Rewind

All this Bronson and Theo talk has generated a lot more negativity around here than I ever imagined.  Who would think that my happiness would cause other people anger, or, at least, irritation?

So since I’m stuck in on a Saturday night (What was the point of getting a flu shot when I’ve been sick on and off ever since????  And why am I on the computer when I have a blinding headache ?  But I digress.), I figured I’d try to find something positive to blog about.  Something fun and harmless, certain to not start flame wars or nasty emails getting shot my way.  We soon shall see.

A week or so ago, (jeez, time flies when your team keeps itself in the news) Kellia inspired me to write a blog about the five best moments of 2005.  In that spirit, I figured I’d make another list…lists are fun, I love to make them, of my ten favorite baseball moments of all time.  I’m wide awake…I’m not going anywhere with this headache…I have nothing else to do.  🙂

(Keep in mind, all of these are moments I witnessed.  Either on television or in person.  For example, I’ve only seen Fisk’s historic homerun years after it happened…so it doesn’t make the list.)

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10.1979 World Series, Game 7, "Tanner’s Terrors" beat the Baltimore Orioles.

          Up until Bucky effing Dent’s homerun in October of 1978, I was 1) a casual Red Sox fan and 2) ONLY a Red Sox fan.  (I was at a schoolmate’s birthday party the day of that homerun.  I was home in time for some of the game, but honestly only remember my father screaming at the end of it…so it doesn’t make the list either.)  My  father’s passion during that one game made me eager for the 1979 season.  I watched all the games I could…and even watched the playoffs.  Being 10 years old that fall, I somehow convinced my parents to let me watch the World Series that year.  To this day, I don’t know why I wanted to watch…but after watching Willie Stargell hit a homerun in the 8th inning, bringing the Pirates thisclose, but not close enough, in that first game, I was hooked on the Pirates.  I wanted them to win…and I wanted it bad.  I went into school and wrote "We are Family" (the Pirates theme song that year) and "Tanner’s Terrors" (the team’s nickname, using manager Chuck Tanner’s name) all over my school books.  Every boy in class made fun of me.  I was the only girl watching the World Series and I was ‘stupid’ enough to be rooting for the National League team.  The team that was certainly going to lose.

Game 7 changed all that.  Willie Stargell (who I talked non-stop about in school the entire week of the World Series…I loved him and I thought he was the "best player in baseball except for Fred Lynn" -high praise from the sixth grader that I was) hit another homerun.  The Pirates owned this game early on so there wasn’t "that" kind of excitement…but they won.  I have no memory of all the talk of which team would win, or who was the underdog…all I knew was none of the boys in my class thought they would win…and I got to go into school the next day waving my "We are Family" signs I made in art class at all of them and telling them I told them so.  This World Series began my love of the National League, and really of baseball in general (because even though I learned to love the NL, I never rooted for the Pirates after that and started liking the Orioles – go figure, kids are fickle).  It was my introduction to the world outside Red Sox Nation (a term not yet created) and I never looked back.  I can still see the smile on Chuck Tanner’s face after game 7 and I remember thinking how happy I was for the "old guy".

9. John Valentin returns to Fenway Park , May 10, 2001.

          I was in the bleachers with my co-worker Janet and we had suspected before the game that Valentin was going to play.  The Mariners beat the Red Sox, but that wasn’t why it was memorable.  In May of 2000, Valentin (who non-Red Sox fans might not know or have forgotten was our starting shortstop…he was Nomar before Nomar…and he moved to third base when Nomar came up and became "Nomar"…he was one of our veterans and he was adored, even though he could see himself being pushed aside) ruptured his patellar tendon (I admit, I had to look that part up).  We watched him collapse while on the field and I remember Trot Nixon and Troy O’Leary both on television that night practically crying while talking about him.  Valentin was basically made of glass.  No one knew if he’d come back.  But he did.  On a chilly day in May 2001.  When he came up to bat for the first time, he got the longest standing ovation I’ve ever been witness to.  We were all pretty sure he wasn’t going to be long with the team (and he wasn’t) and no one expected much.  We just wanted to let him know we loved him still…and we did.  So to repay us for OUR loyalty (see, it’s all about US), Valentin smacked a double and the crowd went wild again.  He only played 20 games in 2001 and he ended up with the Mets to finish his career in 2002, but he was a big part of that great ’99 team, and the fans never let him forget it.  I’ll always be so happy and thankful that I was in Fenway Park that night.

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8.  Manny Ramirez introduces himself to Boston, April 6, 2001

          In 2001, I got to take my father to opening day at Fenway.  He’d been to many opening days in his lifetime, but I never had and this was the first game I got to take HIM to, instead of the other way around.  It was a lousy day…grey and rainy and I was concerned he was going to change his mind before we left for the game.  He didn’t.  We sat in the bleachers…and we were soaked…but the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays, 11-4.  We, or course, were eager to see Manny Ramirez.  We had watched him in Cleveland and hated and loved him at the same time.   Now, for a boatload of money we couldn’t even comprehend, only given to him because Mike Mussina went back on his word and instead of signing with Boston, went to the Yankees, Manny was ours.  He wasn’t even at full-health.  He started that year DHing because of his hamstring.  So we were skeptical.  Until he approached the plate.  Manny smacked a three-run homer, in his first at bat as a Red Sox player, off of Ryan Rupe…and the crowd, especially my dad and I, went wild.  We stayed through the rain, watched the team win, and swore we didn’t care if Manny was the permanent DH, he was "the man".  Manny might make me shake my head at times, but he gave me one of the best sports-related moments I have with my dad…and that’s worth an awful lot.

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7.  2002 ALCS, October 5, 2002, Angles beat Yankees 9-5

          2002 was a lousy year for me.  That spring, my house burned down.  I was living with family friends in basically one room.  Pretty much, all I had to cheer me up was baseball.  Even with the Red Sox out of it, I had a deep interest in the playoffs.  I watched the ALCS intently, waiting for the downfall of the Yankees.  But, as a true Red Sox fan, even though by game four it looked like all was over for the boys in pinstripes, I never felt safe.  Not until that last out.  In my room, alone, just before the end of the game, my parents called me on my cell phone.  I barely got out ‘hello’, when I started yelling "Nick Johnson popped out!!! Nick Johnson popped out!!!".  My parents understood that to be the signal of the only thing that could make me happy that year. 

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6.  Pedro pitches a complete game – August 12, 2004 v the Devil Rays

          Another game I was lucky enough to be at.  Again, with dad.  As witnessed by his signing with the Mets in 2005, 2004 was a year that all eyes were on Pedro, all the time, worried that his arm might fly off mid-pitch at any moment.  So for him to pitch a complete game, on a hot August afternoon, striking out ten while he did.  It was actually the third game in a row he struck out ten, so you’d think that would have given people confidence in him…when you see Pedro throwing 109 pitches, you worry and you worry a lot.  All for naught this time.  He made things interesting in the ninth, but Pedro got his shutout, his complete game…and the respect that some of the naysayers had taken away.  It was another game when complete strangers were hugging each other at the end of the game.  And I left there convinced Pedro was going to lead us to the playoffs.  (Little did I know how far he’d take us!)

5.  Wade Boggs hits his first homerun, at my first visit to Fenway Park! June 22, 1982

         Sadly, I remember very little of this day.  It was one of those times when I went through so many emotions, that it’s just a blur.  My parents went to a lot of ball games and I don’t know how I talked them into letting ME go to this one.  My dad took me (my mother took me to plenty of ball games…I guess none that were too memorable though!)…we sat on the first base side…and rookie Wade Boggs hit  his first major league homerun.  That’s all I remember.  That and my father turning to me and saying, "that isn’t something you get to see every day!".

My mother loves to tell me about how she saw Tony Conigliaro’s first homerun in person…I like that we both have a similar experience to share!

So Wade Boggs remained my favorite Red Sox player, even through the "Margo" years.  It was only as an adult, after watching him defect to the Yankees and finding out some not nice things about his time with the Red Sox, that I stopped being a fan.  But I can always appreciate what he did for the Sox while he was here…and for giving me a great (if not foggy) memory!

4.  Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, Luis Gonzalez makes me cry

          We can all agree that the fall of 2001 was horrible.  I lost most of my interest in everything, let alone baseball.  I didn’t watch most of September baseball and none of the playoffs…until the World Series.  Even then, it was a hollow act.  I liked Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, and I didn’t like the Yankees, but I honestly didn’t care who won.  Until the "support" for the Yankees here in Massachusetts started to swell.  Suddenly, radio and tv personalities were demanding that Red Sox fans root for the Yankees because of September 11th.  I never got it.  No one was demanding support for the Mets in September…I didn’t see a connection between September 11th and the Yankees…so I started paying attention to the games.  I’ll admit, the games in New York got to me…and I found myself, while not ROOTING for New York, ALMOST happy that they won those games.  I kept rationalizing that they could win in New York and still lose the series.  And I was right.  Although I really didn’t believe it until it happened.  Come on, who would have?  Who’d have thought Rivera would lose the World Series for the Yankees on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez.  It wasn’t until the moment Luis ran to first that I truly realized how much I still disliked the Yankees and that I wanted them to LOSE.  My phone rang off the wall, my sister and others calling me to celebrate the Yankees losing to the lowly Diamondbacks.  It was one of those times when I wasn’t proud that I was moreso rooting AGAINST a team than FOR one…but to this day, that sight of Luis Gonzalez jumping in the air is one of my favorites in baseball history.

3.  (TIE with 3b) Game 5 of the 2003 ALDS – Derek Lowe’s perfect strike

          The 2003 ALDS was a mess.  The Red Sox went back to Boston after the first two games with NO wins and seemingly no hope.  Then the guys shaved their heads, went to town on the A’s over the weekend (with a little help from some bonehead baserunning by Oakland) and ended up back on the west coast for game 5 on a Monday night.  Damian Jackson and Johnny Damon made things interesting by smashing into each other in the outfield (Jackson ended up all right, Damon ended up in the hospital and to this day claims he has after effects).  Bottom of the ninth and the score is 4-3, the Red Sox are three outs away.  Except, here comes Scott Williamson to walk the first two batters up.  Grady Little pulls SWilly and inserts Derek Lowe…and all of Red Sox Nation runs to the bathroom to throw up.  (well, maybe not all of us…but I certainly did!)  A sacrifice bunt moves the runners up and Lowe strikes out the next batter.  But not so fast, DLowe decides to make things interesting by walking the next batter.  So we have the bases loaded…two outs and only a one run lead.  And the quirkiest, shakiest, most unpredictable pitcher the Red Sox have had on their team in a decade.  I’d love to tell you that I watched Derek Lowe throw that perfect strike that Terrence Long let go right by him to end the game.  But I didn’t.  I was in the bathroom, running the water and blocking my ears because I couldn’t bear to hear or see what was happening.  It wasn’t until I heard the whooping and hollering in the television room that I knew it was safe to come out.  Derek Lowe saved the day…and brought us back to the East Coast for (what we thought at the time) was the most harrowing series the Red Sox and Yankees ever played against each other.

3B.  Derek Lowe pitches a no-hitter, April 27, 2002

          Another Saturday afternoon at my parent’s house watching a ball game.  DLowe is pitching and I’m watching intently.  I always liked him…especially in 2001 when he was getting abused by the media and the fans because he was pitching so poorly out of the pen…I met Lowe in early April of 2002, the Saturday before the pitched against the Yankees on Patriot’s Day, where I saw him pitch, as a starter, one of his best games ever.  So my eyes were on the entire game and around the seventh inning it suddenly occurs to everyone watching what we’re seeing.  My father had left the room and was on the computer.  I went in and said,  "you have to come watch the game.  It’s the seventh inning and something is going on but I can’t tell you what".  Knowing my code for a no-hitter, he silently followed me into the parlor.  My parents and I watched in silence as Derek Lowe…Derek Lowe who got hate mail and practically left the mound crying a few times in 2001…he was going to pitch a  no-hitter.  And he did.  I felt like my brother had just done something amazing.  I even bought tickets to the game where they were going to honor him…"Derek Lowe Night"…where he gave his glove, the rubber from the mound and Jason Varitek’s catcher’s mitt to the Hall of Fame.  DLowe’s career with the Red Sox had it’s ups and downs…but he always made it interesting and I still miss him!

2.  Game 4 of the 2004 World Series

           After the ALCS, there was never a doubt in my mind that the Red Sox were going to win the World Series.  And even as a Red Sox fan, I can admit that the 2004 World Series didn’t have much pop to it.  Aside from Jeff Suppan’s bonehead baserunning, making Big Papi look like a gold glove first baseman, the games were pretty cut and dried.  I even went out after work, before the game started, and bought myself a bottle of champagne (Something that, in the past, I would have considered taboo).  As I did the entire ALCS and the three WS games before this one, I watched with my parents (hey…they introduced me to baseball, they were the ones I wanted to celebrate this with!)…and, again, it was relatively uneventful for us.  I remember there being two outs in the ninth and I stood up to go get the champagne…my mother motioned for me to sit down, "Haven’t you learned anything?  You aren’t getting that champagne until the last out is made".  So I waited…and a moment or two after Keith Foulke threw the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz, I was popping open the bottle of champagne (which I proceeded to finish off all on my own).  I sat watching the celebration with my parents…something I never thought I’d do in, at the least, their lifetimes….and strangely enough we were all silent.  We just watched and listened and didn’t say or do anything.  Well…we did do one thing, we smiled…wide and bright…

1.  Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS

           I should just choose games 4-7, but game 4 was special.  Kevin Millar, a guy no one ever expected to draw a walk from Mariano Rivera, did just that.  Tito Francona, a guy who isn’t a big fan of "small ball", replaced Millar with Dave Roberts…and the entire baseball world knew what was going to happen next.    After getting Mo to throw to first a few times, Roberts took off…and if not for a great slide coupled with a lousy tag by Derek Jeter…things could have ended badly.  Instead, Roberts stood on second with Billy Mueller at the plate, and with one swing of the bat, the score was tied and history was about to begin being made.  Something most Red Sox fans NOW reflect back on when we talk about Game 4 is Kevin Millar.  Not his walk in the ninth, but his "talk" pre-game.  According to videotaped proof and the recollections of most of the sports media across the nation, Millar told anyone who looked at him before game 4 that all was not lost.  "Don’t let us win tonight" he kept saying.  "If we win tonight, we have Petey pitching tomorrow, and then Curt in game 6 and then game 7 is anyone’s game."  (or words to that effect)  The press thought he was crazy…and had the fans heard him, they might have agreed.  But his words became prophetic…and when Red Sox Nation found out what his frame of mind was before Game 4, we knew how the rest of the team was thinking as well…and we got a glimpse into the attitude that helped this team make history.