I Scored!

August 5, 2001

Seems like a simple enough game. It was late in what was a lost season for the Red Sox. New addition Manny Ramirez was supposed to join with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez to give the Red Sox three of the best players in the league. Unfortunately, Nomar injured his wrist, needed surgery, and only returned to the team about a week before. So, while Nomar was still a new story, the rest of the game is pretty mundane.

The Sox jumped out to an early lead on the back of Manny’s first inning homerun. They kept piling it on until they had too big a lead for Texas to come back.

But, wait. What’s that notation after the line-up? “Everett EJ B7” Looks like Everett was ejected after a called third strike in the seventh inning.

Oooh. That game.

This is, of course, the game where Crazy Carl finally snapped. If I remember correctly, this was when the home plate umpire had been on him over not being in the batter’s box fast enough. This really annoyed Carl. (In his defense, the umpire was trying to enforce a rule that didn’t exist.) When he was called out looking, he went off. He screamed at the umpire. He got in the umpire’s face. And, his head made contact with the umpire. (I’m still not willing to call it a “head-butt”) That was that. Everett was ejected, suspended, and gone.

The rest of the game was fairly anti-climactic. The player of the game? Looks like it could be a toss-up between Manny Ramirez and Doug Mirabelli. Doug drove in more runs, without making an out. But, Manny’s initial homer is hard to ignore.

The goat? Everett’s too easy. Going hitless before being ejected isn’t exactly having a great game. Other than him? Chris Stynes in the lead-off spot is a good option. One for five doesn’t exactly say “setting the table.”

But, the Sox didn’t need him. They made their early lead stick, despite some bullpen issues. The Sox were able to overcome the distraction, and come out on top.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.