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This Day In Red Sox History: July 1, 2004
By Administrator | July 1, 2009
Material for This Day In Red Sox History is drawn from Bill Nowlin’s “Day by Day with the Boston Red Sox”
Manny Ramirez hit his second home run of the game in the top of the thirteenth inning to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead… but the Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the inning — on a double by back-up catcher John Flaherty — to emerge with a 5-4 win.
The game is well-remembered by Red Sox fans due to the fact that Nomar Garciaparra pulled himself out of the lineup in the final game of a critical series with the Yankees — speculation abounded that No-mah did so as a belated protest to the club’s off-season attempt to trade the sullen shortstop to the Texas Rangers in exchange for SS Alex Rodriguez, who later ended up with the Yankees.
But the game is most remembered by ALL baseball fans for an 11th-inning catch by Derek Sanderson Jeter (yes, he was named for the Bruins hockey great). The Red Sox had men on second and third bases with two out and RF Trot Nixon at the plate… the ‘Dirt Dawg’ lofted a blooper into short left field. In an all-out sprint, Jeter caught the ball… after the catch, his momentum caused him to dive headlong into the stands. He emerged from the front row of the stands bloody, but with the ball in his glove.
The “injured” Garciaparra watched from the bench… a few weeks later he was shipped out of town in a trade that netted the Red Sox Orlando Cabrera.
Many believe that Garciaparra’s self-benching on this date sealed his fate… it was no longer a matter of IF he would be traded but WHEN he would be traded.
Topics: Sox History |
