Manny mania! by Jared Carrabis
Ramirez a non-factor, as Sox move one game behind first place


It was a night that Red Sox fans had circled on their calendars since the release of the 2010 regular season schedule.

Last making his slow, yet swagger-packed, stroll to home plate at Fenway Park on July 30, 2008, Red Sox fans rose to their feet for Manny Ramirez; some to cheer, and some to boo. From my vantage point in the bleachers, more people were cheering than booing, but the sound of the boos outweighed the cheers.

If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say close to 65% of Fenway was standing and cheering for Ramirez, but the people who chose to cheer or clap were not as passionate about their decision as the people who chose to boo the Dodgers' star attraction mercilessly.

Before Manny could even come to the plate to lead off the top of the second, the Red Sox had some yard work to do. With Dustin Pedroia extending his hitting streak to eight games in the bottom of the first, David Ortiz belted a two-run homer to straight-away center to give the Red Sox an early 2-0 advantage.

The homer for Ortiz could not have come at a better time, as his fifteenth long ball of the season just so happened to tie him with none other than Manny Ramirez for fifth most home runs in Red Sox history with 274. Ortiz -- and Ramirez, who probably won't be moving any further on this list -- now only trails Dwight Evans (379), Jim Rice (382), Carl Yastrzemski (452) and Ted Williams (521) on the Red Sox all-time list. After Evans, the rest all have a seat in Cooperstown, as should Evans, but that's an argument for another day.

Two batters later, JD Drew swatted an opposite field "double" that was review, overturned, and called correctly as being a home run. The solo shot for Drew was his eighth.

Overshadowed by Ramirez's return to Fenway was the major league debut of 22-year-old lefty, Felix Doubront. The left-hander suffered a hiccup of a third inning, in which Doubront allowed seven Dodgers to come to the plate, surrendering two extra-base hits, committing an error himself, and having Mike Cameron drop a fly ball for the second error of the frame

Doubront would come out for the sixth, but would not retire a batter. Ramirez grabbed his only hit of the night off of the lefty to lead off the sixth, as Casey Blake, who doubled, and James Loney, who singed in a pair, would ultimately knock Doubront from the game after six-plus innings.

The left-hander tossed 83 pitches over his six-plus innings of work, allowing five runs, but just three earned, on six hits. He also walked two and recorded his first two major league strikeouts.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Red Sox' offense went off for seven runs. A single, a walk and an RBI double by Kevin Youkilis got things going, as Darnell McDonald came to the plate, who entered the game after Drew was lifted for tweaking his right hamstring.

McDonald, who has helped keep this offense afloat, after suffering so many costly injuries, lined a base hit into center field, where Matt Kemp was lurking. Ortiz scored on the hit, but Kemp bobbled the baseball, allowing Youkilis to come in behind Ortiz.

With McDonald standing at second base after stealing his sixth base of the season, Adrian Beltre did his famous "drop to one knee and hit the ball into outer space" thing that he does. The two-run blast went through the light tower and landed in the back row of the parking lot across the street.

The home run for Beltre was his tenth of the season, making him the third Red Sox hitter with ten or more homers this year.

The Sox would tag on two more runs on a 6-4 putout of Daniel Nava, and a sacrifice fly by Pedroia, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Scott Atchison pitched brilliantly in relief of Doubront, hurling three perfect innings of shutout baseball. Of the nine batters that Atchison faced, five were retired on strikes.

With a five-run lead in the ninth, Terry Francona opted to go with Dustin Richardson, who would be appearing for just the third time this season for Boston. Richardson struggled, allowing a lead-off homer to Garret Anderson. After a strikeout of Jamey Carroll, the next two would reach on back-to-back singles, and that was the night for Richardson.

Daniel Bard trotted out from the Red Sox bullpen and got the second out of the inning to bring Ramirez to the plate with two runners in scoring position. After feeding Ramirez four straight fastballs -- three at 99 MPH, and one at 100 MPH -- Bard went to his slider with the count in his favor at 1-2. The slider evened things up at two, as Bard went back to his knee-breaking slider and punched out Ramirez to end the game.



Final score: Dodgers 6, Red Sox 10
WP: Felix Doubront (1-0)
LP: Carlos Monasterios (3-2)
SV: Daniel Bard (3)

Game notes: Here's something that you may find shocking: When David Ortiz tied Manny Ramirez for the fifth most homers in Red Sox history, he did so in 31 fewer games. Something else you may not know, and something we probably should have picked up on sooner, Ortiz owns sole possession of sixth place on the Red Sox' all-time RBI leaders. With 875 RBI in a Red Sox uniform, Ortiz is 7 RBI ahead of Ramirez and 372 behind Bobby Doerr.

Eye on the scoreboard: With the Tampa Bay Rays losing 7-4 to the Florida Marlins and the Yankees getting blanked 4-0 by the Mets, the Red Sox move to just one game behind both teams for the top spot in the American League. All three teams now have 41 wins on the season.

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





-Jared Carrabis

Published on June 19, 2010

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