TODD WALKER

THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 11 ...
IT'S TIME TO "COWBOY UP"
Another Red Sox walk-off victory

May 1, 2003 ... The baseball code of justice requires a pitcher to use an opposing hitter for target practice, even if it guarantees a hasty and untimely departure from the premises, like the one made by Red Sox lefthander Casey Fossum after he threw one behind Kansas City's Raul Ibanez in the first inning tonight. Fossum's ejection, along with Grady Little's second forced exit since he became Sox manager, made for a longer night for the Sox bullpen, especially when a stiff breeze from the south had the center-field flag whipping toward Lansdowne Street.

But what could have been a recipe for disaster was averted by some nice work by Steve Woodard and Mike Timlin and turned into yet another late-inning win as Todd Walker's two-out double in the eighth gave the Sox a 6-5 victory and a three-game sweep of the Royals.  What the Sox have done so far this season as well as anybody is come from behind with seven last-at-bat wins already, matching the Reds for most in the majors. They did it despite getting just two outs from Fossum, ejected for the first time in his career, and this one without any warning.

The umpires wanted no part of making an issue of the ejections. For the second straight night, they sent word they weren't talking. It's all about context as Wednesday night, Royals pitchers hit three batters in the ninth inning, only the second team in big- league history to hit three in an inning, which gave them a total of five Sox hitters plunked in the first two games. No one really suspected malice by the scattered-arm K.C. crew but umpire Larry Poncino issued warnings to both teams that night. Evidently, that was supposed to be admonition enough that anything suspicious would not be tolerated last night.

Because of Steve Woodard, who set down 13 of 14 at one point before giving up a three-spot in the sixth on home runs by Carlos Beltran (with a man aboard) and Ibanez in the sixth, the game never was out of reach. The Sox' fourth straight win, 10th in 12 games at Fenway Park, and third last-at-bat win in their last four games came after pinch runner Damian Jackson was caught in a rundown at the plate. But Walker stroked his third hit of the night over the head of left fielder Ibanez, scoring Johnny Damon.

The Sox had answered K.C.'s initial salvo with two runs in the first. Sweeney, whose error Wednesday night led to the winning run, clanked the first ball hit his way last night, Damon reaching safely, and Walker followed with a triple to the triangle. Ramirez's sacrifice fly tied the score at 2.

The Sox took a 3-2 lead in the third when Damon beat out an infield hit, stole second (he's 6 for 6 on stolen bases), took third on Walker's roller to the right side, and scored on Garciaparra's sacrifice fly.

The Royals, who led all three games of this series, had a 5-3 advantage after tagging Woodard in the sixth, but the bullpen had yet to be heard from. Sure enough, as soon as Royals manager Tony Pena dismissed Kyle Snyder, who was making his first big-league start with a reconstructed elbow, the Sox minded the gap. Trot Nixon led off the sixth with a home run to make it 5-4, and after wasting Bill Mueller's no-out double, the Sox tied it in the seventh on singles by Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz's double-play ball.

Tempers ran amok again in the eighth inning, when Walker's game-winning hit was preceded by the ejection of Royals catcher Mike DiFelice during a conference at the mound. Royals bench coach Bob Schaefer, the former Sox minor league boss, had to pull DiFelice out of the fray, which presumably was triggered by DiFelice's unhappiness with plate umpire Phil Cuzzi after Jeremy Giambi's inning-opening walk. Damian Jackson, running for Giambi, stole second and took third on a dandy two-strike sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Jason Varitek. Jackson looked as if he had time to retreat to third on Damon's ground ball to first baseman Sweeney but was tagged out by catcher Brent Mayne, Damon taking second on the rundown. That's when Walker delivered.