We Want...A Shrubbery!

After a 16-day drought, Manny Ramirez finally belted his 497th home run, a moonshot in the seventh inning off Detroit reliever Freddy Dolsi over the 420 sign in center field and into some trees they have back there. (Or as the Tigers announcers said last night, "into the shrubbery.")

It was memorable, especially for Dolsi, as it was his MLB debut, and it was off the first pitch he threw in the majors. Something he can tell the grandkids one day: "The first pitch I ever threw in the majors was hit by Manny Ramirez for a home run into the center field shrubbery at Comerica."

TV trivia question: From what classic TV sitcom were the numbers "4-9-7" made famous in a four-part episode? (Answer below.)

David Ortiz also went deep, another blast that went about halfway up the right field seats. Then Manny hit his blast. But the story of the night was Tim Wakefield, who had his knuckler dancing all night long, and allowed just two hits in eight innings in winning, 5-0. At one point, he retired 17 straight batters. It may have been the best game he's ever pitched, and it took just 2 hours and 20 minutes to play. (And continues to make a BS liar out of one Wallace Matthews.)

The Red Sox have now won five straight, and have taken the first two games in Detroit. So far, Mike Lowell has gotten the monkey off his back, and on Tuesday night, Manny Ramirez did too, with his 497th home run, a "Knights Who Say Ni" (pictured) blast to deep center at Comerica.

Trivia answer: "4-9-7" was the combination to the moon safe that Jeannie was trapped in in a classic four-part episode of "I Dream of Jeannie." I can remember as a kid NBC had a contest to guess what the combination was, and someone won. Who? I have no idea.