"I didn't know when I hit the ground whether it had popped out of my glove or not," Hinske said of the catch that took away extra bases from Mike Rabelo and a run from the Tigers. "I glanced up and it was still in there.
"I turned over, and Coco [Crisp] and [Dustin] Pedroia were there and they were like, 'Dude, are you all right?' I said, 'I caught it, man, he's out. Sweet catch.' I didn't know if I was going to be all right or not, but I was fine. And [Curt] Schilling was all the way down the line. He was, 'Hey, great catch.' I'm going, 'Pretty cool.' "
Pretty cool indeed. The Sox are a quarter through the season with a 28-12 record, a 9 1/2-game lead over the Yankees, and a double-digit lead over everybody else in the division. Yesterday, they took two from the defending American League champions, winning the matinee, 2-1, behind the No. 5 starter, Julian Tavarez, who threw more pitches than he has in nearly five years, then winning the nightcap as David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, and Julio Lugo all sat, while a guy who wasn't supposed to play, Hinske, turned into a leading man.
Could this turn into a runaway, even with Josh Beckett headed for the disabled list today?
"We don't think like that, we really don't," said Schilling, who gamely battled through six innings in which the wind was both a help and hindrance. "That's for you guys to write about, in slow news cycles. We're getting ready to play the Braves tomorrow. I think that's one of the strengths of this team. We do understand that most of the clichés apply. We really have to take it day by day. Thankfully, we've been pretty healthy for the most part, and when we haven't been, people have stepped in and made huge contributions.
"It's all about focusing on the day, the inning, the pitch, the at-bat. This is a group of guys that does that very, very well."
