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ALCS Miscellany: For Rays, June Battle With Sox Was Catalyst To Cinderella Season
By Administrator | October 10, 2008
Many of us remember it like it happened yesterday… but it’s been more than four years since that momentous Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.
It was July 24, 2004. The Red Sox were squared off against the NY Yankees — who had beaten them in the ALCS the previous fall courtesy of Aaron Boone’s home run off Tim Wakefield. The Evil Empire led the Red Sox by 8 1/2 games in the AL East and had beaten them the night before, 8-7, despite Kevin Millar’s three-home-run performance.
In the top of the third inning, with the Yankees leading by a score of 3-0, Red Sox starter Bronson Arroyo hit NY third baseman Alex Rodriguez with a pitch. As Rodriguez stared down Arroyo, Boston catcher Jason Varitek jumped between the batter and the pitcher. After taking a few steps, Jason told A-Rod to go down to first base… A-Rod responded by hurling an expletive at the Sox captain, who didn’t cotton to Rodriguez’ language and shoved him.
A benches-clearing brawl ensued. A-Rod and ‘Tek were ejected.
Trailing 10-8 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox scored three runs off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera… the rally was capped by 3B Bill Mueller’s two-run home run into the Red Sox bullpen.
Many in Red Sox Nation point to THAT game as the one that reversed the fortunes of the season… and, very possibly, the history of the franchise.
Limited edition lithographs of the A-Rod - Varitek clash are available from www.sox1fan.com… e-mail SOX1FAN for details
The Tampa Bay Rays and their fans point to their fisticuffs with the Red Sox earlier this season (on Thursday, June 5th) in a similar manner.
As play began that day, the Red Sox were riding a three game winning streak and led the division by 1 1/2 games over Tampa Bay. The previous night, the Red Sox had beaten the Rays… during the game, Sox CF Coco Crisp had slid HARD into second base and rays manager Joe Maddon had complained that he felt Coco had INTENTIONALLY tried to hurt 2B Akinori Iwamura.
The next night, the Red Sox led Tampa Bay, 3-1, entering the bottom of the second inning. Crisp was the leadoff batter. Tampa starter James Shields hit him with his second pitch.
A melee ensued. Shields took a wild swing at Crisp. Crisp connected with a couple of punches of his own. Rays catcher Dioner Navarro tackled Coco. Pig pile!
In the aftermath of the game, Shields indicated that he had hit Crisp intentionally… the purpose pitch was intended to send a message. At the time he said: “I protected my own players and that’s what we need to do around here. We’ve been getting stomped around the last ten years and it isn’t going to happen anymore. I had to let them know early and let them know right away”.
As everyone knows, the Rays went on to win the AL East by two games over the Red Sox.
As the ALCS starts, many of the Rays have pointed to that night as the turning point of the season… contemplatively, Shields offered the following: “It’s old-school baseball. I grew up hearing about guys like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale, and those guys were animals. Watching them, I learned it’s important to protect your teammates at all times. I don’t care what my stats are like, I don’t care where I am at in my season. It doesn’t matter. If I have to protect my players, that’s what I’m going to do. And I felt that was a situation where I needed to protect my players right away”.
Rays manager Maddon said: “(The incident) in Fenway helped because you were in their home, you felt like you had been wronged, and you were standing up for yourself. It was the whole group. You saw a bunch of guys defending one another, and I thought, ‘Wow!’.”
Wow, indeed.
Whether the Rays 2008 season will have the same kind of ending the Red Sox 2004 season had remains to be seen (I, for one, certainly hope it doesn’t)… but IF it does, June 5, 2008 will be a date long remembered in the long, proud history of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself…
Topics: Miscellaneous, Sox Games, Sox Players |
