It was quite a night last night for the Red Sox. It was a game they desperately needed: a laugher victory. And they got it, courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles. The Sox have now beaten Baltimore 14 out of 15 times, and David Wells pitched seven strong innings, and the Sox won easily, 9-2.But the night last night belonged to Mike Lowell. In the first inning, he was hit square in the batting helmet with a fastball by Adam Loewen. Lowell was left sprawled on the ground, but appeared to be fine and was quickly on his feet. It brought back Tony Conigliaro to my mind (Lowell even wears the same number Tony C wore: 25) and the infamous beaning he took in 1967.
But the next inning, Lowell made an absolutely sensational catch off the bat of Nick Markakis (see photo above). Lowell caught the ball as he was falling into the stands, and held on to it to show the third base umpire, who made the out call.
After Lowell's fantastic grab, NESN then showed the catch the Derek Jeter made in July 2004 against Trot Nixon at Yankee Stadium, the one that he caught on the dead run and then he flew into the stands. While it was a great catch, Pokey Reese made an even better one earlier in the game that rarely ever gets talked about. He physically went into the stands, among many Yankee fans, to make an absolutely sensational catch. How come NESN didn't show that? Jeter's catch was in the field of play, and he couldn't slow down and went into the stands. Pokey's was much more difficult, but of course, he didn't fly into the stands, nor was he known as "Captain Intangibles," so it is basically an afterthought. A shame really.
And to top off Mike Lowell's night, he even stole third base.
The Red Sox scored seven runs in the third to put the game away. After the disasterous road trip and a five-game losing streak, the Red Sox needed an easy victory very badly. And a Yankee loss to the Angels put the Sox two back in the AL East.
Good start to an important 11-game homestand. Keep the Faith, folks. There's still a lot of baseball left to be played.
Why did NESN show "Captain Fist Pump's" play:
ReplyDeleteMust be that NESN is in part, a broadcast property of the NY TIMES Company;
Maybe, NESN is accepting "Drivel" ads.
Jeter's catch has always been overrated. It was a decent catch that everyone raved about because he went into the stands afterward. The catch itself wasn't anything amazing. If he had managed to stop himself, few people would even remember it
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