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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE May 30, 2004 ... Curt Schilling pitched his heart out before he lost his bid for a perfect game with two outs in the sixth inning. Keith Foulke also tried mightily to extend his perfect streak of 24 straight saves, only to have his magical run blow up on him in the eighth inning like a trick cigar. But when Red Sox manager Terry Francona gambled that David McCarty could do something special with one majestic swing on a 3-0 pitch with one out in the 12th inning from Seattle's J.J. Putz, everything worked out just perfectly. In a perfect ending to a memorable struggle on a glorious day in the Fens, McCarty swatted a 90-mile-an-hour fastball into the bleachers in dead center for a two-run, walkoff homer that lifted the Sox to a 9-7 victory before a delirious 35,046 who celebrated to the rocking rhythm of "Dirty Water." McCarty's blast made the Sox a perfect 8 for 8 with four doubles, two homers, and 10 RBIs this season on 3-0 counts when they have put the ball in play. The first walk-off shot in McCarty's memory vaulted the Sox back into first place in the American League East and capped a battle of attrition that ultimately left the injury-riddled Sox fielding a team that looked more like the best of Triple A Pawtucket. McCarty knocked in Jason Varitek, who reached when Putz plunked him with a 72-mile-an-hour curveball. Notable among them were recent alums of the PawSox: Andy Dominique, whose first hit in the majors was a run-scoring single in the eighth that helped to nullify Foulke's blown save in the top of the inning; Kevin Youkilis, who went 3 for 5, was hit by a pitch, and scored three runs; and Anastacio Martinez, who stymied the Mariners in the 11th and 12th innings to pick up his second win. They finished the game for the Sox along with the likes of McCarty and Cesar Crespo.
One after another, the Mariners faltered against Schilling, who retired 17 straight batters before Randy Winn looped an opposite- field single near the line in left with two outs in the sixth. Until then, the crowd and Schilling's defense hung on every pitch, and no one was more anxious than Youkilis, the rookie third baseman who had played behind Bronson Arroyo when he fired a perfect game last year in Pawtucket. By the eighth inning, though, Schilling was steaming. With the Sox leading, 5-1, he opened the inning by walking John Olerud on a 3- 2 fastball. Schilling believed at the time the pitch was a strike. He said he also misplaced a few more pitches in the inning, which ultimately forced him out of the game. In all, Shilling was charged with surrendering three runs in the inning, letting the Mariners cut the lead to 5-4. Seattle touched Schilling's relief, Alan Embree, for a single before Raul Ibanez ruined Foulke's streak by clubbing a three-run homer into the Sox pen, putting the Mariners up, 7-5. From there, Foulke flummoxed the Mariners in the ninth before Mike Timlin blanked them in the 10th and Martinez took care of business in the 11th and 12th, setting up McCarty's shot. It ended with the Sox jumping in unison at the plate, with McCarty in the middle of the scrum, and a sellout crowd rejoicing. It seemed as perfect as it gets. |
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