So the San Francisco Giants are in Boston playing the Red Sox this weekend. Thankfully last night Barry "BALCO" Bonds didn't hit any home runs, keeping him at a career 747, eight shy of Hank Aaron's record of 755.
But who even cares about Bonds? I want to say how cool it was that Giants player Dave Roberts got a standing ovation from the crowd.
Roberts, as you may recall, played for the Red Sox in 2004, when they won the World Series. And he'll forever be remembered in Boston for just one play in one game, kind of the anti-Bill Buckner, if you will.
Picture it: Game Four of the playoffs with the Yankees, who lead the series three games to nothing, and the game four to three. Ninth inning. Yankee pitcher Mariano Riviera, alternatively called the "greatest post-season relief pitcher of all time" and "the greatest closer of all time", walks the leadoff man. Dave Roberts replaces him as pinch runner.
And he steals second on the first pitch.
"Dave's one of the few runners in the league who can steal a base when everyone knows he's going to try," Boston manager Terry Francona said after the fact.
Of course, Roberts then scores on a single by Bill Mueller. The game is tied.
Twelfth inning. David Ortiz. Walkoff home run. The Sox win the game, then the series. The greatest post-season comeback in American sports history. (Or, alternately, the biggest choke in sports history, if you're a Yankee fan).
Anyway, Roberts went to San Diego to get more playing time (he didn't play one minute of the World Series, but dang, nobody in Boston will ever hold that against him!) And now he's on the Giants. And also in the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
For more on the steal, Bob Ryan has a nice column "A stolen moment of fame".
Man, I love baseball. |
