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DAVID ORTIZ & MANNY RAMIREZ |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Papi and Manny slug Chicago
August 14, 2004 ... Curt Schilling
set the stage for David Ortiz to slug a dramatic solo homer with one out in the eighth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and propel the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory before a gleefully grateful 35,012 at Fenway Park. The homer was Ortiz's second of the game and 30th of the season as he shared
his special night with Manny Ramirez, who
also swatted his 30th homer of the year.
As more evidence that the 2004 season may be remembered in some circles as The Manny and David Show, Ramirez and Ortiz remained 1-2 in the American League in extra-base hits and slugging percentage while they continued to outpace any other pair of teammates in the league by combining for a
whopping 60 homers and 192 RBIs.
Ortiz saved the game for Schilling and ruined the night for Chicago righthander Jon Adkins, his teammate last winter on the Escogido Lions in the Dominican league. After the White Sox came back from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth to force the 3-3 tie, Ortiz smacked a 92-mile-an-hour fastball
from Adkins over the Sox pen for the decisive blow. Ortiz delivered his 13th game-winning RBI as he ranks in the American League only behind New York's Gary Sheffield and Baltimore's Miguel Tejada, who each have struck decisive blows 14 times.
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CURT SCHILLING |
Ramirez produced his seventh straight 30-homer season as he joined Jimmie Foxx and Mo Vaughn as the only players in Sox history to slug at least 30 homers in four straight seasons. Foxx hit 30 or more five straight years from 1936-40 and Vaughn accomplished the feat four straight seasons
from 1995-98. The only other Sox players who launched 30 or more homers at least four times in their careers were Ted Williams (eight times) and Jim Rice (four).
So was Schilling, who helped make the happy ending possible by overcoming two solo homers in the first inning and ultimately rationing the White Sox only three runs on five hits, a walk, and a hit batsman over eight innings. After Ortiz's decisive blast, Keith Foulke finished off a fine
night in the Fens as he overcame a leadoff walk by retiring the next three batters for his 19th save. As for Schilling, he fired 108 pitches and improved to 14-6 with a 3.60 ERA while rinsing out the bitter aftertaste of the Devil Rays tagging him for six runs in five-plus innings in an 8-3
loss his last time out. |
