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SAVING FENWAY, MORE PEDRO
AND A FRUSTRATING SEASON
Nomar & Carl Everett lead the
Sox
in the Fenway Park opener
April 11, 2000 ... It
was a 13-4, welcome-home, 100th anniversary party the Red Sox threw
for themselves this afternoon at Fenway Park.
Ramon
Martinez righted himself against the Minnesota Twins after a rough first inning.
Carl Everett and rookie Wilton Veras also were among the Sox players who had
trouble negotiating the correct route to Fenway Park for the home opener.
Everett
arrived 10 minutes after everyone else was dressed, with traveling secretary
Jack McCormick bringing him in by cellular phone, like an air traffic controller
guiding an airplane in distress to a safe landing. Veras, answering a summons
from Pawtucket along with reliever Rob Stanifer, made it in time, but not before
they made a couple of passes by the ballpark on streets choked with traffic.
With Everett
hitting two home runs, one from each side of the plate, and Nomar Garciaparra
stroking four singles, driving in three runs, and scoring two, the Sox scored
twice in the first, eight times in the second, and three more times in the sixth
while collecting 16 hits in their most lopsided home-opening win since they
spanked the 1995 version of Tom Kelly's Twinkies, 9-0.
Every player
in the starting lineup had at least one hit except for DH Brian Daubach, whose
first-inning sacrifice fly helped give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Leadoff man Jose
Offerman was on base five times - three walks and two singles - and Veras and
catcher Jason Varitek had two hits apiece against the vertically challenged
Twins, who tortured Kelly with an assortment of misplays that included dropped
pop ups and falling outfielders.
The
switch-hitting Everett, making his Fenway Park debut, homered onto the tarp in
center field while batting lefthanded against right-hander Joe Mays to touch off
the second-inning rally. He was turned around in the sixth and took lefty Mark
Redman into the left- field screen. Everett had faced Redman from the left side
when he whiffed in the second and walked in the fourth.
Everett, who
also walked and doubled, pointed heavenward twice, a la Tom Gordon, as he
circled the bases following his first home run, then cocked another finger at
the fans as he headed for the dugout.
Veras, who
had a terrific spring in Florida but still was sent to the minors, was recalled
because John Valentin's left knee is acting up again. His ground-rule double
following a walk to Mike Stanley galvanized the Sox again in the second, when
they sent 13 batters to the plate and expanded their lead from 2-1 to 10-1.
It was even
more so for Ramon Martinez, who walked home a run in the first inning but left
the bases full of Twins, then spun four shutout innings before departing after
five, sufficient labor to be credited with his first win this season. |
