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Felix Hernandez didn’t need to imbibe a lucky potion, don the gear of his alter ego, or proffer his ventriloquist act; he just did his thing on the mound. Some potential longballs may have been deadened by the roof being shut and Hernandez might have benefited from home plate Adrian Johnson’s rather generous judgment. But regardless of those advantages the ace pitcher still had his entire repertoire at his command. This Red Sox fan must have know chances were slim that he’d see David Ortiz’s 400th home run with Hernandez toeing the rubber, but he made a sign anyway. His wife’s sign must have distracted Dustin Pedroia, who went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Franklin Morales’s scoreless seven innings were as impressive as Hernandez’s complete game shutout given that the former was a reliever up until a few weeks ago. Morales didn’t factor into the decision but he can wear this outing like a badge of honor. Not many pitchers match Hernandez pitch for pitch and Morales nearly did. Scott Atchison pitched without his usual competence and the Mariners hit without their typical incompetence in the bottom of the ninth. Casper Wells laced a double to to center with one down...
And it really doesn’t matter If I’m wrong, I’m right Where I belong, I’m right Where I belong “Fixing a Hole,” Lennon-McCartney As Clay Buchholz dug his preferred divot in front of the rubber the Red Sox clawed themselves even in the standings with their northerly rivals. This wasn’t one of Buchholz’s lucky wins, either, as the lanky pitcher’s line indicates: 8 innings pitched, 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The Buchholz that hurled a no-hitter in his rookie season and finished sixth in Cy Young voting in 2010 seems to have returned. Funny to reminisce about the Buchholz of yore since he is only 27 years of age. The Red Sox kept the rest of the American League within sight while they were down two key outfielders. In fact, while Dustin Pedroia was shelved because of an injured right thumb his team finally kept its record above .500. Who needs that former Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player loudmouth? The Red Sox can win with a patchwork roster of undrafted outfielders (Daniel Nava) and middling MLB retreads (Scott Atchison, Scott Podsednik), cleverly stitched together by Bobby Valentine. Nava in particular plays with a desperation...
At 3633 North Sheffield Avenue in Chicago stands the home of the Lakeview Baseball Club. The building is currently in foreclosure as the club has defaulted on $3.15 million in mortgages. Since 2004 the private buildings that ring Wrigley Field pay 17% of any revenue to the Cubs. This may have been a contributing factor to the foreclosure, but the all-around decline of the economy must be cited. This particular baseball club were the originators two famous signs: “EAMUS CATULI” and a sign that seems like an indecipherable code. “Eamus” is the first-person plural present active subjunctive for “proceed” and “catuli” is Latin for youth or whelp. AC stands for “anno catuli” and the next two numbers are the years since the Cubs won the division (2008), the next two represent the seasons since they were National League champions (1945), and the final three are of course the span of time since they last won it all. Some Cubs fans object to the sign because of its negativity, but at least they don’t flip the numbers until the team is officially eliminated. If last night was any indication of the Northsiders’ chances the sign changing to “AC0366103” seems inevitable. Doug...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.