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ON THIS DATE (June 24, 2006) ...
David Ortiz has done it again. Ten innings had come down to a single
Tom Gordon-vs.-Ortiz at-bat, with everyone in the stands and the
Boston dugout sure of who would win out. The designated hitter's
two-run homer provided the difference in a 5-3 win over the Phillies
that extended the Red Sox' winning streak to eight.
Gordon threw
a 92-mile-an-hour cutter in that was nasty that David swung over. Then he threw
him a slider at 86 that was nastier. Ortiz found the next pitch, a slightly
hanging curve to his liking. He wasn't looking for a breaking ball. He was just
looking for something over the plate. It was the seventh regular-season walkoff
home run of his career (one with Minnesota), and second in two weeks; he ended
the first game of the June 11th doubleheader with one
After Ortiz
performed his rakish flip of the helmet, he met his screaming teammates for
another fete on the diamond, another celebration of his power and, most of all,
his timing. Joined by an ovation from 35,564, the jumping and playing looked as
if it could have happened on a Little League field. Papelbon threw his arms
around Josh Beckett. Kevin Youkilis playfully punched Willie Harris. Ortiz
lorded over (or under) it all.
For those
who remember Gordon's best days as a member of the Red Sox, it was his patented
12-to-6 curveball - a beauty of a pitch that doesn't seem to have diminished
with age and miles - that Ortiz sent flying to end the first extra-inning game
at Fenway this season after 3 hours and 39 minutes.
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ON THIS DATE (June 26, 2006) ...
Mark Loretta arrived at first base in the bottom of the 12th inning,
drawing a walk from Phillies right-hander Clay Condrey with Kevin
Youkilis already on second and the score tied. Condrey now pitched to
David Ortiz, and Ortiz (again) got the hit, a single that scored
Youkilis to cap an epic 4-hour-59-minute matinee that ended 8-7, the
Red Sox' ninth straight win and the first of Craig Hansen's major
league career.
A mob of
teammates was ready to burst out of the dugout once Ortiz performed his expected
heroics after the game already had seemed lost a half- inning before. On
Saturday, in the 10th inning, Ortiz rocketed a walk-off two-run homer to center.
This time it was a single, a breaking ball lofted onto the grass in front of the
warning track in left-center and just out of Aaron Rowand's reach.
The home
half of the 12th started with the struggling Coco Crisp muscling an outside pitch
down the left-field line for a ground-rule double. After outs from Jason Varitek
and Alex Gonzalez, Youkilis singled over the outstretched glove of shortstop
Rollins, taking second when Victorino bobbled the ball in left and threw home in
a futile attempt to prevent Crisp from scoring the tying run. After the walk to
Loretta, Ortiz plated Youklis with his second straight game-ending hit and third
in his last eight home games.
But because
if the Red Sox can just get back around to Ortiz, it seems they always have a
chance.
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