It is almost getting absurd. You need a big hit, David Ortiz is up, a big hit you get. The man is clutch. Fifteen of his homeruns have come in the seventh inning or later. With runners in scoring position and two outs, he is batting .385 and slugging .769: clutch.
It has been beaten into the ground that every team wins 50, every team loses 50, but it is the other 50 that count. Last night was one of the other 50. Playing a potential post-season opponent, trying to preserve the existing division lead, and trying NOT to waste nine of Tim Wakefield’s best innings pitched all season, this was most definitely one of the other 50. And with one mighty swing, and perhaps his most brazen bat flip, the game was won.
The only thing better were the comments Ortiz made after the game. He expressed his frustration that he hit the ball THAT hard, but it still landed 25 rows shy of the “Red Seat.” As if the 457 feet the ball traveled was not enough. It would not surprise me to see him put one past the Ted Williams mark this year. And it will probably happen in the ninth inning of a tied playoff game.
And the Yankees? Yeah, another loss to the Devil Rays. This one a painful blow-a-three-run-lead loss, topped off with the more painful error-in-the-ninth-scoring-the-winning-run, and finally, hang-the-best-closer-in-the-game-with-the-loss. Beautiful.
On a serious note, John Grisham reportedly donated 5 million dollars to the hurricane relief fund. Regardless of how wealthy a person is, 5 million dollars is an amazing display of generosity. As is what Curt Schilling is doing – sponsoring a family of nine to come live with him. We need more stories like this…
