I Scored!

June 19, 1999

I like to think of myself as a pretty dedicated Red Sox fan. Obviously, I blog about them enough that I should know my way around the team. So, I’m concerned by this scorecard. Look at the pitcher’s box. I have four pitchers listed. Off the top of my head, I can only recall the first name of one of them.

Such as it was with the 1999 Red Sox. I say it over and over, but it just shows how important Pedro was that a team like this could make it to the ALCS.

For the record, the pitchers that day were Jin Ho Cho, Kirk Bullinger, Mark Guthrie, and Tim Wakefield. Incredibly, they combined for the win after Cho gave up four runs. Wake earned a save after the rest of the pen kept the Rangers at bay.

Obviously, the offense had a good day. They were able to score seven runs when they needed to. My favorite part is the three-run second inning. The Sox got out to an early lead thanks to a key error. But, Cho gave up three runs the next inning. That can just suck the life out of you. But, then the Sox came back and scored three of their own in the bottom of the inning. Absolutely deflating.

The hero of the game? Have to give it to Nomar. He had two key RBI on the day. One was during that third inning. The other was a home run leading off the seventh after the Rangers had just scored to cut it to a one-run lead. Just like the runs in the third, it’s great to be able to answer right back.

The day’s goat? Troy O’Leary was the only hitless batter on the day. He struck out three times following Nomar. That not what you need from your #5 hitter.

As a side note, I love that I still hadn’t quite figured out how to spell Varitek’s name. I can give myself a bit of a break since we’re still talking about Varitek way back when he was #47, and not #33. But, overall, not a great game for me diehard-wise.

But, this group didn’t care if I knew who they were. The scored enough runs to pull the game out, and never let it be in question for long.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.