All over Manny Ramirez's game-winning single in the bottom of the 14th
inning?
Not quite.
Sure, Ramirez's line drive to right-center with one out completed an
exhilarating, if exhausting, 3-2 victory over the Astros to the delight of
34,085 who spent 4 hours and 38 minutes of Father's Day hoping for the
best at Fenway Park. But Ramirez never could have sealed the three-game
sweep of Jimy Williams's Astros -- and the 10th triumph of the season by
the Sox in their last at-bat -- if not for the pitching staff,
particularly the bullpen.
That's right. The bullpen. Squaring off for eight innings against one
of the best relief corps in baseball, Grady Little's widely ridiculed pen
utterly muzzled the Astros after a fine six-inning start by Byung Hyun
Kim.
If the Sox expect to reach the postseason, this was the kind of
pitching they will need. Not the kind that produced a bullpen ERA of 5.65
entering the game, compared to the Houston pen's 2.75.
''That's what I'm excited about,'' said Todd Walker, who scored the
winning run before the Sox set off on a seven-game trip through Chicago
and Philadelphia. ''Our entire pitching staff is starting to get hot.''
With the team's vaunted offense struggling -- the Sox went 1 for 18
with runners in scoring position before Ramirez's single -- the quartet of
Mike Timlin (two innings), Brandon Lyon (two), Alan Embree (three), and
Jason Shiell (one) combined to blank the dangerous Houston lineup.
''You really have to give credit to our bullpen and pitching staff,''
said Nomar Garciaparra, whose first sacrifice bunt in six years set up the
winning hit. ''Kim did a phenomenal job and our bullpen was unbelievable.
Every single guy that came out there was awesome.''
After the pen kept the Sox in the game amid their long run of offensive
futility, Walker sparked the winning rally by singling up the middle off
lefthander Nate Bland to open the 14th. Then Garciaparra stunned many in
the house, including manager Grady Little, by laying down the bunt against
righthander Pete Munro. Garciaparra had been killing the ball, doubling
three times and tripling in the game. Little wanted him swinging the bat.
''You think about that,'' Garciaparra said of swinging away,
considering his hot streak. ''But at the same time I am just thinking
about winning.''
Which is why he commands the respect of so many of his teammates.
''I've been around a lot of superstars that won't put the team first
and Nomar's not one of those guys,'' Walker said. ''He's a special person
and a special player.''
Ramirez fell behind, 0 and 2, before he laced an 86-mile-per-hour cut
fastball from Munro for the decisive hit.
Still, Ramirez needed the pen to put him in position to deliver. The
Astros moved runners into scoring position in four of the eight innings
against Sox relievers, but they were rebuffed at every turn.
''I don't think any one of us wanted to be on the mound when a run
scored for them,'' said Embree, who matched a career high by going three
relief innings. ''We kind of fed off each other.''
Shiell picked up the victory, but the entire crew shared the acclaim on
a day when the pitchers finally shouldered the load after weeks of
lopsided support from their hitters.
''It felt great because they've picked us up the whole season,'' Embree
said. ''To be able to help them out on a day like this and come out on top
is huge.''
The bullpen's contribution largely overshadowed Kim, who surrendered
only the two runs over six-plus innings by scattering seven hits and a
pair of walks. He fired first-pitch strikes to 21 of 27 batters and threw
as many as three balls to only one batter besides the two he walked. In
fact, the only pitch that really hurt him was a slider that Richard
Hidalgo slugged over the Monster in the fourth inning for a two-run homer.
Trailing, 2-0, the Sox first broke through against Houston starter Wade
Miller in the fifth. Trot Nixon started things by singling. A batter
later, Damian Jackson reached on a fielder's choice, with Nixon erased at
second. And when left fielder Lance Berkman bobbled Bill Mueller's double
off the Wall for an error, Jackson raced home for the first Sox run.
Nature provided the Sox an assist in the sixth, when Hidalgo lost
Garciaparra's towering shot to the warning track near Pesky's Pole,
clearing the way for Garciaparra's career-best 12th triple. And Ramirez
wasted no time capitalizing as he lofted a sacrifice fly to center to make
it 2-2.
But the Sox had no more success at the plate as they went 0 for 12 with
runners in scoring position from the seventh until Ramirez's single.
Though Garciaparra created several scoring opportunities that ultimately
went for naught, he seemed to remember best the threat he helped snuff by
popping up with the bases loaded in the 11th.
''I was pretty mad,'' he said, ''but you persevere and believe in each
other.''
Now, the Sox may even be able to believe in their bullpen.
''It was a big win for us,'' Walker said, ''a huge confidence
builder.''
By Bob Hohler of The Boston Globe.
This story ran on page D1 of the Boston Globe on
6/16/2003.
Copyright
2003 Globe Newspaper Company.