Yesterday

Game 125 - Red Sox

Angels 4, Red Sox 3

Last night's 10:00 EST first pitch and the culmination of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke documentary meant that I didn't see more than a snippet of last night's action. Judging by the fraction of the game I did catch, it's probably best for all parties involved that my viewing time was limited.

While I was fortunate to see Dustin Pedroia's first major league hit (and am happy to see one of the important cogs of the 2008 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox get a taste of life in The Show), his effort was balanced by the Three Stooges routine performed by Kevin Youkilis, Mark Loretta, and Gabe Kapler. The trio converged on a Vladimir Guerrero popup in short rightfield before peeling off like so many Wallendas, knees banging into heads, hands getting smashed between body parts, arms flailing ingloriously. Oh, and the ball dropping harmlessly to set up the Angels' 2nd run. It was right about that moment that I decided to punt and give in to merciful slumber.

While I missed most of last night's game, the good folks at Retrosheet.org helped me remember a game that I saw in its entirety. I was in Fenway with my dad and grandfather when Carl Yastrzemski hit his 400th career homer, back when that number meant something. As noted below, he hit it in the bottom of the 7th to break a 3-3 tie and propel the Sox to victory. We were sitting in the rightfield bleachers, about 10 rows back of the A's dugout - where Yaz's blast landed. We had a perfect view of the ball as it traveled a parabola from home in a straight line towards our seats. My other distinct memory of that evening is that the final score was a nearly perfect approximation of the 2 starting pitchers' ERAs entering the game - as a 9 year-old obsessed with baseball stats, I thought that was about the coolest thing in the world. The (probably brutally formatted) box score follows:

Boston Red Sox 7, Oakland Athletics 3
Game Played on Tuesday, July 24, 1979 (N) at Fenway Park
(25 years later - to the day - Jason Varitek would feed Alex Rodriguez a heaping helping of catcher's mitt, sparking the theretofore moribund Sox to a come-from-behind win over the Yankees and, eventually, their first World Series championship in 86 years.)

OAK A 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 3 8 2
BOS A 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 x - 7 10 0

BATTING
Oakland Athletics
AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Henderson lf 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
Murphy cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Page dh 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Newman c 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 0
Revering 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 10 1
Heath rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Armas rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Gross 3b 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 5
Picciolo ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 4
Chalk 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 7 6
Morgan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Todd p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 34 3 8 3 3 3 24 16

FIELDING -
DP: 3. Picciolo-Chalk-Revering, Picciolo-Chalk-Revering, Gross-Chalk-Revering.
E: Newman (16), Revering (9).

BATTING -
2B: Newman (9,off Eckersley); Picciolo (6,off Eckersley).
3B: Revering (2,off Eckersley).
HR: Newman (19,2nd inning off Eckersley 0 on 0 out); Gross (10,5th inning off
Eckersley 0 on 0 out).
IBB: Gross (8,by Eckersley).
Team LOB: 7.

BASERUNNING -
SB: Henderson 2 (10,2nd base off Eckersley/Fisk 2).

Boston Red Sox
AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Burleson ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 4
Brohamer 2b 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Lynn cf 2 1 1 0 2 0 2 0
Rice lf 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Yastrzemski 1b 3 1 2 3 1 0 13 3
Watson dh 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 0
Fisk c 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 0
Hobson 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 1
Evans rf 3 1 2 3 1 0 1 0
Eckersley p 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Totals 32 7 10 6 6 1 27 10

FIELDING -
DP: 1. Yastrzemski-Burleson.

BATTING -
3B: Hobson (4,off Todd).
HR: Yastrzemski (17,7th inning off Morgan 1 on 2 out); Evans (14,8th inning
off Todd 1 on 1 out).
Team LOB: 7.

PITCHING
Oakland Athletics
IP H R ER BB SO HR
Morgan L(0-6) 7 8 5 2 6 1 1
Todd 1 2 2 2 0 0 1
Totals 8 10 7 4 6 1 2

Boston Red Sox
IP H R ER BB SO HR
Eckersley W(11-5) 9 8 3 3 3 3 2

IBB: Eckersley (3,Gross).
Umpires: Dale Ford, Terry Cooney, Mike Reilly, John Shulock
Time of Game: 2:33 Attendance: 30393

RED SOX 7TH: Brohamer grounded out (second to first); Lynn
reached on an error by Revering; Rice forced Lynn (third to
second); Yastrzemski homered (unearned) [Rice scored
(unearned)]; Yastrzemski becomes the 18th ML and 7th AL with
400 HR; Watson was called out on strikes; 2 R, 1 H, 1 E, 0
LOB. Athletics 3, Red Sox 5.