Empyreal Environs

Game 29: May 5, 2006
Orioles (14-17), 3
Red Sox (17-12), 6
L: Rodrigo Lopez (1-4)
W: Curt Schilling (5-1)
H: Mike Timlin (7)
S: Jonathan Papelbon (12)

At last, the first win I get to see in person. Sweeter still, it was against Rodrigo Lopez, who, up until this past season, was a charter member of the Red Sox Killers Club that includes such luminaries as Frank Catalanotto, Gregg Zaun, and Erik Bedard.

I got tickets from David Laurila who lately has been making too many withdrawals from the Spousely Goodwill Bank and needed to spend time with his family. Matt of NU50 was available on short notice despite his usually hectic social calendar, so the timing was ideal. He presciently bought a Kevin Youkilis player t-shirt before the game. Remarkably, the Red Sox first baseman scored for the home team first with his lofty homer into the Monster seats. His roundtripper tied the game.

The evening was immaculate. It was definitely difficult to concentrate on every moment of the game as I was either being caught up in that Fenway Park charm or being amused by Matt, who is a funny guy despite what you find in his blog. I kid; mojo is magnificent although the Totally True Factoids are missed.

The K Men weren’t completely overwhelmed with work; they only had to hang five Ks for Curt Schilling. Perhaps it was their slackitude that was rubbing off on the Fenway scoreboard crew. Matt noticed that in the first inning they added Boston’s hits to Baltimore’s totals for a bit. Schilling allowed eight hits, three earned runs, and no walks in his seven innings of work.

Mike Lowell sprayed three doubles around the field, one each in the second, fourth, and sixth innings. He didn’t score in the second, but was instrumental to the Red Sox resurgence in the later innings. His leadoff double in the fourth enabled him to score on Jay Gibbons’s error on Wily Mo Peña’s single, giving Boston the lead. The sixth inning double was converted into the game-tying run on Alex Gonzalez’s game-tying double. With the bases juiced, David Ortiz compromised the Orioles’ shift with an exquisitely placed double into right field. Two runs scored and the bullpen dyad of Mike Timlin and Jonathan Papelbon combined to shut down the Orioles in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

Things you wouldn’t have experienced if you weren’t sitting with Matt and I:

• A person in the lower bleachers actively fomenting rebellion against the upper bleacher guys trying to start the wave. “If you do the wave,” he warned, “the terrorists will win.” Despite the wise man’s efforts, the wave meekly proceeded around the bowl. The wave initiators were so inebriated and/or unaware that they turned their back and tried to begin another undulation, not even realizing they had succeeded in their malevolent machinations.
• Corey Patterson endured some of Matt’s heckling. “Your fielding skills are mediocre at best.” “Perhaps you should consider some fielding drills.” “Remember: the object of the game is to have fun, so enjoy yourself.” Matt, surprisingly enough, is not from the Midwest. I suppose he felt sympathy for the center fielder because of his collision with Gibbons in the third inning while both were attempting to snare a Manny Ramirez fly ball.
• We watched the players’ recession from the parking lot. Kevin Millar left with Ortiz in the David Ortiz Signature Hummer. Before he clambered into the mammoth vehicle, Millar did a few double points to the crowd. Like Matt’s current ninja mojo, Terry Francona is stealthy. He departed behind crowds at the barricades, somehow exiting from Gate D on the Yawkey Way side.