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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE April 11, 2004 ... David Ortiz swatted Aquilino Lopez's splitter into the gathering dusk and over the Green Monster for a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Sox outlasted the Blue Jays, 6-4, before the hardy souls who remained from the 34,286 who turned out on Easter in the Fens. The victory spared the shorthanded Sox from a long spell of gloom on their off day today. Ortiz's homer, the first of the season over the Monster, capped the team's first come-from-behind win and first triumph in the last at-bat. He knocked in Bill Mueller, who had walked leading off the 12th against Lopez in the final scene of the 3-hour, 53-minute affair. It was especially big for Mark Malaska, the 26-year-old former Devil Ray who earned the win by recording the final six outs. Malaska entered the game after Bobby Jones put the Sox in peril by walking the first two batters in the 11th on eight pitches (Jones has walked the last five batters he faced, including the final three in Baltimore last Thursday when he forced in the winning run in the 13th inning in a 3-2 loss). And Malaska sparkled, retiring all six batters he faced, including the dangerous Frank Catalanotto, Vernon Wells, and Carlos Delgado with the go-ahead run on second in the 11th. With the Sox unable to turn to one of their top bullpen guns, Scott Williamson, because of some tenderness near his right elbow, Malaska helped Alan Embree (two-thirds of an inning) and Keith Foulke (1 1/3 innings) provide four innings of scoreless relief to set the stage for Ortiz's electric moment. The Sox also were competing with a diminished bench after Brian Daubach was designated for assignment to clear space for long reliever Frank Castillo. In addition, they had little opportunity to use Ellis Burks because he is limited to serving as a designated hitter, the spot Ortiz occupied. The game turned into an urgent standoff after Schilling, making his Fenway debut in a Sox uniform, was narrowly outdueled by his former Arizona rotation mate, Miguel Batista. After the Sox touched Batista for two runs in the first inning on a double by Ramirez and sacrifice fly by Millar, Batista retired 19 of the next 21 batters as he completed seven innings and never surrendered a hit after Ramirez's. Altering their plan for Trot Nixon, the Sox have extended the injured right fielder's stay at the University of Miami Spine Institute. Nixon, who is trying to come back from a mildly herniated disk, originally was scheduled to spend two weeks there under the supervision of Dr. Barth A. Green, chief of the university's department of neurological surgery. Francona indicated Nixon will remain at the institute indefinitely, although he said the right fielder has not experienced a setback. |
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