BOSTON (AP) -The dancing fool fooled ’em again.
Jonathan Papelbon, who celebrated Boston’s pennant-clinching and AL championship series-winning victories with his version of the Irish step dance, struck out two of the four batters he faced to help the Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 in Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night.
He even caught Matt Holliday prancing too far from first base after a single – the only hit allowed by the bullpen in 3 2-3 innings – and picked him off to end the eighth inning of the win that put Boston up 2-0.
“It was just a simple pick,” said Papelbon, who earned the save. “Probably will go down as one of the biggest outs in my career so far.”
Hideki Okajima’s outs might be the biggest of his career. Relieving Curt Schilling with one out in the sixth, he retired all seven batters he faced, four on strikeouts, an unusually long stint for him.
“Last year I pitched in the Japanese World Series and I have some experience in a big stage like this,” Okajima said through an interpreter. “So I was confident out there.”
—
OUT OF CONTROL: Losing Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez allowed just three hits. It was the five walks that did him in.
The rookie walked the players who scored Boston’s two runs, Mike Lowell in the fourth and David Ortiz in the fifth.
Jimenez started well, then struggled to control his fastball. And the Red Sox wore him down, forcing him to throw 91 pitches in 4 2-3 innings.
He also hit J.D. Drew on the right ankle in the second and forced Kevin Youkilis and Julio Lugo to duck away from pitches.
“You’re walking because you’re out of control,” he said. “After the third inning, yeah, I lost control of my fastball.”
Jimenez gave up 37 walks in 15 starts this season and four each in two postseason wins. He said the Red Sox managed to take advantage Thursday, especially Ortiz.
Hurdle said the 15 walks allowed in the first two World Series games was something the team had to correct.
“It puts you in positions you don’t want to get into,” he said. “Tonight again in the fifth inning, you get two outs, nobody on. Two outs, nobody on, they scratched out a run.”
—
NOT SO MONSTROUS: When people think of Fenway Park, they usually picture the Green Monster in left field and all those crazy caroms off the 37-foot wall.
But almost everyone in baseball acknowledges right field is a much tougher position to play at Fenway, with that short fence curling around from Pesky’s Pole to the 380-foot sign in front of the bullpens.
Nobody manned that territory better than Dwight Evans for the Boston Red Sox from 1972-90.
“It’s the biggest right field in baseball. The angles, the low fence hits you right around the armpit – it looks lower than that. I’m 6-foot-3, and you go up and your ribs are exposed to that. You don’t want to run into that,” Evans said before Boston’s 2-1 victory over Colorado in Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night.
Evans pointed out that playing right in Boston is easier now than it was in his day because of the Fenway expansions that raised the ballpark roof and blocked out the setting sun.
“What made it tough, and it was a tougher outfield to play than it is now, was how low the stadium was,” he said. “When that sun would come down, especially early in summer time the sun didn’t set as low, line drives would come right into that sun and it made it very difficult to play. Now, the stadium has gotten higher so the sun is not a factor anymore.”
—
LUCKY CHARM: Seth Smith doesn’t know a lot of losing. He made his major league debut for the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 16, the night they began their big winning surge that carried them into the World Series.
Although he played in just seven games, he earned a spot on the postseason roster by going 5-for-8 as a pinch hitter, including a triple in the Rockies’ wild-card tiebreaker win over San Diego one day after celebrating his 25th birthday.
Smith went 2-for-4 in the playoffs with a key two-run double in the Rockies’ NL pennant clincher over Arizona, Colorado’s 21st win in 22 games.
The Rockies’ 2-1 loss to Boston in Game 2 of the World Series was just the third time he’s lost as a major leaguer.
One of Eli Manning’s backups at Ole Miss, Smith hit 17 homers and drove in 82 runs at Triple-A Colorado Springs. The phone call from the Rockies last month wasn’t about a promotion but for him to travel to Denver to rehab a shoulder injury.
Once he did that, the Rockies were looking for another bat off the bench and help in the outfield because center fielder Willy Taveras was on the DL with a leg injury.
“I just kind of stuck around, I guess,” Smith said.
—
THE EVIL EMPIRE: The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are apparently tired of fighting for the affection of the rest of the country.
Now their taking their competition to the galaxy.
Hank Steinbrenner, son of the Yankees owner, launched the first rocket into space by saying, “They talk about Red Sox Nation. We talk about Yankee universe. As bad as they want it, they’ll never be the Yankees with their brand.”
The quote ran in The New York Times on Wednesday, the morning of the first game of the World Series between the Red Sox and Colorado Rockies. It was relayed to Boston owner John Henry on the field at Fenway Park before Game 2.
“As far as I’m concerned, they can have Mars and Pluto,” Henry said with a laugh. “We’re going to settle for Red Sox Nation.”
And, he was reminded, a chance at a second World Series title in four years.
“We’ll settle for this World,” Henry said.
—
SWING AND SING: James Taylor says he’d rather be behind the mike, guitar in hand, than on the mound, baseball in hand.
“I can think of no more stressful situation other than parachuting behind enemy lines at night,” the Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter said Thursday before performing the national anthem at Game 2 of the World Series.
Taylor, a lifelong Red Sox fan, has appeared all over the world, but said the acoustics at quirky Fenway Park present unique problems.
“You have to focus on what you’re singing and not on what you’re hearing back because it comes back to you about five seconds removed,” he said.
Add A Comment