A Special Kind of Feeling

Tonight's Sox game had a special kind of feeling didn't it? The Captain hit two homers, Brad Penny had his best outing as a member of the Red Sox, and David Ortiz went bridge (Eck's word for a homer, I LIKE IT!) for the first time this year. Ortiz gave a curtain call, Penny didn't and Varitek kept his head down, and went into the dugout like he always does. Eckersley hit it on the head after Ortiz's home run, he said it felt like a special game, almost a playoff game, not just another May contest between the Jays and Sox.
I completely agree with this, and to me it didn't have much to do with the fact that the Red Sox were playing the only team that they trail in the standings right now, it had everything to do with the fans reverence for David Ortiz and wanting a positive sign to get behind that he was about to turn it around. Even the most ardent supporter of the Big Fella was starting to have a tough time conjuring up reasons for his slump or answers to the nay-sayers that said he was simply washed up. Tonight, everybody got what they wanted, Ortiz hit a home run and the first major sign of his turning it around has shown up. But Ortiz's home run wasn't the most uplifting "bridge shot" of the night, it was up there, but that honor goes to three other homers hit in the game, and two that were hit in that same inning.
During the game, after the Red Sox had gone out to a commanding lead after their home run barrage, NESN showed a story about a young boy who came with his family all the way from the Netherlands to live his wish through the Make-A-Wish foundation to go to Fenway Park and meet his two favorite players, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek. They showed a clip of him talking to Varitek and his face beaming the entire time and then getting some tips around the batting cage from a smiling Mike Lowell. They gave him a tour of the clubhouse and hunt out in the dugout with Julio Lugo, Dustin Pedroia in addition to Varitek and Lowell. The boy and his family then got to watch the game and witness Jason Varitek blast a couple of home runs as if Kramer had promised them to him in exchange for a signed birthday card, and then just for a little extra icing on the cake, Mike Lowell went deep as well later in the same inning.
A special night is a night that touches people to the point that they will never forget a single aspect of that moment. And tonight will be a game that I remember for Ortiz finally breaking through and the warm response that he got from the fans, for one family from the Netherlands and a young boy who got to meet his heroes and see them do something exciting.

Oh, and the final out of the Red Sox 8-3 win over Toronto, tied a Major League record for put outs by an outfielder when Jacoby Ellsbury hauled that can of corn in. It all goes to show, you never know what you're going to see on any given night, in any given ballpark.

Sterling Pingree