Empyreal Environs

Game 73: June 25, 2005
Red Sox (43-30), 7
Phillies (39-36), 1
W: Matt Clement (9-1)
L: Vicente Padilla (3-7)

Jason Michaels botched a David Ortiz fly ball in front of a sign that said, appropriately enough, “Turkey Hill.” Edgar Renteria, who reached base on a ground ball single, scored with ease. Tim McCarver, a former catcher, prattled at length about how Michaels should have fielded the ball by getting to the outfield wall first and then working towards the ball. Since catchers have so much experience fielding long fly balls. Next Trot Nixon drove Ortiz in on a line drive, granting Clement a lead to work with.

He of the Amish facial hair went 7 innings with 7 hits, 1 earned run, no walks, and 4 strikeouts. The scouting on Clement always mentions the natural movement on his pitches which often leads to bases on balls. It appears that the combination of working with Jason Varitek and knowing that his offense will supply him with support has enabled Clement to more aggressive. Rather than try to pitch strikes, he could concentrate on making hitters miss, just like Sandy Koufax said.

The 3rd inning wasn’t the best milieu for Chase Utley to showcase his talents. Leading off, Renteria hit a grounder that seemed routine until Utley broke in the wrong direction. I’m in complete sympathy with Utley, because I often get right and left confused to this day. But he’s a professional that’s paid to know which direction to go. You can’t assign a job to someone that is intrinsically incapable of accomplishing its constituent tasks; that’s like hiring Tony Womack to hit or Grady Little to manage.

(Note that at this point McCarver dusted off his curse rigamarole and babbled incoherently about “future memory.”)

Manny Ramirez singled to left and Renteria advanced to third. Varitek doubled, scoring Renteria easily, but then Utley further butchered the inning by sailing a throw to home to the backstop, allowing Manny to score. The sound you heard then was the wheels coming off. Bill Mueller’s RBI double scores Varitek, and at this point Padilla is so out of sorts he walks Clement after Mark Bellhorn was intentionally walked to get to the pitcher.

The Fox interview with Terry Francona revolved around the field manager’s tendency to wear long-sleeved pullovers. Joe Buck basically called Francona a coward by asking if he wears it to hide his name from spiteful fans. Ever the diplomat, Francona diffuses the situation with humor, saying “I actually thought my name was “You Suck” at one point.” As I understand it, Francona wears such clothing because of the medication he is on, which makes him more sensitive to cold.

Fox, the family network, the stronghold of virtue in an otherwise debauched nation, then showed a Red Sox fan lose his pants as he retrieved a foul ball.

The scoring in the late innings was superfluous, but Utley attempted to redeem himself in the 7th by doubling and driving in the Phillies’ only run, negating the chance for the Red Sox to add to their shutout victory total. We see an old friend in Ugueth Urtain Urbina, who gave up a homer to Ramirez in the ninth. Urbina’s mother’s kidnapping ordeal is finally behind him. He might be a good rental player for the end of the season if the bullpen doesn’t achieve greater stability. Not to mention it’s good to have a former boxer in your corner in the case of a basebrawl.

The Red Sox remain in first place in the AL East, the Orioles and the Yankees lose, and our team goes for another series sweep tomorrow.