Empyreal Environs

Game 62: June 12, 2005
Red Sox (33-29), 8
Cubs (33-28), 1
W: Tim Wakefield (5-6)
L: Glendon Rusch (5-2)

The tale of our National League roadtrip through the heartland of America ends with Game 3 of the Cub series with the supposedly hapless Chicago Nationals, in which we avoid a sweep. Many moments of wonder abound. Who would have ever thought that Kevin Millar could actually hit to the opposite field to leadoff the 2nd inning with a single?

Millar’s hit was for naught, however, as Mirabelli was thrown out at second base in the same inning on Wakefield’s single to right. Mirabelli botched two baseball miracles with his subpar baserunning.

ESPN did their typical in-game interview with the field manager, but mercifully it wasn’t conducted by Sam Ryan. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan talked with Terry Francona about his daughter graduating, to which he quipped, “Considering I’m her father, it’s an incredible thing.” He’ll be here all week, ladies and gents. Please, try the veal.

In the 4th inning, Morgan proved that he is the king of unsubstantiated proclamations and talked about the 1918 World Series possibly being fixed, saying that he read something somewhere. He made no mention of Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox written by Allan Wood, to whom I would defer any and all discussion of this particular series. (Be sure to visit Allan’s fine blog The Joy of Sox.) Morgan also believes in Ruth’s called home run, the Easter Bunny, that Billy Beane wrote Moneyball, and small ball for every situation.

How long is this grass in the infield at Wrigley? Wakefield had an RBI in the 6th primarily because the ball he hit toward Todd Walker moved so slowly through the verdant infield that he could not get the ball to Neifi Perez in time to turn the double play. Not only that, but the knuckleballer scored on Damon triple to center field as a result.

Is Manuel back to being automatic again? In the 7th, Ramirez blasted a home run that rocketed into Waveland Avenue with 1 on and no out. This is hopefully a harbinger of the return of the slugger we used to know.

Johnny Damon and Kevin Youkilis both almost hit for the cycle, with the former needing a measely single and the latter needing a triple. Cliff Bartosh threw 4 straight balls to Damon in the 8th inning, but Damon had another chance in the 9th which he squandered with a first pitch fly ball to right.

I’ll be at tonight’s game, a part of my “Spirit of ’75” Sox Pack, wearing a very loud Red Sox aloha shirt. You’ll be sure to hear me.