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MANNY ARRIVES AS THE
YAWKEY ERA CRASHES & BURNS
Carl Everett hits his 2nd
grand
slam in four days
April 27, 2001 ... No
sooner had Carl Everett hit his second grand slam in four days and
helped Manny Ramirez propel the Red Sox to a runaway 9-2 victory over
the Royals than he stifled any hint of inner bliss. Forget the
sweetness. "Right now," Everett declared, "I still feel like cow
dung."
Outside, yet
another sellout crowd - this one of 31,850 - was happily filtering out of Fenway
Park, all abuzz over the Sox' holding at least a share of first place in the
American League East for an 11th straight day.
But Everett
was still searching for the "free and easy" Carl Everett he used to know, the
one who hit 34 home runs last year and drove in 108 runs in each of the last two
years. Never mind that Everett, who ranks among the league's leaders in runs
with 20, also vaulted toward the top of the RBI list with his 18th in 23 games.
Good thing
that Manny, who helped break the game open with a three-run homer, is on a tear.
And that the unheralded Frank Castillo made a strong enough start to set the
stage for Everett's and Manny's fireworks. And that reliever Rolando Arrojo, who
has not allowed a run in 13 1/3 innings this season, handcuffed the Royals over
the final 3 2/3 innings. Castillo allowed two runs on six hits and a walk before
Arrojo rescued him with one out in the sixth inning.
And the Sox
offense did the rest. Trailing, 1-0, in the bottom of the fifth, the Sox
suddenly solved Kansas City starter Blake Stein. With one out, Chris Stynes
singled to launch the rally. A batter later, Everett walked, moving Stynes to
second and bringing up Manny.
And Manny
lofted Stein's second pitch 375 feet into the right-field stands for his seventh
homer of the season and a 3-1 lead. The home run was the 24th of his career
against Kansas City; the Royals are now tied with Oakland for the top spot on
his homer list.
Matters
quickly deteriorated for Stein. One pitch later, O'Leary launched a shot high
above the Pesky Pole to give the Sox a 4-1 cushion. The back-to-back homers were
the first by the Sox this year. And they effectively routed Stein, who was
lifted after he walked the next batter, Jason Varitek.
Everett
provided the game's defensive gem after Castillo dug himself a hole in the sixth
inning. After Rey Sanchez singled and Mark Quinn doubled to lead off the inning,
Castillo let Jermaine Dye rip a single to center, which scored Sanchez to cut
the Sox' lead to 4-2. But when Quinn also tried to score on Dye's hit, Everett
threw a one-hop strike to Varitek at the plate to cut him down.
Arrojo took
it from there, getting out of Castillo's jam and clearing the way for Everett's
encore act. But Everett also got an assist from the four batters in front of
him. Leading off the sixth, Brian Daubach singled, Mike Lansing reached on an
error by reliever Kris Wilson, and Stynes singled to load the bases. Then Trot
Nixon flared a single to left that drove in Daubach for a 5-2 lead and left the
bases loaded for Everett.
Everett
responded by turning on a 2-2 fastball from Jose Santiago and losing the ball in
the left-field screen for his seventh career grand slam. But despite his second
slam in four days, Everett still felt dogged by his alter Everett. If Everett
finds the other him, he said, he could have a shot this year both at driving in
and scoring 100 runs. But he said he will need Manny to do it. And in Everett's
eyes, Manny has the most free-and-easy swing of all. |
