Souvenirs
| Game 17: April 25, 2009 | |||
| Yankees | 11 | BS, L: Jonathan Albaladejo (1, 1-1) | 9-8, 2 game losing streak |
 Red Sox | 16 | BS, W: Hideki Okajima (1, 1-0) H: Ramon Ramirez (3) | 11-6, 9 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Did the new seats in right turn Fenway into the Nouveau Stade Fasciste? Of the games’ six homers, five of them were hit to right field. Neither former Marlin pitcher, Josh Beckett or A.J. Burnett, played a part in the decision and their lines were eerily similar: both pitched 5 innings, gave up 8 earned runs, struck out 3, and allowed two home runs. The only difference was that Beckett gave up two more hits (10) and one more walk (4). | |||
The theme from “Miami Vice” accompanies that famous shot of sunlight streaming through palm fronds. Flamingos rush towards the camera but instead of cutting to a shot of the camera rushing over the ocean when the guitar begins to squeal there is a montage of Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Miguel Cabrera, Derrek Lee, Mike Lowell in Marlins uniforms.
The music fades to background and a deep voiceover intones, “Here at Florida Marlins Academy, we prepare the finest baseball talent for their future roles as stars of big market MLB teams.” Slow motion clip of Josh Beckett being hoisted above his teammates’ shoulders as he wins the last game of the 2003 World Series morphs into him accepting the 2007 ALCS MVP award.
“Which Florida Marlin player will you sign to a multi-year, nine-figure deal?” asks the narrator as a clip of Hanley Ramirez launching a home run into the empty seats of Dolphin Stadium fades to black.
I avoided as much of the Fox pre-game show as possible, but I did turn over in time to learn more about Jonathan Papelbon. Do we really need to know more about Cinco Ocho? He does have his video blog already. Papelbon said he could take all of the Red Sox pitchers deep, including Beckett. He went to Disneyworld for his honeymoon and riffed on how Dustin Pedroia wouldn’t meet the height requirement for the rides there.
Red Sox/Yankees games are long enough as it it, but with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver involved they seem all the more wearisome. I want to enjoy the game, not hear Joe Girardi wish his wife a happy birthday. (Happy birthday, Kim Girardi. Did you like the grand slam Jason Varitek hit in the fourth? Any more games like yesterday’s and your husband is going to be unemployed soon.)
After yesterday’s defensive gem where Pedroia initiated a 4-2-3 double play to keep a run off the board, the second baseman was out of sorts. In the seventh he let a Johnny Damon grounder dribble under his glove and through his legs, an error that allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score.
The Yankees lead, like the one they held fourth, would be brief. Girardi gave the four-finger salute to Jason Bay to put the go-ahead run on first. Mike Lowell, as a proud graduate of Florida Marlins Academy, didn’t take kindly to that. His three-run homer secured the lead for the home team once and for all and an exuberant man in the Monster seats wearing a rally visor now has a priceless souvenir.
By the end of the four hour 21-minute affair, Buck and McCarver relied on a fan’s heckles to carry the show. He had some good ones, though, better than anything the Fox duo could improvise. Commenting on Jeter’s fly ball fouled off to the right he said, “That would have been a home run in your stadium.” As Robinson Cano, who jacked two home runs and smacked a two-run double off the wall, fouled off Papelbon’s offerings, the exasperation in his voice was clear when he said, “This game could go on forever.”
