There isn’t a whole lot of good from last night’s game that we can discuss. The Red Sox were outclassed, outquaffed and outplayed by Yu Darvish, shut down in a manner that you wouldn’t expect from the defending world champs. But it happened, and that’s all there is to it.
On the bright side, however, the Red Sox did avoid the dual indignities of being on the wrong end of a perfect game and being no-hit. Not surprising, it was David Ortiz who made both things possible.
Let’s be honest. By the fifth inning, you knew where this was heading. Yu was on fire and the ump’s strike zone was magically expanding as typically happens when a no-hitter becomes a distinct possibility. All we could hope was that someone would break up the perfect game. And Ortiz came through in the seventh, lofting a pop fly that landed between the shifted second baseman and the right fielder. Amazingly, although no one got a glove on it, the pop was ruled an error. Perfect game gone, but no-hitter intact.
Until the ninth inning. When Papi came through again. The Sox were one strike away from being no-hit when The Large Father lined a single into right field. The reactions–from the fans in the stands and from Papi himself–were kinda priceless:
Just another example of how when you need something done, you call on Ortiz. Faced with going down 0-2 in the ALCS? Need a World Series rallying cry? Have a no-hitter to bust up? He’s your guy. Time and time again.
