So the eventual ruling, if not quite as exciting, was the correct call. It gave Varitek just his second multihit game since May 31 (breaking an 0-for-11 drought), and fit perfectly with all the other wild, weird, and sun-drenched happenings in yesterday's Fenway Park matinee. No fewer than three balls became hits when outfielders - Span, Jason Kubel, and Brandon Moss - lost them in the sun, part of an 18-5 win for the Red Sox as they completed a three-game sweep of the Twins.
Plus, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire took the opportunity to get ejected for arguing the triple play that wasn't.
"If I can see it - because I've got the worst eyes out there - from where I'm sitting, they probably would have had to carry me off in a stretcher [had the umpires gotten it wrong]," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "That was a big, big play."
Sure, Josh Beckett pitched, going five innings and allowing eight hits, five runs, and two walks with two strikeouts. But the excitement? That came from a seesaw score that spiraled out of control in the seventh, the Sox tallying seven runs for their most productive inning of the season. So, as the Red Sox' chief rivals, Tampa Bay and New York, went to extra innings in a game won by the Yankees, 2-1, in 10, the Sox swept a series from a surging opponent in front of 37,470 overheated fans, the finale a laugher after Boston had played four straight one-run games.
"It just kind of exploded and snowballed from the seventh inning on," Varitek said, the 18 runs the most by the Sox since June 27, 2003, when they scored 25 against Florida.
Besides the almost triple play, there was a fan interference call on a Monster ball, a 6-4-5 double play, a rare error by Kevin Youkilis, an 11-batter inning, a pinch-hit home run over the Sports Authority sign by backup catcher Kevin Cash, and a need for new sunglasses all over the outfield.
By the time Cash stepped in to face Brian Bass to lead off the eighth inning, recording the first pinch hit of his career and just his second home run of the season, it was over. Except for a few more oddities, and a few more opportunities for the Sox to pad their stats.
