|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE April 29, 2004 ... A doubleheader sweep, a lights-out return by Byung Hyun Kim, the biggest crowd in 14 years showing up on an April afternoon for a makeup game against Tampa Bay, Red Sox executives fanning out through the stands picking up trash, and more big hits by David Ortiz. Nomar Garciaparra, between games, was working out for a third straight day, running from foul line to Green Monster, taking ground balls at shortstop, snapping throws across the infield, looking more and more like a guy planning his reentry into the baseball universe sooner rather than later. Their best-record-in-baseball status notwithstanding, the Sox should be as energized by the return of their All-Star shortstop, as well as the impending return of Trot Nixon, who played again in Florida, as they were elated by the 2004 debut of Kim, whose performance was both delightful and decorous. Kim's only hand gesture was a modest fist pump at the end of a five-inning, one-hit performance that was rewarded with a 4-0 Sox win, the team's third straight shutout, in the first game against the Devil Rays. Garciaparra said it will be at least another two weeks before he comes back, and with any kind of setback it could be even longer, regardless of how good he looked yesterday. But in the interim the Sox raised their record to 15-6 after beating the Devil Rays in the second game, 7-3, their sixth straight win and ninth in the last 10 games. Scott Williamson and Keith Foulke closed out the night with a scoreless inning apiece after volunteer reliever Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin, and Alan Embree shut down the D-Rays over the last four innings in the matinee. A thing of beauty? No more so than the sight of general manager Theo Epstein and executive vice president Charles Steinberg, among others, picking up empty beer cups and hot dog wrappers between games, part of a new initiative launched by the club to clean up the yard. Kim heard only cheers on his first appearance this year in Fenway Park, scene of last October's ill-advised flippancy on his part. Ortiz provided the necessary muscle in the first game with a two-run home run off Devil Rays ace Victor Zambrano, who whiffed a career-high 10 batters in six innings but made the mistake of grooving a 3-and-0 fastball to the Sox' designated hitter with two outs in the fifth inning of a scoreless tie. Ortiz deposited the pitch into the center-field triangle - Conig's Corner - an area previously covered by a black tarp during day games to provide a proper backdrop for hitters, but yesterday occupied by a sea of spectators clad in green T-shirts dispensed by ushers, the ingenious way Sox management invented to use the section. With Lowe starting, the Sox were within reach of the club record of 39 straight scoreless innings set in 1919. But the Devil Rays, who are the lowest-scoring team in the American League and have been held to one or no runs in seven games this season, broke through immediately against Lowe. For the third time in his four starts, Lowe was the recipient of generous run support. He won his first start, 10-3, over the Orioles, then after losing, 7-3, to the Yankees, came back to beat the Bombers, 11-2, last Friday in New York. Kim, who had made three rehab appearances in the minors, did not have a similar margin for error, but the only hit he allowed was a second-inning line single by Tino Martinez, and that turned into an out when it struck Cruz, aboard on a walk, in the back. Mirabelli, who during spring training had lamented a lack of communication with Kim, primarily but not entirely because of the language difference, also applauded Kim's improvement in that regard. |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
