So for those of you missed it, I’ve posted the return of Bill Buckner at Fenway yesterday.
It was a great moment for him and the fans. But let’s not welcome back Calvin Schiraldi anytime soon. In all honesty, that’s who I blame for that loss in 1986, not Buckner. Schiraldi came in the game in the bottom of the 10th with a two run lead, gave up three straight hits before Bob Stanley came in and blew the game.
What people forget is that there was a game seven. In that game seven, who came in when the game was tied? That’s right Calvin Schiraldi. Schiraldi who was the losing pitcher in both games.
So I think people can stop blaming Buckner. The guy played all but nine games for the Sox in 1986. He was a horse! And in 629 at bats, he struck out 25 times. That is crazy.
So that was a wonderful moment at Fenway. But on to the game itself (not too long).
Dice-K looked nasty for the second straight start striking out seven in six and two thirds innings, allowing four hits, getting the victory while lowering his ERA to 1.47 in the process. Manny Delcarmen seemed to forget his atrocity of a series in Toronto striking out 2 in an inning and a third only allowing only one hit. Then Okey-Dokey came in and worked a clean ninth striking out two of the three batters he faced keeping his ERA at 0.00.
As for the bats, well, they started to turn on too. Everyone but Lowell and Papi had hits, but those guys both walked twice. Manny had a triple. You read it right, a triple and he scored on a throwing error. He was hustling too. Our boy JD Drew continued his great April driving in another run, going one for three and is batting .368 on the very young season. I don’t care if his hits come in garbage time with no runners on. Just keep hitting and earn that $14M.
It was a fucking long game. The game itself was only 3 hours 29 minutes but with the pregame, slow pace it felt like it was around five hours. Ugh! But how great is it to have baseball back in Boston? I say very, very great!!
