Another Gathering At Home

As one friend said to me last night about the way last night's game ended: "It never gets old!" David Ortiz, last year's REAL AL MVP, did it yet again, homering with one out and two on in the bottom of the ninth to give the Red Sox a 9-8 topsy-turvy win at Fenway over the Indians.

Once again, there was a crowd at home plate to welcome home The Hero, and it is the fourth "walkoff" home run by Big Papi this season. When he came up, I could just feel another huge hit coming. It's starting to become almost rountine with Ortiz. I've never seen anything like this in terms of clutch hitting in my life. No hitter in baseball is more dangerous with the game on the line.

Papi set the Red Sox record for RBI by the end of July with 105. It's his 12th "walkoff" hit in four years, and that's a record. Papi was interviewed by Erin Andrews on ESPN after the homer and she asked him his reaction to the fans chanting, "MVP! MVP!"

"I like that," Papi said. I like it, too, Big Man.

It was a huge win for the Red Sox, putting them a game up in the AL East. David Wells got rapped around in his return, giving up 8 runs in 4 2/3 innings, but he received a nice ovation when he departed. Kyle Snyder did one helluva job shutting Cleveland down after they got the lead back, going 4 1/3 innings without allowing a run, and got a well-deserved win. He saved the bullpen, and may have just found his niche as the Red Sox' longman.

Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Pena added homers, and Pena had three hits and was just a double short of hitting for the cycle. There was some bad news on the night, as Jason Varitek left with a strained left knee and Trot Nixon was placed on the DL with a biceps injury. Tek will have an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, which he got going into second base last night. They can ill-afford to lose him for any length of time.