9 Games Into It

Okay, I've been remiss.
I went to Spring Training in March and never wrote about it. But it was fun. I went to Opening Day at Fenway and didn't write about it. Sorry.

But here we are, 9 games into the season and at the end of the first home stand.

So how are they doing?
Here's my take. In Ft. Myers Grady Sizemore looked very good. He hit well, ran the bases well, showed a lot of defensive range, made great catches. I was not surprised that he made the team and was named the starting center fielder.

Jackie Bradley, Jr. was the phenom of spring training last year and made the Opening Day roster, but couldn't hit big league pitching. This year he was the presumed replacement in center for Jacoby Ellsbury, but in spring training once again he couldn't hit. He batted .167 and lead the team in strikeouts. On the last day of spring training John Farrell announced that Sizemore is the starting center fielder and JBJ is going to Pawtucket.

Have you heard the Southwest spots for $69 airfares?
Hang on a sec. Shane Victorino pulls a hammy in the final Ft. Myers game, and JBJ gets a call from Farrell telling him to hop one of those $69 Southwest flights from T.F. Green in Providence to BWI and be in uniform for Opening Day at Camden Yards.

How'd he do?
He pinch hit in the 9th with the tying run in scoring position and...struck out.

But since then...
He wound up playing right field in several games and is hitting .400 and has less than half the strikeouts that Napoli and Gomes have. He's also made several great catches and is looking like the phenom we expected last year.

What about the other guys?
I saw Burke Badenhop twice in Florida and he looked horrible both times. In Boston he looked not particularly sharp the first time, then horrible the second time. On Tuesday he relieved Felix Dubront, who was having a dreadful night, and was as bad as Dubront, if not worse. I couldn't help wondering why they signed Badenhop. Yes, he wears his socks high (something they all should do, IMHO), but other than that brings little to the table. I'll be surprised if he makes it past the trading deadline.

Tell me about Dubront.
Four outings in Florida. Two were pretty good, two were disasters. In the regular season he had an okay, not great, start and got the win. Start #2 against Texas was the worst of his career. Two shutout innings, then a ridiculous third where he gave up 5 runs and couldn't get out of the inning. Badenhop comes in and gets out of further trouble in the 3rd, but gives up four more runs in the 4rd and 5th innings. Over the course of three innings we wound up being down, 9-0. In comes Brandon Workman, who throws three perfect innings. He does give up a run in the 9th, but you have to wonder why Workman didn't come in to replace Dubront back in the 3rd. Workman was rewarded for his excellent performance by being optioned to Pawtucket right after the game.

That's not as bad as it sounds.
The plan is to make Workman a starter, thus the temporary move to the Paw Sox to stretch him out. Expect him back and in the rotation before long.

Pedroia? Ortiz?
Dustin looks good, as always. He has grounded into a couple of double-plays and only has one RBI, but that's because the leadoff guys, Daniel Nava and Jonny Gomes, are batting something like .116 so Pedey has no one to knock in. And they're both slow, thus the GIDP's. Ortiz did nothing at the plate in spring training, and has hit the ball hard but not far enough over the last week or so. He does have two homers, including the game-winner on Wednesday afternoon.

Lester? Lackey? Peavy? Buchholz?
Lester has looked good but hasn't gotten much run support. Lackey is 2-0 with an ERA of .138 and seems to be a completely different guy from the 2011 pre-Tommy John Lackey. Peavy hasn't won, but he hasn't lost either, and his ERA of .238 is pretty good. Bad news...other than Dubront being very iffy...the Buchholz start was scary. 13 hits and 6 runs over 4+ innings and an ERA of 12.46. Is he still hurt? What happened to the guy who threw a no-hitter in his second start in 2007?

Others?
I saw Middlebrooks in spring training and he was hitting well, but made three errors at 3rd. Two in one inning. Not sure about him. But then, I'm not Jenny Dell. Xander Bogarts has been a pleasant surprise at the plate, but is a little shaky at short. I've seen several balls get by him that Steven Drew probably would have gotten to.

What about Drew?
The Red Sox seem to be annoyed about Drew turning down their 14.1 million-dollar offer for one year. Evidence? When Middlebrooks went on the DL they went out and signed Ryan Roberts as a backup 3rd baseman and gave him Drew's #7 jersey. And no one has picked Drew up. Ouch.

It's on to Da Bronx.
They play the Yankees 7 times home and away over the next couple of weeks. It should be a good indication of whether the Red Sox have a Championship hangover and whether the Yankees are aging on the vine.

Not Saying I Told You So, But…..

Red Sox pitchers and catchers have reported to Ft. Myers.
Their first workout is tomorrow. Columnists have been wondering whether there will be a championship hangover. But instead of talking about that…

Let's arrow back a year.
Clearly 2013 was a fun year to be a Red Sox fan. By my count even better than 2004, which is hard to top. But what were people saying about the Red Sox year ago? Mostly you heard that they'd be better than in 2012…how could they not be? But did you hear anyone predict a World Series win? If you read this blog you did. Okay, it was not a prediction, it was wishful thinking. But worth another look:

Feb. 12, 2013.

Hope Springs Eternal.

Pitchers and catchers open camp today in Fort Myers...
...and hope springs eternal for a better season in 2013. I mean, could it get any worse than 2012?

Sure it could.
I lived in Baltimore in the late 80's. In 1988 the Orioles were only five years separated from their last World Series win, in 1983. That's the exact same gap as the Red Sox had last year, 2007-2012. The '88 Orioles opened the season by dropping the first 21 games. After the 3rd loss, Bob Rivers, new morning show host on 98 Rock, announced that he'd stay on the air round-the-clock until the team won. And he did. The manager, Cal Ripken, Sr. (father of star shortstop Cal, Jr.) was fired after loss #6. Everyone slumped simultaneously. It was so bad they didn't put batting averages on the scoreboard because they all started with a zero.

The O's finally won a game in Chicago on April 29th, then dropped two more, and returned home for "Fantastic Fans Night" (this was already on the books before the season started) on May 2nd to a sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium. Bob Rivers was given a full Orioles uniform, name on the back and all, and got a standing ovation when he threw out the first pitch, like a girl, as they used to say. (An outdated phrase. I happen to know from experience that girls can throw really well if you show them how.) Baltimore went on to win that game, 9-4. They finished last that year, with a record of 54-107. That's fifteen games worse than the 2012 Red Sox.

So what happened the next year?
In 1989 they improved to 87-75 and finished 2nd, two games behind Toronto and four ahead of the 3rd-place Red Sox. That's a 33-game improvement. If the Red Sox do the same thing in 2013...win 33 more games than last year...they'll win 102 games, win the AL East and go on to win the World Series. Hopefully, the National League will win the All-Star game, so the Red Sox clinching win in the World Series will come at Fenway Park.

Hope springs eternal.

No more collisions at home

MLB is banning collisions at home.
As people head home slowly on a snowy December night…hoping to avoid those whoops-type sliding collisions (remember to steer into the skid) we're looking at another type of collision. Runner crashing into catcher at home plate hoping to knock the ball loose and score. Catcher trying to hang on to ball, get an out and not get concussed.

Taking a cue from the NFL.
The NFL made a settlement with retired players who suffered numerous concussions during their playing days and are feeling the effects, often devastating, years later. It has certainly been an issue in the NHL as well. Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins effectively ending the career of Boston Bruins center Marc Savard when he concussed him with a whack in the head being one of the foremost examples. Sean Thornton's current 15-game suspension being another.

Now it's baseball's turn.
Red Sox backup catcher David Ross was concussed twice during the 2013 Championship Season. He was able to return and and take over the starting catcher job for the last three games of the World Series (following Jarrod Saltalamacchia's .188 batting postseason average and ill-advised throw to 3rd that cost the Sox a loss in Game 3. And the lack of a qualifying offer when he filed for free agency).

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, a Rookie of the Year and NL Batting Champion missed an entire season when his leg was broken in a home plate collision. Did that affect the Giants fortunes? Let's look at the numbers. Buster was also the catcher for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League when they were champions in both 2006 and 2007 (the PA announcer always called him "Busta"). In his rookie year the Giants won the World Series for the first time since 1954 when they were the New York Giants (in case you've wondered why you hear people refer to the New York Football Giants, that's why. The baseball Giants preceded the football Giants by decades before moving to SF in 1958). He missed the entire 2011 season, but was back in 2012 and the Giants won it all again.

It's not a new rule.
Girls Fastpitch Softball has had the rule for several years. The catcher cannot block the plate awaiting a throw. She can stand just to the side of the plate and make a sweep tag for the out.

Three examples of it working well.
Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek splitting the uprights (okay, sliding into home safely, just ahead of a sweep tag). Sorry, Mr. Mayuh. Kara Kelley (my daughter) as a Wellesley High School Raider sliding home safely against the Needham High School Rockets and Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers stealing home against the New York Yankees in he 1955 World Series.

All three were safe.
But the plays were close, and no one got concussed. It's a good rule and I applaud MLB for adopting it. Let's hope the Players' Association doesn't try to block it at the plate.

Jacoby Update

Two new things about Ellsbury:

1) Yesterday the Red Sox held their 11th annual Christmas at Fenway event. I was at the first one in 2003 when they introduced Curt Schilling. This year it also included a yard sale. They did that for the first time in 2011, skipped last year, but brought it back for 2013. At the yard sale you can buy game-used bats. $50 for a bat used by Creighton Gubanich. Who?

You could buy signed baseballs. Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard (if you drop it you have no idea were it will wind up). Even Bobby Valentine signed balls. A good joke gift.

You could also buy game-worn uniform shirts. $100 for a signed #13 Carl Crawford. Or $100 for a signed Mike Lowell #25 (I got one for my daughter Kara who was a huge Lowell fan-I'm not blowing a surprise here, she was with me). Lugo shirts were only $75. But Ellsbury shirts...#2 signed and authenticated...the asking price was $200. I didn't see anyone fighting for them like it was a Filene's Basement wedding dress sale.

2) Ellsbury was officially announced as a Yankee. As previously mentioned in this blog, he wouldn't get his #2 because Jeter has it. So what's his New York number? 22. Guess who was the last Yankee of any note to wear #22? Why, it was Rogg-uhh. When Clemens signed with the Evil Empire he couldn't get his traditional #21 (U of Texas, Paw Sox, Red Sox, Blue Jays) because Paul O'Neill had it. So as a Yankee he was #22. Full disclosure here…since Roger wore 22 three others Yankees did: LaTroy Hawkins, Xavier Nady and Vernon Wells, but none were standouts. And, as my father liked to say, never let the truth stand in the way of a good story.

A double-boo.
So when Ellsbury shows up at Fenway on April 22nd, there will be boos. The question is whether people are booing Jacoby or Yankees #22 or a bit of both. But the boos will flow.

Ellsbury Will Not Come to Fenway Wearing Pinstripes

Jacoby at Fenway wearing pinstripes? Won't happen.
Ever since the news broke on Monday night that Jacoby Ellsbury signed a $153 million contract with the Yankees every sports writer, TV reporter, Sports Talk radio host has said something about April 22nd, when "Ellsbury will show up at Fenway Park wearing pinstripes." Maria Stephanos on Fox 25, both Walt Perkins and Tom Cuddy on WBZ, Mut, Michael Holley and Mike Salk on WEEI, Rob Bradford on weei.com, Tony Massarotti on 98.5 The Sports Hub. The latest is Peter Abraham in today's Boston Globe. Have you seen, heard or read anything about the story that didn't include that line?

Why it won't happen.
You're thinking that's because he'll be on the disabled list? Maybe he will be, but that's not the reason he won't be wearing pinstripes. And I've heard no talk of MLB voiding the contract on some technicality. The reason it won't happen is the same reason that it didn't happen with Babe Ruth, Luis Tiant, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon or Kevin Youkilis.

One shade of grey.
We've all seen too many pictures of the Yankees home uniform. White shirt and pants with pinstripes and the interwoven NY on the chest. However, the road uniform - the one Ellsbury would wear at Fenway on April 22nd - is grey with a dark blue New York on the chest. And no pinstripes. They've never had pinstripes on the road uniform.

One more thing.
Ells won't get his #2 because Jeter has it. When Jeter retires, #2 will retire with him.

No-name trivia tidbit.
Question: What is the only major pro sporting event you can go to…anywhere in the world…where none of the players has a name on the back of the shirt?

Answer: When the Red Sox and Yankees play at Fenway Park. The Red Sox only have names on the uni on the road. The Yankees never have names. (The obnoxious assumption is that if you're a Yankee everyone everywhere knows who you are).

If you do want a chance to boo Ellsbury in pinstripes…
…you'll have to go to the new Yankee Stadium. A spectacular ballpark. But buyer beware - especially if you boo him - the place is loaded with Yankee fans.

World Series Game 6…the beginning and end. What you may not have seen on Fox.

I was at the game with my daughter, Kara, so I'm not sure how much they showed on Fox. Here's my videographer's view of the beginning and end of Game 6…when the Red Sox won the World Series at Fenway Park for the first time since 9/11/1918…95 years, one month,m two weeks and five days.

2013 Word Series Game 6--the beginning and the end. What you might not have seen on Fox. from Don Kelley on Vimeo.

Who Will Be the GWRBI Surprise on Wednesday?

What was the GWRBI stat?
Major League Baseball used to have a stat called GWRBI. Game-winning run batted in. The honor went to the guy who batted in the run that gave the winning team a lead they never lost. In my view they computed it incorrectly. For example, on August 11th the Red Sox lost to Kansas City, 4-3. KC went up, 2-1 in the 2nd and they never trailed after that, so Jarrod Dyson, who knocked in the second run for KC, would have gotten the GWRBI. Alex Gordon homered in the 3rd to make it 4-1, KC...but Boston crawled back with two runs in the 6th. So the Gordon homer made the difference and would have been the true GWRBI. If they still had it.

For some reason MLB dumped it.
Major League Baseball officially dropped the GWRBI stat in 1989. But with stats today including OBP, OPS, XBH, WHIP and several more, why not bring back GWRBI? If we look at the Red Sox GWRBI's in this year's Postseason we'd see several different heroes who otherwise seem to be doing little at the plate other than striking out.

What if we had it now?
Drew actually had the GWRBI in Game 1 against Tampa Bay. His 4th inning single plated Gomes, breaking a 2-2 tie. The Red Sox went on to score 9 more unanswered runs, but Drew put them ahead for good. He also tripled to left in the 4th inning of Game 2 with Gomes scoring on the play. The final score was 7-4, but Drew had the RBI that stood up. The GWRBI in deciding Game 4 was from Shane Victorino.

ALCS Game 1 was a 1-0 loss, Game 2 was sure looking like more of the same until the bottom of the 8th when the Ortiz grand slam sent Torii Hunter tumbling into the Sox bullpen. Who had the GWRBI? Saltalamacchia. Tuesday in Detroit Napoli launched one for the only run of the game. Thursday they won when Napooli scored on a wild pitch with Drew at bat (no RBI on that). Game 6 on Saturday was the Victorino grand slam in the 7th that sent the Red Sox to the World Series. World Series Game 1 saw Napoli get the GWRBI when he hit a bases-clearing triple to the 379 sign. In Game 4 it was the Gomes 3-run homer that got the honors. Game 5 was the ground-rule double by David Ross.

Red Sox GWRBI's this Postseason?
So far they go to Drew (2), Victorino (2), Napoli (2), Salty, Gomes and Ross. Collectively they're batting about .100. And you thought all they were doing was striking out.

Maybe this week we'll have a WSWRBI.

An Umpire's View of Last Night's Obstruction Call

Did they get it right?

In case you missed it, here's the play:



Most players, coaches and fans are saying that last night's game-ending Obstruction call was unusual - even weird - but the umpires got the call right. But did they?

Maybe. As a certified ASA Umpire I attend Rules Interpretation Clinics every year. We analyze and are quizzed on situations that practically never come up...but they might. Like last night.

First, let me explain something that many people - even Joe Buck and Tim McCarver - find confusing. The difference between Interference and Obstruction.  Interference is caused by the offense. For example, when there's a runner on 1st and a ground ball is hit toward the 2nd baseman, the runner cannot interfere with the 2nd baseman trying to field the ball. Obstruction, on the other hand, is caused by the defense. A fielder blocking the baseline and impeding a runner from advancing. Like last night.

Here is the actual rule:

Rule 2.00 (Obstruction) Comment: If a fielder is about to receive a thrown ball and if the ball is in flight directly toward and near enough to the fielder so he must occupy his position to receive the ball he may be considered in the act of fielding a ball. It is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire as to whether a fielder is in the act of fielding a ball. After a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball and missed, he can no longer be in the act of fielding the ball. For example: If an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner.

What would have been the third out at home on the Nava throw to home was negated.

Rule 7.06 (Effect) If a play is being made on the obstructed runner … the ball is dead and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to the bases they would have reached, in the umpire's judgment, if there had been no obstruction.

A-ha.

Allen Craig was awarded home - the winning run - because "in the umpire's judgement" he would have reached home if he hadn't tripped over Middlebrooks. But would he have reached home? Craig is a gimpy runner and Nava's throw was in plenty of time, so the notion that he would have definitely scored is subjective. He might have, he might not have. 

My call?

Craig would have been awarded 3rd base, not home, the game would continue with a tie score, two outs in the bottom of the 9th and a runner on 3rd. Game on, and may the best team win.

 

We Didn't Have To Win on Thursday. We Don't Have to Win Tonight.

Sure, it would have been nice to win on Thursday.  After the Ortiz blast into the Monster Seats the Red Sox were leading, 2-1. Of course, a one-run lead is only as good as the next pitch, and as we saw many times this year, Lackey left with a lead and did not get a win.

Yalie Craig Breslow has been pretty effective most of the time, but Thursday was not his night. He walked the bases loaded, gave up the tying run on a sac fly, gave up the lead run on a Little League-style airball throw to third, then gave up another RBI single for good measure. 4-2 Cards. Koji came in with a typical 1-2-3 ninth that would have been a great save if the score had still been 2-1. But we had Strikeout Street coming up in the 9th...Gomes, Salty, Drew, Bogaerts. Nava pinch hit but joined the crowd with a K. Instead of "Dirty Water" we had organ music as we filed out.

But we didn't need that win. St. Louis did. If the Red Sox had prevailed it would have looked like we were already halfway to another World Series sweep. After all, the Sox had not lost a World Series game since October 1986.  My 28 year-old daughter was only 1 year and 8 months old. My 26 year-old daughter was not born yet. The Road to Redemption shouldn't look too easy.  

So we go to St. Louis tonight with the Series tied, 1-1. Now it's a best of five. True, 3 of the 5 are in St. Louis where we have no DH, but we'll have Papi playing 1st and Jake Peavy can strike out in place of Napoli striking out.

All the Red Sox need to do is win one of the three in St. Louis. Two would be better, obviously. But if they win one...and Sunday night is the best one to win...Game 5 will be a Best-of-3 with two of the three played in the Friendly Confines.

One more thing. We probably want the Sox to lose at least one game in St. Louis. That way we can have a World Series Championship clinch at home.  And that hasn't happened since 9/11/1918.

Top Ten Red Sox Color Analysts

I had planned to post this during the summer, but decided to delay because of the unfortunate turn of events in the Remy family.  It has nothing to do with this ranking, but I felt that a little separation was in order.  Now, on the eve of the ALDS, it seems like the time is right. That said, on with the Countdown:

10. DALE ARNOLD. Knows his stuff. He’s done a lot of hosting on sports talk, teamed with Eddie Andelman (The A Team), Bob Neumeier (Dale and Numie), Michael Holley (Dale and Holley), Bruins pre-game and play-by-play on TV, and Red Sox color fill-in. A very knowledgable guy, but completely stiff on the air. Ever hear him say anything clever or amusing? Me neither.

9. JIM WOODS. He did games with Ned Martin from 1974 to 1978. Ned was excellent. I never quite got why Jim Woods was even there. He sounded old. His nickname, which they used a lot, was Possum. How many people from these here parts have you ever met who are called Possum? I did do my research and found that Jim Woods did Yankee games on TV (or Tee Vee as they called it then) in the early 50‘s and one of the guys in the booth thought he looked like a possum and gave him the nickname. Still...who cares?

8. JON RISH. He was the #3 guy on WEEI for about five years and filled in whenever Dave O’Brien was away doing ESPN stuff. WEEI cut his salary by 30% this year and he said sayonara. I don’t blame him. WEEI’s parent company Entercom is notoriously cheap. He has done fill-in for Remy on NESN since then. Rish has a good voice and clearly knows his stuff, but he has absolutely no on-air personality. He might be a great guy in person, but on the air he’s as dull as they come.

7. SEAN GRANDE. He was a Sports Flash guy on WEEI’s Big Show with Glenn Ordway, then went to Minnesota to do Timberwolves games. He came back to Boston several years ago to do Celtics games with Cedric Maxwell. He’s done some Red Sox fill-in for Dave O’Brien and is very knowledgable. But man, does he talk fast. That’s a requirement when you’re doing basketball play-by-play, but it doesn’t match the leisurely pace of baseball.

6. BOB MONTGOMERY. The former backup catcher for Carlton Fisk did games with Ned Martin from 1982 to 1995. He was okay, but as a former player didn’t bring the aura to the air of a Jerry Remy or a Dennis Eckersley. He also had a southern drawl that could be annoying to New Englanders. “That’s the fuurst ruun of the gaayyme.”

5. BOB KURTZ. He was with NESN for about 10 years and did play-by-play from 1993 to 2000. Kurtz is from Minnesota, where he did a fair amount of play-by-play for the Twins and now does Minnesota Wild hockey games. I don’t remember anything special about him other than the occasional mis-pronouncing of local names.

4. BOB MURPHY. He was the middle-innings guy in the days of Curt Gowdy. As a kid who loved listening to play-by-play, I thought he had a better voice than Gowdy.  He was known for his upbeat persona. “The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful day for baseball.” He went to New York and did Mets games for quite a while, and when I heard him in New York in 2000 he just sounded old. He was actually only 76, much younger than Vin Scully is now. But he sounded old.  My Red Sox recollection of him - also old - is very positive.

3. LOU MERLONI. This may be a surprise, and Lou has only filled in as color analyst a few times. But he’s very good. Not as funny as Eckersley, and despite hailing from Framingham, does not have a strong local accent. As a former Red Sox player and a regular host on WEEI, he has remarkably good insight into the whys and hows of pitch selection, player positioning, the science of matchups, the manager’s thought process and the psyche of players who are brought up from AAA, sent back down, brought back up, sent back down and finally make the Big Show for good. When you listen to Lou you learn something.

2. JERRY REMY. After a successful career as a Red Sox 2nd baseman and the club’s #1 base-stealer, Remy’s playing days were cut short by knee injuries. But think of the guys he played with: Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Dennis Eckersley, Wade Boggs (all in the Hall of Fame), Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn, Roger Clemens, George Scott, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd. The list goes on. He has great stories about all those guys. Within a few years he became the Red Sox color analyst, working with Ned Martin, Sean McDonough and Don Orsillo. It was McDonough who came up with the nickname Rem Dawg. Regionalisms, as noted above, can be annoying to the audience. In Remy’s case it’s a big advantage, because he’s a local guy who played for the home team. When he says, "aahsk" (ask) or “the Ty-gizz” (Tigers) or talks about the “Amicer pitch zone” it adds local color...just what a color guy is supposed to do. His rapport with Don Orsillo is legendary. It’s especially entertaining during slow moments.

1. DENNIS ECKERSLEY. As a Hall of Fame pitcher The Eck has an excellent perspective on the ins and outs of the game, saying things that the Red Sox probably don’t want said on the air but that people need to hear.  He’s also very funny and has some great lines. “That guy’s about to get his lunch” or "That was some high-test gas" or “That pitch...that was cheese with hair on it!”

Eck is also the one who coined the term "walkoff."  Many think that walkoff refers to someone who hits a home run or has an RBI that wins the game in the bottom of the 9th. That’s not the original meaning. In the 1988 World Series Eck was the closer for the A’s and he faced Kirk Gibson in the 9th inning of game 2. Gibson had a bad ankle and couldn’t run the bases well, so Manager Tommy Lasorda sent him up to pinch hit, saying, “You’ll have to hit a home run.” Gibson did, and the video of him hobbling around the bases pumping his fist is the second most famous World Series home run ever (the most famous, of course, is Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series at Fenway, but that preceded the term by 13 years). After the game in 1988 Eckersley was interviewed by NBC and he was asked for his thoughts about throwing that pitch to Gibson. Eck responded, “When something like that happens there’s nothing for you to do but walk off.” Meaning the pitcher walking off the mound, not the hitter jumping up and down in a pigpile at home plate.

It’s unfortunate that Eckersley's job doing color on NESN is a result of Jerry Remy’s health and family issues, but Eck is really good at it.  He's been filling in for Remy on most games for the last few months, and it's disappointing when he's not there.  I hope Eck takes the gig permanently.