ending home runs. Some are all time Red Sox greats and thus Fenway household names like, Jackie Jensen, Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs, Rico Petrocelli, Mo Vaughn and Frank Malzone. One is a recently retired soon to be named Red Sox all time great Jason Varitek and another is current player Kevin Youkilis. And then there are those who showed flashes of brilliance in the midst of good to average careers. Names such as Jimmy Piersall, Jim Tabor, Troy O’Leary, Gary Geiger, and Kevin Romine.

Quite a collection of names but none of them had more than one on a season.

“Salty” celebrates .

Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his first career walk home run this past weekend. he is now in a position to do what only five players in Fenway Park history have ever done.

How bout tonight “Salty”, let’s get it over with!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, May 29, 2012, getting over .500 day?

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“They are dead; but they live in each Patriot’s breast, And their names are engraven on honor’s bright crest.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Posted on May 28, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Lest we forget…..

It is the sacrifice of these men…..

and these

Remembering : World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial which is situated on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel in Colleville-sur Mer. (AFP/Mychele Daniau)

and these

and these

and these

and these

and these

Which will allow these men…..

to play today!

Today we pause and remember the 1,346,000 people who have died in service to America and we thank all those who serve and have served!

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, May 28, 2012, Memorial Day.

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