It was the first Fenway game of the No Nomar Era, and it was a bad night for the Boston Red Sox.
Hang down your heads, John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Theo Epstein. You too, Terry Francona. And all you guys in uniform -- you just keep telling yourselves that any day now you'll take off on a hot streak. You are 45-44 since May 1 and you have a chance to be remembered as the biggest pack of frauds ever to don the Sox uniform.
All the good feeling of two straight wins over the mighty Detroit Tigers went up in smoke last night when usually reliable Curt Schilling coughed up three homers and six runs in the fifth and sixth innings of an 8-3 loss to the Devil Rays. That's 11 homers yielded by the Boston staff in two games. It made for a tough how-do-you-do for Messrs. Cabrera and Mientkiewicz (both 1 for 4).
Not a good way to kick off the No Nomar Era at Fenway.
Late last night, standing in the losers' locker room, GM Epstein nodded when reminded that the remainder of the season would define the success or failure of the whopper Nomar trade. The brass is going to hear it from the fandom. Daily.
"Yeah, but if our goal was just not to hear it, we wouldn't have made the trade," Epstein said. "Our diagnosis was that we had to do something. And let's face it. We played .500 ball for three months before the deal and thus far we haven't gotten rolling yet since the trade. But every game is not going to be a referendum on the trade."
Garciaparra's absence was felt throughout the night. For the first time in eight years, fans knew there was no chance of seeing him running his sprints in shallow right field. He wouldn't be signing autographs by the first base tarp. There was no chance to see him go up and down the dugout steps -- two feet on each step each time. No glove-tugging and toe-tapping at home plate. In a show of solidarity, a lot of fans showed up wearing Nomar jerseys.
Dave Roberts has been assigned Nomar's locker, between Bill Mueller and Mark Bellhorn. Orlando Cabrera has been assigned Nomar's spot at shortstop. Mr. Cowboy Shutup, Kevin Millar, has taken over (at least for one day) the fifth spot in the batting order.
The Nomar Memorial Red Line was still on the carpet in front of players' lockers, though Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant made a Reaganesque plea to the tune of "Mr. Henry, tear up this carpet!"
Thankfully, no one has been assigned Nomar's No. 5. The folks in charge may be cold-blooded when it comes to Nomar, but they are not stupid.
