Red Sox 3 Rays 0. Lester pitched into the 8th, allowing 0 runs on 6 hits, striking out 9 and walking 3. Paps came in and got a 4 out save allowing 1 hit and striking out 3. With this win, the Red Sox pull into within a half game of the AL East-leading Rays and move up to 7 games in front of the idle Twins for the Wild Card.
Not really the best night for the bats, considering the Sox had 9 hits and only 3 runs, all of those coming in the bottom of the 1st. Lester pitched 7+ innings of shut-out baseball, and Jackson pitched 6 shut-out innings. Fortunately for the Sox, that early jump proved to be enough to win the game.
Tonight the Red Sox made baseball history, breaking the streak for most consecutive home sell-outs with 456, beating the Cleveland Indian’s streak of 455. In honor of that, we will look at the 15 greatest moments at Fenway since May 15th, 2003 (when the sell-outs started).
Why 15? Well, 456 is reasons is way too many to cover in one blog, but 4+5+6=15, which is a much more manageable (not to mention readable!) amount.
15. April 22, 2007: Home Run Bonananza The Sox tie a major league record high 4 HR’s back to back to back to back home runs in the third to help the Sox onto their first sweep of the Yankees in Fenway since 1990. Hitting HRs were Manny, JD Drew, Lowell and Varitek.
14. August 1 2008: A Brand New Bay Jason Bay makes his debut after the down-to-the-wire trade which sent Manny to LA and a few prospects to Pittsburgh. He has a great night,
hitting well and making a spectacular catch, even scoring the winning run on Jed Lowrie’s
single in the 12th. This is not so great because of the game itself, but the fact that energy returned to the Red Sox as they played like a completely different team after ridding
themselves of Manny being Manny and his dramatic unhappiness.
13. October 25, 2007: Schill’s Last Game: In the last home appearance of the Red Sox in
the 07 World Series, Schil and crew hang on to win a 2-1 pitcher’s duel with the Rockies.
12. July 2, 2007 Ellsbury Scores from Second on a Wild Pitch: Three days into his major league tenure, Jacoby Ellsbury did the nearly
impossible. He scored on a wild pitch from
second base. Texas reliever
Willie Eyre hit catcher Gerald Laird in the leg with a pitch,
and Ellsbury was gone. He never
stopped, never thought twice as third base coach waved him
home.
11. October 5, 2007 Manny’s First Walk-Off Home Run: Manny knocks a three-run shot out of the park to give the Boston Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League
Division Series, beating the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) 6-3.
10. September 21, 2006 David Ortiz hits Red Sox Record Home Runs: David Ortiz
cemented himself in the Boston record books by hitting 54 home runs in a single season in
2006. It was his 51st, on this date, that put him past Jimmie Foxx’s single-season record,
and made him (officially) Boston’s Home Run King.
9. April 5, 2007 Dice-K’s Debut: Dike K strikes out ten in his major league debut and gives Sox fans a preview of all the Ks that are to come.
8. July 24, 2004 The Fight: A-Rod is hit
by a Bronson Arroyo pitch and proceeds to jaw about it all the way down the first base line. He and Varitek have words, and bam! A-Rod gets a face full of angry catcher’s mit. A bench-clearing brawl later, Tek, A-Rod, Kenny Lofton, Gabe Kapler and Tito were all ejected.
7. September 28, 2007 Red Sox vs. Twins: A Red Sox win and a Yankee’s loss gives Boston’s its first division title in 12 years. Dice-K racks up the K’s and bows to the fans, while Papelbon
dances barefoot and thousands of fans hang around for almost an hour to see the results of the Yankee’s game.
6. May 13, 2007 The Mother’s Day Miracle: Bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox are down 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles, Julio grounds out, then Coco singles on a throwing error by Ramon Hernandez and Papi scores him. Mo Pena somehow manages a single that moves David to third. After both JD Drew and Youk manage a walk, scoring Papi, Tek comes up and doubles, scoring both Drew and Mo. Hinske walks, and Youk is out at home (its very close, though). Back up to bat is Lugo, who made the first out of the inning. He reaches on a throwing error and Hinske and Tek score to win the game.
5. October 20, 2007 JD Drew’s clutch Grand Slam in game 6 of the ALCS: the Sox down to the Indians 3 games to 2, proved to be the straw that broke the Indians’ back and propelled the Sox to their second World Series win in four years. It was the shot that was heard ’round Boston and will probably always be known as the 14
million dollar grand-slam, simply because with the bases loaded and
no out, Fausto Carmona had struck out Manny and gotten Lowell to
pop out, very few people had faith in the then-struggling outfielder.
4. September 1, 2007 Clay Buchholz’s No-Hitter: In his second Major League start, rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz tossed the 17th no-hitter in Red Sox history, striking out 9, walking three and hitting one batter in the 10-0 defeat of the Baltimore Orioles. Why is this ranked behind Lester’s? Keep reading.
3. May 19, 2008 Jon Lester’s No-Hitter: The reason behind this being ahead of Buchholz’s no-no is because not only was it the first Red Sox lefty no-no since 1956, it was also a record for Jason Varitek, who has now caught 4 no-hitters, more than any other catching. Aided by a spectacular catch by Ellsbury and some heads-up infield plays, the Sox beat the Royals 7-0.
2. October 18, 2004 ALCS Game 5: After going 12 innings the night before, the epic game 5
outdid it by going 14, ending when Big Papi’s single brought in Damon for the win. The Sox would go on to Yankee stadium for the Bloody Sock game, and as the 26th team in playoff history to
face a 3-0 series deficit, become the first to force a Game Seven.
1. October 17 2004 ALCS Game 4: The Sox go 12 innings, with a walk-off homer in the 12th. But they never would have gotten there if Dave Roberts hadn’t stolen 2nd and scored on Bill Mueller’s single, tying the game 4-4 in the 9th. This sparked the Sox comeback, down 3 games to none, to win it in seven take their first World Series in 86 years.
So there you go, 15 great moments from the sell-out period of Fenway park. Next up: A big time pitching show-down as Rays ace Kazmir takes on Sox stud Dice-K. Should be a great game, with the AL East being given to the winner. (If only for a day) So put on your best Papelbon glare and watch the game!
8. July 24, 2004 The Fight:
(Transplanted) Nation 