With apologies to Peter Gammons, for whom I wish a speedy recovery...And all of a sudden the ball was there, like Dan Ryan traffic after a bottleneck, finally beginning to roll through the left side of the infield.
When it finally made its way into Manny Ramirez’s glove, one step after another the reaction unfurled: from Tadahito Iguchi's subdued fist-pump to the booming of Steam’s "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye'' to the awakening of the dozens that had dozed off during a warm Chicago evening.
At 7:26 p.m., in the 19th inning, Iguchi's grandiose grounder brought a 6-5 end to a game that will be the bane of sportswriters trying to meet deadline, a game won and lost what seemed like a dozen times, and a game that brings the first half of the season to a close. For the All-Star Game.
For this game to end so meekly, so docilely, was the way it had to end. An half-inning before, a Jermaine Dye catch that Hawk Harrelson claimed was as great as he's ever seen had been one turn, but in the 11th a Ross Gload-Jermaine Dye basepath mishap ruined a bases-loaded, none-out certain victory for the White Sox. Which followed a dramatic solo homer in the ninth by Dye as the obituaries had been prepared, which followed the downfall of Jose Contreras after El Conde had begun, with the help of a 17-game winning streak, as a hero of seldom-matched majesty.
So Iguchi had put the period at the end of what he called something, but it was in Japanese so I didn’t understand it. The single came off Rudy Seanez and made a winner of Cliff Politte, who had become the loser-to-be in this 379-minute war that seemed like four score and seven years.
But the place one must begin is the bottom of the ninth, Boston leading, 3-2, and the end so clear. Contreras had left in the bottom of the sixth inning to what apparently was to be the last of his undefeated ovations; he who had become the conquering king had been found to be just a man, and it seemed so certain. The end had been postponed for the last time.
Only out came a Rather Plausible Hero, to a two-out, none-on situation against Jonathan R. Papelbon, and Dye did what he had done the days before. He sent a line drive into the left-field bullpen, and the chill of lachrymose had become mad, sensuous U.S. Cellular again. Followed by the point and counterpoint.
In the 11th, a Mike Lowell single, followed by a pinch-running Willie Harris stolen base and a Kevin Youkilis walk, had put runners on first and third with two outs. Youkilis stole second and then both scored when Mark Loretta took a Bobby Jenks fastball and ripped it to left field, scoring two and giving the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. Javier Vazquez would come in, issue an intentional walk to David Ortiz before striking out Manny Ramirez.
Then in the bottom of the inning, the Red Sox had it taken away from them by Dye once again. With Jim Thome at third and Ross Gload on first, and no outs, Dye crashed a line drive toward the right-center fence. Coco Crisp made a racing attempt as he crashed into the wall to no avail ("Brian Anderson would’ve had that'' – White Sox bullpen catcher Man Soo Lee), and the score was 5-4.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Joe Crede hit a liner to Trot Nixon, who made a racing, web-of-the-glove, staggering catch, With Jermaine Dye, in disbelief stopped after rounding third, and Gload similiarly scrambling back to tag up, Nixon spun and fired home. Dye made it back to second – although he didn’t tag third on the way back -- but it appeared that the Sox would shoot themselves in the foot once again. Only A.J. Pierzynski, who barreled into Alex Gonzalez trying to turn a double play on Alex Cintron’s grounder to second, got in the way of certain defeat. A run crossed the plate, Cintron was safe by a step, and the third game all had been saved. But the Sox could have and should have had more. As the White Sox fans shook their heads, mumbling "bases loaded, nobody out in the ninth,'' the Red Sox fans could give a hand to Mike Timlin, who struck out Rob Mackowiak to end the inning.
When it was over, it was almost incomprehensible that it had begun with Contreras trying to crank out one more victory. But it had, and for half an inning, the evening was all his. They had merchandized "El Conde'' tee shirts on the streets, they hung a banner that read "Jose For President'' and everything the man did, from taking batting practice to walking to the bullpen to warm up to the rhumbas and tangos that screwed the Red Sox into the ground for about a pitch brought standing ovations and the carol, "Jo-Se, Jo-Se ...''
El Conde faced a 1-0 deficit from the first inning, when Youkilis walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Ortiz mashed an 0-2 Contreras kumquat into left field for an RBI single. Contreras did not last long, due to a long fourth inning that had him near 90 pitches by the frame’s end.
And the abracadabra that had blinded the Red Sox in innings No. 2 and 3 began to smudge. In the fourth, Contreras retired the first two men he faced, the second a soft Jason Varitek comebacker. After making a stumbling catch, the park was silent. In his awkward, twisting snag of the ball on the pitcher’s mound, Contreras grimaced and walked slowly around the hill, his back hurt.
Contreras eventually was able to stay in the game, but by the time the inning was over the Red Sox were able to add one run on Lowell’s home run to make it 2-0. Then when Loretta was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded it was 3-0, and when Contreras was left the game after the sixth, statisticians began going through their records to see which pitcher would now have the game’s longest winning streak.
So, even if the honey and lemon works on the throat and the Alka-Seltzer does the same for the heads, U.S. Cellular will be alone tomorrow night. There isn’t a game there, and won’t be for another week.
Brandon McCarthy and Julian Tavarez, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox, and a long day's journey into evening, a game dragging slowly in time as Iguchi’s single crept through the infield, a game that perhaps required the four-day layoff that will follow.
The first half has now come to a close -- for the All-Star Game.
Record: 57-31 |
Box score |
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