Empyreal Environs

Game 158: September 26, 2006
Devil Rays (60-97), 1
Red Sox (84-74), 5
L: Jason Hammel (0-5)
W: Curt Schilling (15-7)

Before the game started, I prowled the stands looking for good subjects for photos, as usual. There were a few of us circulating about, savoring the atmosphere, but less so than when the Red Sox are contenders. While I was lingering around the right field loge seats to take pictures of the then-hidden banner on the wall, one friendly person asked me to take a picture of him with his camera. He wanted the Green Monster in the background as well as the interior façade. He beamed as I took the pictures from beneath the brim of his newly-purchased 59/50.

We ended up conversing a bit. He was from Argentina, not exactly a baseball hotbed. He played as an outfielder and, when he got fat (his words), he converted to first base. While on this trip to the US, he also went to games at Dolphin and Shea stadia. Given the parks he has seen in person, of course he thought Fenway Park was the best.

“When I go back to Argentina, people are going to ask me what I did there. And all I’ll have are pictures of baseball games,” he grinned.

So it transpired that he was a Mets fan because of the 1986 World Series. Who knew that series had a global impact? He saw the return of Pedro Martinez in Florida and enjoyed the first four innings of that game.

“I like Boston and the Red Sox. I don’t have anything against them,” he said.

I told him how much Pedro is missed in Boston. Although Curt Schilling has some marquee appeal (as well as the trivia chops to be on “Celebrity Jeopardy!”), when Pedro took the mound at Fenway, the timbre of the evening was richer, more invigorating.

I pointed out the place where the K-Men dwelt and described how the “Ks” would festoon the railing for his starts. Sadly, for Schilling’s final start of the 2006 season, the strikeout squad was nowhere to be seen. They could have posted nine signs last night during his seven innings of work and also seen him tip his cap to an appreciative crowd.

Top prospect Delmon Young struck out three times while the less-touted B.J. Upton walked twice and singled. In the second inning, Upton was picked off for the first out of the second inning. Just prior to the pickoff, I took a picture of Mike Lowell oddly gesturing, which I think may have been a signal to Schilling about the rookie runner at first.

David Ortiz took the league lead in homers in the third by belting his 54th of the season into the seats just to the right of the visitors’ bullpen. He followed up in the next inning with a two-RBI single that evaded the infamous Joe Maddon 3-4 defensive alignment.

In the pre-game ceremony, Ortiz was recognized for breaking the team record of home runs in a season. Jimmie Foxx’s daughter Nancy Canaday and Babe Ruth’s granddaughter Linda Tosetti were present and Ortiz gave them autographed memorabilia.

An entirely splendid evening that could have possibly converted a certain Argentinian into a Red Sox fan.