Back To Normal by Jared Carrabis
First-hand account of Sox taking first place


Seated comfortably in Section 10 where no rain could reach me, I watched the Red Sox leap over the Toronto Blue Jays and into first place in the American League East.

I had a feeling that it was going to be a good day before a pitch had even been thrown. Why you ask? Well, less then 24 hours prior when Josh Beckett turned in arguably his most impressive start of the season, aside from his 10 K performance on Opening Day, I felt that the baseball Gods punished Red Sox fans rather harshly by handing us a crushing defeat after such a brilliant performance. Papelbon's first blown save of 2009 led to an unfortunate loss for Boston, after he had begun the inning with two promising strikeouts.

Needing a win to avoid the sweep, I, along with SoxSpace contributor, Mike Ghika, made our way to Fenway Park for Sunday's day game (separately). Now, when the Sox need a win, you need to put tickets in our hands. In games that we've both attended, (doesn't even have to be together, just in the park at the same time) our resume is quite impressive. Manny's walk-off home run in the 2007 ALDS, the Coco brawl, Games 4 and 5 in the 2004 ALCS and Kevin Youkilis' walk-off blast against the Yankees earlier this season are just a few on our list of games witnessed.

With a Boston win and a loss being handed to the free falling Blue Jays, the Red Sox would advance themselves atop the AL East. As I mentioned before, I had a good feeling about this game, and that feeling only heightened when I arrived at the Haymarket T stop and the first train that arrived was not an E train. A miracle, indeed.

Mets Nation (is there such a thing?) was well represented at Fenway Park all series long, especially on Sunday. It disgusted me. I'm a genuinely nice guy, but if you ask me what train you need to get on or what stop you need to get off at and you're not wearing a Sox jersey, there's a good chance you're going to be taking an unpleasant detour on your way to Fenway Park courtesy of Jared Carrabis. I play dirty; get used to it.

Once at Fenway, the Sox couldn't even get in a full inning before the rains came, complete with thunder and lighting with rain drops the size of baseballs. Luckily, I was seated just far enough back to stay dry. As Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen played their rendition of Milli Vanilli's "Blame It On The Rain", a 36-minute rain delay halted the action on the field. Once the tarp was removed from the infield, the Mets jumped out to an early lead on a solo shot by Ramon Castro off of Tim Wakefield in the top of the second.

As quick as their lead was built, it was taken away by the hands of Mike Lowell. He may have the highest fielding percentage of all time at the hot corner, but he gets it done with the bat more often than not, as well. The man who holds the record for most RBI by a Red Sox third baseman in a single season (2007, 120) put three on the board for Boston, giving Wakefield a 3-1 lead to work with. Lowell finished the day going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, boosting his average back up to .291.

In the top of the third inning, Wakefield gave the three runs that his offense had just provided him right back to the Mets. A ground out and a pair of singles plated three runs to put the Mets back out in front by a 4-3 score. In the bottom of the fifth inning, it appeared as if though the Red Sox were chipping away at a 5-3 New York lead when Kevin Youkilis hammered a ball up over the foul pole in left field. From my angle, and my extremely biased opinion, it looked like a home run to me. I was scrambling through my phone to ask friends who were watching the game on TV if it was fair or foul, and of course they were going to say it was fair.

After avoiding using instant replay at Fenway Park since it was introduced to the game, the Red Sox have had to use video to decide two home run calls in less than 24 hours. After the umpires reviewed the play and consulted the MLB officials in New York, the call stood: foul ball.

"I thought it was a fair ball, but the call was a foul ball," Youkilis said. "Luckily it didn't cost us."

Me too, Youk...me too. But he was right; it didn't end up costing the Sox, because the offense continued to bring the pain. Trailing by a run in the bottom of the fifth, Nick Green came up in a key situation with two runners in scoring position. With two outs, the Sox' shortstop drove the ball the other way to drive in both Mike Lowell and George Kottaras. Coincidentally, both Lowell and Kottaras had themselves a nice three-hit day at the plate.

With an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh, judge Kevin Youkilis brought justice to Fenway Park, as he smashed a three-run bomb over the Monster in left. This time, there was no dispute over whether it was fair or foul. The only dispute was if the ball was ever going to come down and where it might land. The Sox rolled to a convincing seven-run victory to claim their spot atop the American League East.

"It's a long season and it's cool to be in first, but to win this division you've got to stay on top of your game every day," said Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

Tim Wakefield earned a win on Sunday to improve his record to 6-2. Wakefield has been unbeatable at Fenway Park (4-0) and although his outing wasn't pretty, it got the job done. The knuckleballer tossed six innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, while walking four and striking out three.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

I don't know if you know this, but uh, Mike Lowell graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School with a 4.0 GPA. Not only does he hit three-run bombs, but he's wicked smaht too.

Every batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit, reached base at least twice and had one run scored...except for David Ortiz who went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, as his average dipped below .200 (.195). The Sox really don't have any other choice at this point but to take some drastic action here, because it has gotten that bad. Boston.com indicates that Ortiz may be dropped in the lineup until he can return to form. In my opinion, I don't object to this because at first, his struggles weren't effecting the outcome of wins or losses much. On Sunday, Ortiz came to the plate in a situation with runners on base where he had to deliver being that the game was on the line, and each time, Big Papi was not successful, stranding a total of eight men on base.

Nick Green's 2 RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to reclaim the lead gave him his fifth and sixth RBI this season when batting with two outs and runners in scoring position. In that clutch situation, Green is batting a red hot .545 with an OPS of 1.251. Bottom line, the guy gets it done.

Here's an interesting tidbit for you: not only was Sunday the first three-hit game for George Kottaras, but it was his first multi-hit game in his young big league career. Congrats to you, Mr. Kottaras. He finished the day with a single and two doubles, one being a ground rule double, and the second missed being his first Major League home run by about a foot.

After going 4-for-5 with an RBI on Sunday, JD Drew has watched his batting average raise from as low as .238 on May 14, all the way to .271 where it sits right now. In his last five games, Drew is batting .333 with two doubles an .813 OPS.

I would say call the fire department because Kevin Youkilis is on fire, but I'm starting to think that this isn't really a hot streak, he's just really that good. It's safe to say that he's the most consistent hitter on the team, aside from Dustin Pedroia, but Youkilis packs the power that Pedroia lacks. Regardless, between the two, they are two of the toughest outs in the game today. Youkilis is now hitting .383 in 107 at bats, with 7 HR, 26 RBI and a 1.178 OPS. Youk's three-run bomb was his first since returning from the disabled list.

With the beat down of the Mets on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox have now won 16 of their last 20 games at Fenway Park.

Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to nineteen games on Sunday. Ellsbury set a new career high, and continues to add on to the longest active hitting streak in the Majors.

Monday's pitching match up:

The Sox have wrapped up their road trip and now hit the road for Minnesota. When I think of Minnesota, I think of how grateful I am that players from Minnesota like to come to Boston and win championships. David Ortiz has two rings, Kevin Garnett finally got his ring, Randy Moss' ring is on the way (I know he came from Oakland, but he became a superstar in Minnesota). Moving on to the pitching match up...

Brad Penny gets the ball in the first game of Boston's road trip which includes four games against the Twins at the Metrodome and a visit north of the border to push the Blue Jays even further down in the standings. Penny is starting to find his groove, as he has pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last three starts, most recently against the former first place Blue Jays. In two career starts against the Twins, Penny holds a 1-0 record with a 5.25 ERA.

Boston will be going up against Francisco Liriano, who hasn't been anything special this season (2-5, 6.04 ERA). The last time he faced Boston on April 22, the left-hander gave up seven runs in four innings.

-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Mets 5, Red Sox 12

Published on May 25, 2009

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