Empyreal Environs

Yes, I was an English major who tried to write those avant-garde intertextual theses with parentheses that cleverly (or so I thought) split one word into multiple lexemes. Forgive me for the sins I visited upon Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop, and a whole gamut of novelists, poets, and playwrights with the assistance of Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, and Michel Foucault.

Franklin Morales made a spot start in the last game of this series in Chicago and would have been the winning pitcher were it not for a comedy of errors in the bottom of the sixth. The circus started with Kevin Youkilis booting Darwin Barney’s ground ball. Starlin Castro found a soft spot in the infield defense with a short single to the right of the mound. Youkilis was able to field Alfonso Soriano’s ground ball but Barney advanced to third and Soriano was safe at first.

Matt Albers fielded Jeff Baker’s comebacker well but when he threw to second Dustin Pedroia and Mike Aviles both dived for the ball. The ball squirted into center field and Barney scored the tying run. Through no fault of his own Albers was tagged with a blown save.

In the top half of the seventh Darnell McDonald led off with a double to the left-center ivy. Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled to right and ran with his head down to second. Unlike his escapade in the basepaths in the preceding game Saltalamacchia was safe at second and McDonald advanced to third because the cutoff man bobbled the throw. Ryan Kalish, who took Ryan Sweeney’s place on the roster, looped a single into center for the go-ahead run.

Pinch-hitting for Albers Will Middlebrooks sacrificed in Saltalamacchia and Daniel Nava squeeze bunted to plate Kalish. Terry Francona reminisced a lot about his time with the Red Sox, but in his memories sacrifice bunts late in the game would be rare.

With Wrigley Field’s orientation the first baseman spends a part of late afternoon games blinded by the setting sun, prompting Ortiz to wear his cap askew “like Fernando Rodney,” Francona noted. The former Red Sox manager mentioned that part of his knee cartilage was in the bricks ringing foul territory. Francona ripped on Pedroia for a bit, calling out his short arms and quirky swing that somehow righted itself when contact was made.

At times when talking about the Red Sox Francona would use the word “we.” I don’t need a French post-structuralist to deconstruct that word usage. I miss him. He misses managing. He may even miss the Red Sox, though not some of its executives, I imagine.

Game 66: June 17, 2012
Boston Red Sox 33-33	7	BS, W: Matt Albers (3, 2-0) H: Andrew Miller (8), Mark Melancon (1)
		2B: Dustin Pedroia (16), Darnell McDonald (7) HR: David Ortiz (16)
Chicago Cubs 22-44	4	L: Shawn Camp (2-4)
		2B: Reed Johnson (5), Starlin Castro (10) 3B: Castro (6)