A Lost Cause
Sunday, June 13, 2010 – Fenway Park, Section 36
Phillies 5, Red Sox 3
As the calendar turned to June, the Red Sox kept up their winning ways. They took 2 of 3 from the A’s, won 2 of 3 in Baltimore, and split a 4-game series in Cleveland. When they returned home, they won the first 2 games against the Phillies in convincing fashion. My next game was the final day of the series, as they tried for the sweep. I did my usual Sunday thing, parking for free on Comm. Ave. and going in early, even though I know they often skip batting practice on a day game after a night game, especially when they have the next day off. Just as I feared, there was no B.P., but when I went in Jon Lester was throwing a side session in the bullpen. After he wrapped up, Josh Beckett, who’s been on the D.L. with a bad back since late May, came out and threw on flat ground under the watchful eyes of pitching coach John Farrell and head trainer Mike Reinold.
Jon Lester rests in the bullpen after throwing a side session between starts.
The rest of the pitchers soon came out to right field to throw, and I went over to get some close-up photos. I was focusing on Boof Bonser and Dustin Richardson, both of whom had joined the team since my last game, but got some good shots of the regulars, too.
Ramon Ramirez joined his teammates for some long-tossing. We'd see him again in the 9th inning.
My seat was again among the season ticket holders in the first few rows in centerfield, one row back from the seat I had had two weeks ago. When no one ever came and sat in the two seats next to me, I called my friends who were sitting about 30 rows back, and they were able to move down and sit with me for the rest of the game.
A rare in-focus action shot! Mike Lowell hops up after making a diving stop. He flipped to Wakefield covering first to complete the out.
We got to watch Mike Lowell play first (he made a nice diving play for the first out of the second) with Kevin Youkilis getting the day off after being hit by a pitch the day before. Tim Wakefield made the start, and everything was fine for the first 3 innings. At the end of the third, he had surpassed 3000 innings pitched in his career, an accomplishment matched by only 130 others in all of history, and a congratulatory message was shown on the scoreboard between innings. Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre gave Wake a 1-0 lead with a blast into the Green Monster seats.
It all fell apart in the fourth, when Wakefield gave up 4 runs on 5 hits, but even that should be something the Red Sox should overcome. Wake settled down and didn’t allow any baserunners over the next 3 innings, but his counterpart Cole Hamels was holding the Red Sox offense in check.
Daniel Nava continued his major league success with a 2-for-4 afternoon.
The most popular Red Sox player of the day (or at least the one who received the most cheers) was Daniel Nava, who had made his impressive major league debut the day before. By now everyone knows the story – he wasn’t recruited, walked on to his college team, got cut and became the equipment manager and did the team’s laundry, transfered to a new school before finally earning a baseball scholarship back at his original school, played well but didn’t get drafted, went to an independent league where he won a batting title, had his contract purchased by the Red Sox for $1, and worked his way through the minor leagues. In his debut on Saturday, he hit the first pitch he saw into the bullpen for a grand slam, becoming only the second player in history to perform that feat. On Sunday, he again started in left field, and added to his major league resume with a double in the fifth and an RBI single in the ninth.
Unfortunately for us, there wasn’t much else to cheer about. Wake had a decent start, with 4 runs in 7 1/3 innings, but the offense couldn’t do much of anything against Hamels. By the time they got 2 runs in the bottom if the ninth, it was too little too late.
