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Big Papi, The Stolen Base King? »
April 19, 2007
It isn't only Red Sox fans who have noticed Jason Varitek's declining skills at the plate.
In the sixth inning today, Boston had David Ortiz at second base and two outs with J.D. Drew coming to the plate. The score was tied, 1-1. And the Jays had their ace, Roy Halladay, on the mound.
But in the on-deck circle, batting sixth in manager Terry Francona's mix-and-match lineup, was Varitek, the Sox' captain and starting catcher. He already was 0 for 2 in the game, dropping his average to .200.
So Toronto manager John Gibbons had Halladay intentionallty walk Drew to get to Varitek with runners now at first and second with two outs.
Halladay missed with his first two pitches, but Varitek was late on a fastball and lofted a high fly down the left-field line that Adam Lind hauled in near the line with Varitek, thinking (hoping?) the ball would go foul into the seats, barely having gotten one-quarter of the way down the first-base line.
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 1:59 PM | Permalink
