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Game 129: August 23, 2008 Red Sox 0 L: Jon Lester (12-5) 74-55, 1 game losing streak Blue Jays 11 W: Jesse Litsch (9-7) 67-62, 1 game winning streak Highlights: J.L. versus J.L. Cancer survivor against former ball boy. Litsch allowed just seven baserunners over six innings while Lester looked unusually out of kilter. Throughout the season the Blue Jays suffered from an anemic offense, but their bats come alive against the Red Sox. Toronto scored runs in each of the first five innings. The lackluster Red Sox performance had me switching over to the Little League World Series. As in 2005, another team from Hawai‘i made it to the United States championship game.The team represents the best Little Leaguers from the Waipi‘o and Waipahū towns of O‘ahu. “Wai” means water in Hawaiian; the first town name means “curved water” and the second means “[where] water gushes forth.” Waipi‘o straddles a meandering gorge and Waipahū is named after an artesian spring.Pre-contact, native Hawaiians considered Waipahū the capital of O‘ahu. This is not surprising given the importance of potable water. That water made the town the hub of sugar plantations on the island. Today, one can revisit that past in...
Game 91: July 15, 2007 Blue Jays 2 W: Jesse Litsch (2-3)H: Scott Downs (12)H: Casey Janssen (13)S: Jeremy Accardo (13) 45-46, 1 game winning streak13-11-5 series record Red Sox 1 L: Josh Beckett (12-3) 55-36, 1 game losing streak19-8-4 series record Highlights: Alex Cora and David Ortiz’s double doubles in the sixth. The blustery wind buffeted the ball far away from Alex Rios that it dropped. Rios would have his revenge, however. Beckett pitched an eight-inning gem with eight strikeouts, one through nine did not feature the best hitters. Is that any way to present yourself? Whatever happened to dressing in your Sunday best? Jesse Litsch is one of those feel-good stories, a modern-day Horatio Alger. He went from bat boy to major league pitcher and made one of the best teams in baseball look silly over the course of a Sunday afternoon. Alger’s stories propagated the myth that anyone through dint of effort can attain success and that America is truly a meritocracy. Then along comes someone like DeMarlo Hale to rob you of your success. Eric Hinske, the prototype of the hardworking non-complainer who gets his day to shine, was robbed of an RBI in the...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.