Main page
« June 22, 2006
June 24, 2006 »

Fighting the rain

BOSTON -- It's raining in Boston, and the forecast isn't promising, but the Red Sox think they'll be able to play tonight's game against the Phillies. Rumblings are that if they have to postpone it, the game will be pushed back to Monday, which is an off-day for both teams.

Tonight's lineups:

BOSTON:
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Mark Loretta, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Trot Nixon, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Mike Lowell, 3B
Coco Crisp, CF
Alex Gonzalez, SS
---
Josh Beckett, P

PHILADELPHIA:
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Chase Utley, 2B
Bobby Abreu, RF
Pat Burrell, DH
Ryan Howard, 1B
Aaron Rowand, CF
David Dellucci, LF
David Bell, 3B
Sal Fasano, C
---
Ryan Madson, P

Posted by Art  at 5:20 PM | Permalink

'This game is going to go on for eternity'

Wade Boggs at today's luncheon
Journal photo / GRETCHEN ERTL

PROVIDENCE -- In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, April 19, 1981, Joe Morgan knew that baseball history was going to be set.

Morgan, the manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox at the time, had been thrown out of his team's game against the Rochester Red Wings in the 22nd inning with the score tied, 2-2, for arguing with the umpires. It was a windy, cold night, and Morgan retreated to a runway directly behind home plate at McCoy Stadium to watch the rest of the action.

''The players were coming back there [between innings],'' Morgan related today at the Providence Marriott Hotel on Oms Street, ''moanin' [about the cold] like you can't believe. I knew there was no way anyone was going to score. I said to myself, 'This game is going to go on for eternity.'

"Was I right?"

Well, almost. Morgan and 15 of his former players -- along with his pitching coach, Cranston's Mike Roarke, and eight members of the opposing Red Wings -- gathered today at noon for a luncheon hosted by the PawSox honoring the 25th anniversary of the end of longest game in professional baseball history. The game was suspended after 32 innings at 4:07 a.m. on April 19 and resumed on the evening of June 23. When it did, Dave Koza singled home Marty Barrett in the bottom of the 33rd inning, giving the PawSox a 3-2 victory.

Morgan and Barrett were part of a discussion panel about the game, hosted by Red Sox television announcer Don Orsillo, that included Hall of Famer Wade Boggs and Bruce Hurst, two other members of the '81 PawSox.

''I'd been a baseball fan since I was a kid,'' said Barrett, the team's second baseman who played with the Boston Red Sox from 1983-90, ''and I knew the longest game before that was 26 innings. So when we got to the 27th, I told everybody, 'We're playing in the longest game ever.' ''

They had gotten that far because Boggs had driven in the tying run in the bottom of the 21st, after Rochester had scored in the top of the inning to take the lead.

''I didn't know if the guys on the team wanted to hug me or slug me,'' said Boggs, a career .337 hitter with the Red Sox from 1982-93.

Hurst, one of the best left-handed pitchers in Red Sox history, worked the 28th through 32nd innings, allowing only two hits and striking out seven. He recalls striking out Rochester's Cal Ripken, another Hall of Famer, at about 4 a.m. on a 3-and-2 curveball.

''A 3-and-2 curve at 4 in the morning is a hard pitch to hit,'' joked Hurst.

The entire roundtable discussion was light and lively, drawing laughter and appluase from the capacity crowd estimated at about 400 people. When Morgan pointed that the PawSox made only one error in 33 innings, Boggs retorted: ''That's because nobody was making contact!'' Boggs also recalled a phone call he made to his father in Florida the next morning.

''I got four hits last night,'' he said.

''Hey, you had a good game!'' his father replied.

''Well, I did it in 12 at-bats,'' he admitted.

Barrett recalled that the statistics for the game didn't become official until the game ended, and many of the hitters were dreading the resumption because their batting averages would plummet when the numbers were included. ''I wasn't looking forward to that 2-for-12'' -- his performance in the game -- ''getting into the stats,'' he said. ''The pitchers, though, couldn't wait to get those numbers into the books,'' he said, since most of them pitched multiple scoreless innings.

Dallas Williams, a former Red Sox coach who played for Rochester that night, had the worst numbers of all; he went 0-for-13. Williams was in attendance today, along with former Red Wings Jim Umbarger, Tom Eaton, Ed Putman, John Valle, Steve Grilli (the losing pitcher), Keith Smith and Allan Ramirez.

The PawSox players at the luncheon, in addition to Boggs, Hurst, Barrett and Koza, included Jim Dorsey, Keith MacWhorter, Russ Quetti, Roger LaFrancois, Sam Bowen, Mike Smithson, Chico Walker, Luis Aponte, Russ Laribee, Ed Jurak and Mike Ongorato. Also on hand were Roarke, first-base umpire Tony Maners, and official scorer Bill George (whose scoreboard is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame).

Weather permitting, the festivities will continue before tonight's PawSox game against the Columbus Clippers. The ceremony will begin at 7 p.m.

-- Journal sports editor Art Martone

Posted by Art  at 3:48 PM | Permalink

Friday press notes

Friday's pregame press notes, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. deparment . . .

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Fri., June 23 PHI 7:05 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (8-3, 5.09) RHP Ryan Madson (7-4, 5.79) NESN
Sat., June 24 PHI 1:25 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (9-2, 3.55) RHP Brett Myers (5-3, 3.77) FOX 25
Sun., June 25 PHI 2:05 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (5-8, 3.82) RHP Cory Lidle (4-6, 5.00) NESN
Tue., June 27 NYM 7:05 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (2-0, 2.76) LHP Alay Soler (2-1, 3.32) NESN
Wed., June 28 NYM 7:05 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett RHP Pedro Martinez (7-3, 3.01) NESN
Thu., June 29 NYM 7:05 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling LHP Tom Glavine (10-2, 3.48/pitches tonight) NESN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-FM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

DYNAMIC DUO: Since the start of 2004, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez rank 1-2 in the majors in RBI and each rank in the top 4 in home runs:
MLB RBI Leaders, 2004-06
Player Total
David Ortiz 351
Manny Ramirez 319
Albert Pujols 305
Miguel Tejada 302
Mark Teixeira 295
MLB HR Leaders, 2004-06
Player Total
Albert Pujols 112
Adam Dunn 109
David Ortiz 109
Manny Ramirez 106
Paul Konerko 99
Alex Rodriguez 99

ABOUT THE SOX: The Red Sox play the 1st of 3 games with Philadelphia tonight, the middle series of a 9-game homestand versus the National League East…Boston has won a season high 6 straight games since losing in Minnesota on June 15…It is the 2nd longest current winning streak among major league teams (White Sox-7 straight)…Last longer win streak for the Sox was 7 victories in a row, July 27-August 4, 2005…Sox are 9-5 since June 8 and 12-8 beginning May 31 . . . At 42-28, Boston is a season best 14 games over .500 and has its best record after 70 games since 2002 (45-25/lost game 71)…Club was 40-30 and 2nd, 2 GB, after 70 contests a year ago . . . The Sox have held a 2-game advantage in the A.L. East for the past 4 days, their biggest advantage since a 2-game margin on May 28…Club has been in the top spot the last 6 days and has been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 69 of 80 days in 2006 . . . At Fenway Park, the Sox have won 3 straight, 9 of 11 and 14 of the last 19 games, the longer streak beginning May 4…Club’s .677 (21-10) home winning percentage is tied for 2nd in A.L. with Minnesota behind Chicago at .730 (27-10).

SERIES SWEEPS: Sox have won all games in consecutive series at Atlanta and versus Washington, the 1st time team has swept back-to-back series of at least 3 games since going 3-0 versus both Minnesota and Kansas City, July 29-August 4, 2005…Was the 1st time that the team has ever swept consecutive series in interleague play.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Red Sox are 8-1 versus the National League this season, winning 6 straight since a loss in Philadelphia on May 21…This ties the team’s longest win streak ever in interleague play, 1st accomplished from June 19, 2005-May 20, 2006…That matches the White Sox, Devil Rays, and Mariners for the best winning percentage (.889) in the majors in interleague play in 2006…Boston has won 12 of its last 13 and 17 of last 19 in interleague play starting June 12, 2005…Sox have .741 (20-7) winning percentage since start of 2005 in interleague action, matching the White Sox for best in majors . . . Sox are 85-81 lifetime vs. N.L. in regular season, 48-36 at Fenway Park…Sox are 10-2 at home against N.L. teams since start of 2005, winning 4 straight and 9 of the last 10…Team has won its last 9 home series in interleague play since dropping 2 of 3 to St. Louis, June 10-12, 2003…Since that time, Boston is 21-6 at Fenway Park vs. the N.L.

BATTING NOTES: The Sox produced 20 runs and 33 hits in the final 2 games of the Washington series…Are team’s most hits in 2-game span since 33, June 12-13, 2005 vs. the Cubs (17) and Reds (16)…Team is 89-for-258 (.345) in last 7 games and has a .300 (332-for-1106) average over the last 31 contests improve season mark from .274 to .286, 3rd best in the league and the highest since May 28 (.284)…Sox are batting .343 (200-583) with 114 runs in last 17 games at Fenway Park and lead the league with a home batting average of .310 (327-1056) . . . Sox are batting .313 (302-966) in interleague games since the start of 2005, the best average among major league clubs in that span.

WITH THE GLOVE: The Red Sox have gone 10 games without an error, tying the club record for consecutive errorless games 1st accomplished from September 26-October 5, 1986…Have 3 miscues in the last 18 games and 12 errors over last 45 contests beginning May 1…Boston leads the majors with a .991 fielding percentage with 23 total errors being 10 fewer than any other major league club (San Diego)…Are the fewest errors for any major league team through June 22 since research is first available beginning in 1960…Sox last led A.L. in team fielding for a season in 1950.

CLIMBING FAST: Jonathan Papelbon has earned saves in his last 3 appearances and leads the A.L. with 23 saves, tying Doug Corbett (Minnesota-1980) and Huston Street (Oakland-2005) for 12th most ever by a rookie…Next on list is Dick Radatz (1962), who holds team rookie mark with 24 saves…ML record is 37 by Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000…Has converted 23 of 24 save tries (95.8%), the best percentage in the majors among pitchers with at least 15 saves . . . Papelbon has pitched 19 scoreless innings in last 18 games since allowing only run this season on May 3 vs. Toronto…His 0.25 earned run average is the lowest in the majors among all pitchers who have worked at least 8 innings…Dennis Eckersley’s 0.61 era with Oakland in 1990 is the lowest earned run average in a season for a pitcher who has pitched at least 35 innings and at least 50 innings.

2006: Boston won the 1st 2 in a 3-game series at Citizens Bank Park, May 19-21…Loss on May 21 ended a 6-game Sox winning streak in the series, the 1st defeat since a loss at Fenway Park on June 26, 2004...Red Sox and Phillies are meeting for 4th season in a row and the 9th time in 10 years of interleague play since its inception in 1997 (every season except 2002).

AT FENWAY: Sox and Phils meet for 1st time since Boston took 2 of 3, June 25-27, 2004…Sox have won 3 of last 4 here and have won last 2 Fenway series since dropping 2 of 3 in 1999.

ALL-TIME: Boston leads the all-time series, 15-13, 8-6 at Fenway and 7-7 in Philly…The clubs also faced off in the 1915 World Series with Boston winning the final 4 games in a row to capture the series 4-1.

MANNY RAMIREZ ranks 3rd all-time with 114 interleague RBI behind Carlos Delgado (128) and Jim Thome (118)..His 39 homers in interleague games are 4th most, trailing Thome (49), Delgado (41), and Rafael Palmeiro (41).…His 453 career homers are tied with Gary Sheffield for 29th alltime, one behind Thome.

DAVID ORTIZ connected for his 5th career grand slam on Wednesday…All 5 have come at Fenway Park (1 with Minnesota; 4 with Boston), only the 3rd player in history to own at least 5 career slams and have hit them all in the same ballpark: Cecil Cooper, 5 at County Stadium in Milwaukee and Ken Williams, 5 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis (research by David Vincent)…Ortiz leads the A.L. with 64 RBI, 13 in his last 11 games.

LOWELL AND THE PHILLIES: Mike Lowell had a pair of homers and 4 rbi in 2 games versus the Phillies in May…Has 24 career homers against Philadelphia, 11 more than he has versus any other team (Braves and Mets—13 each).

STELLAR AT SHORT: Alex Gonzalez leads A.L. shortstops with a .995 (1 E/209 TC) fielding percentage and has gone 50 games since his lone miscue on April 9 at Baltimore, both a single season and overall team mark for a shortstop…Previous overall record was 48 games by Rico Petrocelli, September. 25, 1968-May 30, 1969.

Posted by Art  at 3:08 PM | Permalink

Boggs joins ex-mates at Longest Game celebration

PROVIDENCE -- Hall of Famer Wade Boggs has joined many of his former teammates today to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the longest game in professional baseball history.

Joining Boggs at the Providence Marriott for today's event are 13 of his teammates from the 1981 Pawtucket Red Sox, including pitcher Bruce Hurst and infielder Marty Barrett. PawSox manager "Walpole" Joe Morgan, who went on to manage the Boston Red Sox to two American League East titles, is also there.

There was a luncheon earlier this afternoon; a roundtable discussion is now taking place featuring Boggs, Barrett, Hurst and Morgan, with master of ceremonies Don Orsillo.

Weather permitting, the festivities will continue before tonight's PawSox game against the Columbus Clippers. The game is now on, according to the team's Web site; there is currently no plan to reschedule the ceremonies in the event of a postponement.

In a game that started April 18, 1981, at McCoy Stadium, the PawSox and the Rochester Red Wings played 33 innings; the game had to be suspended and resumed on June 23.

Dave Koza, who finally won the game for the PawSox with a base hit to left, is at today's luncheon, too.

-- With reports from Journal sports editor Art Martone

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:44 PM | Permalink

Phillies pitcher charged with assaulting wife in Boston

BOSTON -- Philadelphia Phillies ace pitcher Brett Myers was arrested today and charged with assaulting his wife on a downtown street.

Myers, 25, who was scheduled to pitch tomorrow against the Red Sox, got in an argument with his wife at about 12:20 a.m. at the corner of Boylston and Dalton streets, according to David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

Myers' wife, Kim Wickman, and two witnesses told police the pitcher hit her. One witness said Myers also pulled her hair.

Police responded to a 911 call and found Myers' wife crying, with a swollen face. They found Myers nearby and arrested him. He cooperated with police, Procopio said.
Myers was booked by Boston police and his wife posted his $200 bail.

He pleaded not guilty to assault charges at his arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court, Procopio said. His next court date is Aug. 4.

A Phillies spokesman had no immediate comment.

Myers was scheduled to pitch against the Sox' Curt Schilling tomorrow afternoon. The Phillies open up a three-game series against Boston tonight.

-- Associated Press

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 11:23 AM | Permalink