Empyreal Environs

Game 73: June 23, 2007
Red Sox	1	L: Tim Wakefield (7-8)	47-26, 1 game losing streak 17-6-2 series record
Padres	6	W: Chris Young (7-3)	42-31, 1 game winning streak 16-6-2 series record
Highlights: Dustin Pedroia had his first steal of his major league career in the first inning. Terry Francona was ejected in the bottom of the sixth after the second umpires’ conference of the evening. Francona has far to go to tie Bobby Cox’s mark of 131 tossings, a record the Braves manager now shares with John McGraw.

Chris Young carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. J.D. Drew, No-Hit Spoiler Extraordinaire, poked a seeing-eye single between first and second. After Mike Lowell reached on a fielding error by greenhorn Kevin Kouzmanoff, Young took matters onto his own arm. He plowed through the bottom third of the order, Doug Mirabelli, Julio Lugo, and Tim Wakefield, with a mere 11 pitches.

Mirabelli’s career, of course, is inextricably entwined with that of Josh Bard. In the panic trade in May of 2006, Mirabelli was traded from San Diego back to Boston for Bard, Cla Meredith, and cash. Kevin Towers was glad to be rid of Mirabelli as the catcher constantly bombarded him with requests to be moved.

In 2007, Bard is maintaining .263 BA, .340 OBP, and .377 slugging percentage over 175 at bats. Mirabelli has had 66 at bats with .182 BA, .239 OBP, and .288 slugging.

Bard couldn’t catch the butterfly ball but he could hit. It must have been terribly satisfying for Bard to launch a two-run home run in the sixth against the pitcher who indirectly led to his jettison from the Red Sox. Bard may have divulged his hints to Khalil Greene, as the Padres shortstop tallied two circuit clouts off the knuckler.

Aside from the visiting team the other person having a rough night of it was Brian Knight. In the fifth he called a Kevin Kouzmanoff liner trapped by Manny Ramirez an out, but the ruling was reversed after a meeting. In the next inning he called Bard’s fly ball to left foul while replays showed it was fair. Bard, showing he learned from his previous brouhaha at PNC Park, waited patiently for the call to be hashed out amongst the officials.

Terry Francona finally lost his patience over the officials’ volte-face. He probably also was trying to fire up his team by getting tossed after the second reversed call, but no dog and pony show could derail the Padres young starter. He collected 11 strikeouts over seven innings while walking only two.

Call-up David Murphy scored the only run of the evening for Boston. He laced a perfectly placed line drive to the right-center gap for a triple and plated on Mike Lowell’s near-homer to center. The rookie broke the goose egg, but Mirabelli couldn’t find a way to extend the game.

Tonight’s rubber game is the marquee match-up of Josh Beckett and Jake Peavy, the jewel of a series that already featured a star-studded slate of starters. This will be the second time these pitchers have gone head-to-head; in that contest on August 18, 2005, Beckett prevailed.