Was there anything this game didn't have?
"I don't think so," said Sox manager Terry Francona on a day the Sox scored their first two runs on a catcher's overthrow and a wild pitch, had a runner steal a base against them and get caught stealing on the same play, had a 600-home run hitter ground into a rally-killing double play on a 3-and-0 pitch, then won with back-to-back home runs in extra innings, something that had happened just three times before in club history.
"We had heard this ballpark played pretty small, and I agree," added Francona.
Nothing so unforgettable as Zim yelling "No, no, no," while Denny Doyle was hearing "Go, go, go," Dewey's catch in the corner, and Pudge waving the ball fair, but all hugely entertaining and satisfying to the Sox, especially for Youkilis, who grew up a Reds fan, starred for the University of Cincinnati, and was playing here for the first time as a big leaguer.
"Definitely a good thrill to hit one in that situation," said Youki lis, who struck out his first two at-bats in front of a group of 140 family members and friends, then went RBI single, double, and home run with his last three swings. "To hit it in Cincinnati is a great honor and a great thrill, because who knows, after tomorrow I may not have another chance to play here."
The only guy who may have been more surprised than Manny Delcarmen, who induced his childhood hero, Ken Griffey Jr., to ground into a first-and-third, one-out double play by jamming him with a 3-and-0 fastball to end the eighth, was Craig Hansen. He was in the bullpen bathroom when he got the word he would be getting the ball in the bottom of the 10th, Papelbon having expended 26 pitches in ninth-inning labors that resulted in a blown save when Encarnacion drove a 2-and-2 hanging splitter into the left-field seats.
"Encarnacion's at-bat was a good at-bat," Francona said. "Paps threw him everything in that at-bat, but couldn't get his fastball by him. You're down to one strike and you're the visitors in the ballpark and then you have to keep playing, that's tough. The good thing is, we kept playing."
