This morning, did you not find yourself awash in that “morning after” glow? You know, the one you wore every fifth day in 1999, when a Pedro outing was like a local holiday where you hung a W on the front door before the National Anthem, got the pipe, slippers and beer, and just watched, jaw agape, as the Maestro sat ’em down, one after another.
In today’s Globe, Bob Holer calls last night’s eight inning, two-hit stifling of the Padres Petey’s finest outing of the season, and it truly was. I just wish with all my heart, soul and calves that, going forward, every Pedro game could be like this, because it would help us shake away the uncertainty that has us only perhaps suggesting that this is the year and not quite yet proclaiming it from rooftops and mountainsides and billboards up and down Comm Ave. But if all we’re gonna get from Vintage Pedro this year is cameo appearances, hey, I think we’ll take it. And like it.
Aftre some blow out games over the past couple weeks, it was good to see a tight contest such as last night’s game. It was also good to see David Wells and the Fenway Faithful finally make nice-nice. I gotta admit, it made me feel oddly warm watching him tip his cap to the crowd as he left the mound. Heck, he is one of the game’s premier “characters,” and an entertaining guy to watch during interviews (although the fact that his best friend is Tom Arnold raises a red flag). We just really, really hated that uniform he used to wear.
Some things were not so cool. Millar, in what has become his calling card, threw up yet another o-fer, stranding three runners and begging the question, “Couldn’t McCarty play first, like, all the time?” At least Mr. Karaoke wasn’t playing right field. His presence in that corner gives me a most uneasy feeling, and the guy chases down balls like an old man scurrying after a runaway orange. His persona helped to define last year’s team and he’s always the first guy to throw a hug around a player who just done good, but he has become our Scott Cooper. Our Craig Grebeck. The automatic out that you hate to see in the line-up.
But this was too good a game to get dragged down in the details. It’s a win for us, keeping pace with the Yankees, who are on automatic pilot these days.
In other news…
— He’s back. Tonight. Or… at least we think he is. But it should happen during this homestand. Maybe? Anyway, my man Denton helps set the proper expectations in his post of last night.
— The Rocket continues to tear up the National League, becoming the oldest pitcher to win his first nine decisions and looking positively phenomenal against the Mariners last night, shutting them down on three hits over six innings. Man, why couldn’t Houston be coming to Fenway this year?
— Finally, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins has a new gig these days. The die-hard Cubs fan is serving as the official “Cubs Correspondent” for WXRT-FM in Chicago, delivering his “Wrigleyville Report” on the Lin Brehmer morning show. A couple of his reports are posted here for your listening pleasure. A cool idea, and if we ever follow suit in Boston, I’d nominate Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom, one of rock’s noted Sox fans and a regular on the Gammons Hot Stove Cool Music roster.
