Empyreal Environs

On May 5, the day number five Nomar Garciaparra was feted, the Red Sox returned to a .500 winning percentage.

The Red Sox gave Garciaparra two Fenway wooden chairs number 5 (of course) and 6 (for his mentor Johnny Pesky). He also received a watch, a rather cliched retirement gift idea for such a singular player. Current Red Sox players Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Tim Wakefield came out to hug him and former players Lou Merloni, Brian Daubach, and Trot Nixon made it to Fenway to be part of the celebration.

The video retrospective documented the shortstop’s glove adjustments and toe taps. Before he threw out the first pitch he dashed to the infield and pocketed a handful of infield dirt. His pitch to Jason Varitek was delivered with his signature twist and side arm angle.

At last the team’s philosophy of run prevention is playing out as planned. John Lackey delivered seven innings of two-hit baseball with two bases on balls and four strikeouts. The only run marring his line was Brandon Wood’s solo homer in the fifth. I hope when Lackey left the mound he looked over in Mike Scioscia’s direction and said, “This is mine.”

Woods’s home run was atonement for his second-inning misplay. With J.D. Drew at the keystone sack by way of a leadoff base on balls and a single off the bat of David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre tapped the ball towards Wood. The Angels third baseman tried to coordinate his footwork to catch and then tag third but failed to even glove the ball. It skipped past him to hit the left field stands, leaving Erick Aybar to chase it down while Drew scored the first run of the game.

Ortiz, the bane of Joel Pineiro’s existence, lofted a longball into the Monster seats for the lead in the fifth. Adrian Beltre tacked on an insurance four-bagger in the eighth, but Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon didn’t need the cushion.

Another one of Boston’s teams, the Bruins, were on a business trip to the City of Taserly Love and successfully negotiated a 4-1 win-lose deal with the Flyers. The Bruins have another match in Philadelphia this Friday; with any luck they will make it through the next few days untased.

(This column’s title is courtesy of a clever fan at today’s game whose sign I saw on NESN.)

Game 28: May 5, 2010
Angels 12-17	1	L: Joel Pineiro (2-4)
		HR: Brandon Wood (2)
Red Sox 14-14	3	W: John Lackey (3-1) H: Daniel Bard (6) S: Jonathan Papelbon (8)
		2B: Marco Scutaro (6) HR: David Ortiz (4), Adrian Beltre (2)