Swing king
September 30, 2005His eyes have increasingly taken on the color of his favored Majestic pullover. And yet, amid that bloodshot gaze, there was a conviction in Terry Francona's look last night, and David Ortiz's ninth-inning, game-ending RBI single had only something to do with it.
''You can say what you want," Francona said late last night, his team, once behind, 4-1, pulling out a most vital 5-4 walkoff win over the Blue Jays. ''You can act even outwardly however you do. But you can't fake that feeling.
''We had it in our dugout. We got pushed up against a wall. Maybe that's what it took. We had that feeling. It's hard to explain. But we were a very confident team even when we weren't winning. Our whole dugout."
He saw it in the effort. Jason Varitek sliding to glove a wild Matt Clement slider with the bases loaded in the fifth. He saw it in Jonathan Papelbon's body language, serious and stern and confident, pitching the final 2 2/3 innings of the game in just 30 pitches. He saw it in Manny Ramirez digging, really digging, and going first to third in the eighth. He saw it in Johnny Damon (three hits) swiping second in the ninth.
And he saw it in the results. In Ramirez with no outs in the sixth, falling behind hard-throwing righthander Jason Frasor, 0 and 1, but taking one of his vintage cuts -- body locked in, head level, bat whipping through a part of the zone that few hitters can get to with such power and balance, shooting a ball into the visiting bullpen for a two-run shot to close the deficit to 4-3.
In Ortiz, leading off the eighth, against Vinnie Chulk, sitting back and unleashing his 34 1/2-inch, 32 1/2-ounce bat on a tailing fastball. Tie game.
And then, in the ninth, he saw it in what his team managed off closer Miguel Batista. Damon singled, swiped second (not Dave Roberts, but not bad). Edgar Renteria walked. And Ortiz won it.
The Sox, of course, had to have this game. Jason Giambi put one on Eutaw Street in Baltimore for a 3-0 lead before the Yankees made an out last night, easily on their way to an 8-4 win. Lose, and the Sox would have needed a weekend sweep to deprive the Yankees of their eighth straight division title.
And now it comes down to this: Yankees up by one game with three to play. Win three and the Sox win the division. Win two and they possibly face the Yankees Monday in a one-game playoff at Yankee Stadium.
''We're in a position, if we play well over this weekend, we'll get in," said general manager Theo Epstein. ''If we don't, we probably don't deserve to."
Source: http://www.boston.com/
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