When you’re a rookie pitcher and your first assignment in the Bigs is to tangle with Manny Ramirez, you probably have to ask yourself what, exactly, you did to piss off team management. Maybe one too many naked strolls through the clubhouse? Sizing up the owner’s daughter? Talking just a bit too loudly about your “almost perfect testicles”? But Freddy Dolsi–whose name conjures images of a guy who should be singing in a Saugus lounge–embraced the challenge, and his first-ever major league pitch, to one Manuel Aristides Ramirez, went something like this:
If there’s any consolation to be had here for Young Dolsi, it’s that Hideki Okajima, too, gave up a home run in his first-ever pitch in the MLB. But his rookie year, as I recall it anyway, turned out pretty good for him.
Other than that, the Red Sox Express just keeps on rolling. Our fifth win in a row, and another one of those Wakey performances that makes you think the guy can keep pitching until he’s 84 (which is roughly around the age Gaylord Perry retired). And how about Kevin Cash? Back in the Age of Mirabelli, every Dougie at-bat was an excuse for opposing fielders to crack a beer. But Cash is making shit happen–batting .423 in his last eight games, the Herald tells us.
It doesn’t suck, people. It just doesn’t. In fact, the only bummer is that I can’t imagine Manny doesn’t swat number 500 before the end of this road trip. I would have loved to see him do it on Fenway’s green.
