Bay Day by Jared Carrabis
Flawless Debut For Jason Bay

For the first time since October 1, 2000, the Red Sox prepared to do battle without Manny Ramirez as a member of the Boston Red Sox. In 2004 Theo Epstein traded away a Boston sports icon in Nomar Garciaparra. His replacement? A feisty shortstop from the Montreal Expos that came into Boston by the name of Orlando Cabrera that hit a home run in his first at bat in a Red Sox uniform. The number on that uniform? Number 44. The result of that season? A World Series victory for the Boston Red Sox.



Fast forward to 2008. Theo Epstein trades away a Boston sports icon in Manny Ramirez. His replacement? A well-rounded outfielder from the Pittsburgh Pirates by the name of Jason Bay. He may not have hit a home run in his first at bat with the Red Sox but just like Orlando Cabrera, he elected to wear the number 44. Orlando Cabrera may have homered in his first at bat in a Red Sox uniform and Manny Ramirez may have blasted the first pitch he ever saw at Fenway Park up and over green monster, but Jason Bay made just as good of a first impression on Red Sox Nation, if not better.



Reaching base four times by walking twice, getting hit by a pitch and nearly hitting a walk off home run in the bottom of the twelfth that scraped high off the wall in left-center resulting in a triple. The tag team of the night was the combination of Jason Bay and Jed Lowrie. In his Red Sox debut, Jason Bay accounted for both runs and both RBI’s were collected by Red Sox rookie Jed Lowrie.



With the score 1-0, Terry Francona opened up the bullpen gate for Hideki Okajima in the top of the eighth inning. With two outs, Jack Cust hit a 3-2 curveball onto the top of the monster that shot back up into the air and back onto the playing field for a solo home run to tie the game. The home run was the fifth allowed by the lefty Hideki Okajima this season.



The game would travel all the way into the twelfth inning thanks to shutout bullpen relief by Jonathan Papelbon who hurled two innings out shutout ball (1 hit, two strikeouts), Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin. In the bottom of the twelfth inning with two outs, Jason Bay came to the plate with the Fenway Faithful on their feet. With an 0-1 count, former Red Sox reliever Alan Embree threw an 82 MPH slider to Bay who drove the pitch high into the Boston night. As the Boston crowd rose to their feet, the ball sailed and scraped off the top of the wall. The bounce off the wall allowed Jason Bay to cruise into third base for a two-out triple.



The Athletics elected to intentionally walk JD Drew to bring Jed Lowrie to the plate. Jed Lowrie stepped into the batters box at one-for-three on the night. Lowrie’s sacrifice fly to plate Jason Bay in the bottom of the second inning was the reason why the Red Sox were in the bottom of the twelfth to begin with. With Bay standing at third, Lowrie wasted no time swinging at the first pitch sending a bouncing ball up over the head of Alan Embree. Bay bolted for home plate as Lowrie beat out the throw by shortstop Bobby Crosby for an infield single and the game winning hit.



An impressive debut for Jason Bay to say the least. From the standing ovation that he received from the Fenway Faithful in his first at bat, to reaching base four times and representing both of Boston’s runs along with a spectacular sliding catch out in left, Jason Bay seems to have won over the hearts of Boston fans already. So with a win in his Red Sox debut and a performance that surely has relieved a lot of Sox fans in the wake of the trading of Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox get the win and Jason Bay gets an entrance into Red Sox Nation to be remembered.


Final Score: Athletics 1, Red Sox 2

Published on August 02, 2008

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