Jonathan Papelbon and the rest of the Red Sox thought they had the kid out on strikes two pitches before, but ever-controversial plate umpire Laz Diaz disagreed. But give the kid credit for spoiling good pitches before putting the eighth Papelbon delivery solidly in play when nothing else would do. It was a great at-bat, period.
Which is far more than can be said for Manny Ramírez, who, when summoned to pinch hit against Mariano Rivera with the potential go-ahead run perched on third with two away in the Red Sox ninth, watched three consecutive Rivera offerings enter the strike zone without once swinging the bat. So much for a Manny Being Manny road trip on which he went 6 for 32 with 12 strikeouts and made headlines for shoving traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the floor.
This was the 1,999th regular-season game between these two great rivals, and it featured one of the more curious pitching matchups in their 108-year history. It would be quite difficult to imagine two more contrasting pitchers than 41-year-old Wakefield, who barely would put a dent in a birthday cake with his knuckleballs, and 22-year-old Joba Chamberlain, whose low-end fastball is in the mid 90s and who can crash into triple figures on occasion.
Chamberlain's first pitch was a 94-mile-per-hour fastball for strike one to Jacoby Ellsbury. Wakefield's first pitch was a 66-m.p.h knuckler to Gardner for ball one, the ball eluding catcher Kevin Cash. So the basic idea was established, both ways.
Before the first inning was over, Chamberlain would get it up to 99 m.p.h. (a 1-2 pitch to J.D. Drew). One fastball was recorded at 91 out there on the big board, but most of them ranged from 94 to 98. He mixed these heaters and uberheaters with an effective slider, holding the Red Sox to one hit, a Kevin Youkilis leadoff single to right in the second, through the first four innings.
