Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Bob Ryan
Read between
July 6 - July 19, 2023
As for the rookie Todd Fischer, it was the first balk of his major league career. It was also his last. He never pitched in another MLB game.
Oops, almost buried the lead. That ugly no-hitter was the last game Joe Cowley would ever win in the bigs. Truly, truly, truly, you absolutely, positively cannot make this stuff up.
The moral of the story is that there is Them, and there is Us, and we ain’t Them.
I remember one other thing. Doug Harvey also said about that killer pitch: “It’s like a fastball with an atom bomb attached to it.”
On April 22, 1999, the Tigers beat the Red Sox, 1–0. The Tigers had three hits, and the Sox had two. Tigers’ pitchers struck out seven and walked one. Sox pitchers struck out three and walked no one. The game lasted 1:49, or 109 minutes.
If the guy next to you at the bar says his name is Steve Trachsel, and he once beat Pedro Martinez on a day when Pedro fanned 17, believe him. It’s true.
I attended and scored this game, too!
On January 22, 2003, the Red Sox signed Ortiz. Gordon Edes in the Boston Globe, wrote about general manager Theo Epstein’s assessment of his new slugger, “We think, all the scouts think, he has a very high ceiling. You’re looking at a player with the potential to be a middle-of-the-lineup bat in the big leagues.” That turned out to be the biggest understatement since Noah said it looks like rain.
Ortiz was signed to replace Brian Daubach, who was granted free agency by Boston four days after Ortiz had been let go by the Twins. Daubach and Ortiz had eerily similar numbers, but Theo saw into the future. At the time of the signing, both Daubach and Ortiz had .266 career batting averages. In 2002, they had each hit 20 homers. Daubach had 78 RBI, Ortiz had 75 RBI.
And by the time the season had ended, Arrojo finished with a misleading 3.48 ERA because he had inherited 24 baserunners, and he allowed 15 to score.
It is shocking that any batter or pitcher, after spending some time playing at Fenway, doesn’t need therapy for their swing and their heads. When the former Red Sox pitcher, Bill Lee, saw the Green Monster for the first time, he asked, “Do they leave it up there during games?”
Dante Bichette was all over it. Scott Hatteberg had just hit a 6th inning grand slam off Juan Moreno. “I said to (Brian) Daubach and (Doug) Mirabelli,” he explained. “‘Trivia question: Who’s the only guy ever to hit into a triple play and then hit a grand slam in his next at-bat? I think it’s a sure thing. I can’t imagine it ever happening before.’”
Yes, baseball. Brian Daubach was on base for both the triple play and the grand slam. You can’t make this stuff up.
Is Scott Hatteberg’s triple play/grand slam combo unique? You bet. Bob saw the only time one player spanned the batting spectrum.
On July 17, 1990, the Sox were the first team to hit into two triple plays in the same game. The Twins turned a pair yet lost, 1–0.
Joe Pignatano, on the other hand, is the only player to ever hit into a triple play in his final big-league at-bat. He did it on September 30, 1962, against the Cubs. Piggy was playing for the Mets (who else?).
Every person in a ballpark wants to see a triple play, including sportswriters like Bob Ryan. Vincent Canby wrote, “Seeing a triple play, to a sportswriter, is what a partial eclipse is to an astronomer.” This brings us to the fictional sportswriter Oscar Madison, who, with Felix Unger, was one of the leading characters of the play, movie, and oft-repeated and re-done television show, The Odd Couple, written by Neil Simon.
And yes, the winning pitcher in this game was F. Rodriguez, and the losing pitcher was F. Rodriguez. You can look it up.
Johnny Damon was on third and Bill Mueller was on second. Manny Ramirez was on first. David Ortiz hit a high chopper between the plate and the mound. The Orioles hurler Eric DuBose came charging in. He caught the ball and kept on running. He touched home plate for a force-out to end the inning. Yes, a “1U”; that would be “Pitcher Unassisted” force-out in my scorebook. A first!
It has been said that each time you go to a ballgame, you have the chance to see something you’ve never seen before.
This is the only game in Red Sox history in which they scored a total of two runs, on two hits, both homers, and still won. They don’t even have a loss with that combination.
Bob will remind you, pay attention to every player who comes into a game. You may be seeing their first game, their last game, or the game that earns them a World Series ring.
“If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.“
