HR #23

A SAD END TO A RECORD SEASON
Coco's catch saves the game

June 29, 2006 ... With a little help from his friends, of course, most notably Coco Crisp, the new guy in charge of taking care of the lawn in center field, and David Ortiz, who these days has the run of any place he wants to call his own, Curt Schilling remained unbeaten in seven starts this season at Fenway Park, outdueling local hero Tom Glavine of Billerica and the New York Mets, 4-2, in the first matchup of 200-game winners at the Fens since Luis Tiant and Jim Palmer went mano-a-mano Sept. 11, 1978.

And just as the Sox reminded everyone in sweeping the Mets and running their winning streak to 12 games, their longest run of success in almost 11 years, that Pedro doesn't live here anymore, so, too, did Crisp take an enormous leap in laying claim to territory that many Sox hearts had bequeathed to Johnny Damon.

On a night the Sox tied the major league record for most consecutive games without committing an error (16), Crisp made what immediately becomes first among equals of great defensive plays made this season by these leather craftsmen. With Mike Timlin trying to preserve the 3-2 lead that the Sox created in National League fashion with Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly accounting for the tying run in the sixth, and a bunt single, stolen base, sacrifice bunt, and sacrifice fly giving the Sox the lead in the seventh, the Mets wunderkind David Wright smashed a drive headed to the gap in left-center in the eighth.

With a fast runner, Carlos Beltran, on first after a single, the sellout crowd of 36,028 was braced for a tie game. Crisp, however, didn't get that memo, taking off at the crack of the bat and then flinging himself, glove outstretched, at a ball that appeared behind him. Alter the timing by a microsecond, and Wright is standing at least on second with a double, and more likely on third with a triple. Instead, Wright found himself headed back to the dugout, the webbing of Crisp's glove intercepting Wright's bid for extra bases and denying the Mets the chance to draw even. Timlin's reaction to the play differed little from anyone else who witnessed the play, his jaw dropping as he mouthed the word "Wow," before thrusting his fist in the air.

Ortiz, who had put his monster-truck wheels in motion to help the Sox to their second run, hustling to third on Mike Lowell's fly ball after his sixth-inning double off Glavine, then strolling home on Varitek's fly, later greeted Mets reliever Duaner Sanchez with his 23d home run, deep into the center-field bleachers, giving closer Jonathan Papelbon a two-run cushion to record his 24th save, one that drew him even with the Monster, Dick Radatz, for most ever by a Sox rookie.

The game was scoreless through five innings, Glavine inducing the Sox into rolling one ground ball after another, while Schilling faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings, Jose Reyes erased attempting to steal after his leadoff single in the first and Julio Franco getting picked off second after his double in the fifth, the second Mets base runner to be picked off in three nights.

The Mets took the lead in the sixth when Paul Lo Duca grounded a single to right and Beltran launched a 3-and-1 fastball into the center-field seats for his 22d home run, the first Schilling has allowed at Fenway this season.

But Mark Loretta responded in the home half of the sixth by lofting a ball into the Monster seats for his third home run of the season. Ortiz then launched a double off the wall in left-center, and after Manny Ramirez walked, Mets manager Willie Randolph pulled Glavine after 102 pitches. It was Crisp who dropped the bunt single off Mets reliever Aaron Heilman to start the seventh. Crisp swiped second, was bunted to third by Alex Gonzalez, and scored on Kevin Youkilis' fly to left.

The Sox are now 14-1 in interleague play this season, with 12 straight wins against the National Leaguers, including the team that arrived here as the best in the senior circuit. The 12 straight wins match an interleague record shared by the Yankees and, improbably, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.