Flying Ryan
John Mayberry was on second and Shane Victorino on first. Vicente Padilla had notched two outs and tried to fool Carlos Ruiz with a 59-mile an hour Eephus pitch. Ruiz was not beguiled by the gentle toss and powered the ball to the right-center gap. The only thing that kept the ball in the park was that this particular species of pitch is not thrown with high velocity. Padilla, if he deigned to drop his surliness with a teammate from time to time, owed Ryan Sweeney a hug or a hand pound. Sweeney laid out to snatch Ruiz’s batted ball before it touched turf, ending the inning and the scoring threat.
Adrian Gonzalez was an eyewitness to the defensive gem because Bobby Valentine started him in right field. Knowing that an inexperienced player was to his left probably made Sweeney run farther and harder than he usually would.
Gonzalez fielded two outs in the game, one of which forced him to go into a slide near the foul line and the outfield wall. It had all the makings of one of those freak injuries that occur when a player is forced to play outside of his typical spot. But Gonzalez avoided the wall, spiking himself, an awkward slide, and missiles hurled by Philly fans. Knowing such fans, they may have thrown batteries at anyone in right field due to their immortal enmity of J.D. Drew.
| Game 40: May 19, 2012 | ||
 Boston Red Sox19-21 |
7 |
W: Jon Lester (3-3) H: Vicente Padilla (7), Rich Hill (2) S: Alfredo Aceves (9) |
| 2B: Ryan Sweeney (14), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (10) HR: Aviles (7), Will Middlebrooks (5), Saltalamacchia (6), David Ortiz (9) Cody Ross (8), Adrian Gonzalez (3) | ||
| Philadelphia Phillies 21-20 |
5 |
L: Joe Blanton (4-4) |
| 2B: Shane Victorino (6) HR: Freddy Galvis (3) | ||
