I am very ashamed and remorseful for my lack of attention to my blog this season. I had glorious plans in the off-season to add "player of the week" postings, to promote the Red Sox Foundation - and, then - I most certainly had plans to write about Opening Day/Ring Ceremony, and other events and milestones. I've done none of that. Not one single task that I set out to do, in terms of my blog, got done. These details are only important as an indication of how important it is for me to get this historical event posted in such a timely fashion.
What is so important that it's dragged me out my too-busy-for-blogging life (yeah, ask me how many games I've attended this season already - if you traveled 70 miles several times a week and worked full-time, you've had trouble finding the time too!) that I sit in front of my PC now and share with you? A No-Hitter. Oh...so what, you say, Nolan Ryan pitched 7 of them, Sandy Koufax did it 4 times (one was a perfect game)....so, big deal, the Red Sox had a no-hitting game? But, it's not exactly that simple.
As in life, the history of Major League Baseball is made up of many special moments mixed in with the ho-hum balls, strikes, walks, hits, etc. And, again, as in life, you never quite know when a special moment is going to happen, or who's special moment it will be. So, last night, as I literally hobbled my way down Mass Ave to Fenway, my right ankle lathered in Icy Hot, wrapped in an ace bandage, trying to minimize the stress on my tendonitis (am I an idiot or what, shouldn't I have been home in bed?) - dressed in several layers of heavy, winter clothing to protect myself against the plummeting temperatures with a 20 mile an hour wind - I gotta tell ya, I wasn't feeling anything special about this night, this game.
We didn't actually even settle in to watch the game until well into the 2nd inning. Oh sure, it was clear the Kansas City Royals' at-bats were swift and uneventful. The Red Sox bats were responsive...in fact, the wind blowing in from the northeast prevented a number of additional runs - pop flys which, on any other night, would have been home runs. It honestly wasn't until the sixth inning, when my friend made a phone call and mentioned: "No hits so far" did the words "no-hitter" even enter my mind. And, no one was talking about it, the crowd was quiet, for the most part, almost somber for Fenway....but, there it was, 7th then 8th inning, all zeros lined up on the Green Monster, no hits from the Royals. It was when Jon Lester came out to close the game that the crowd suddenly seemed to realize that there was an opportunity for one of those special moments in baseball. I have to be honest - I had my doubts, by the time Lester took the mound for the 9th time that evening, his pitch count was well over 100, and though he quickly dismissed the first batter, he walked the second (although, I must admit, 2 of those balls were bad calls, they really were strikes). I caught myself holding my breath each time the ball left young Lester's hand, expecting any one of the Royals hungry, eager bats to take a chunk of one of those cutter balls into the bleachers, but that moment did not come. It all happened so fast, quite frankly - as most amazing moments do - after the walk - the runner would end up on 2nd base and that would be as close as the Royals would come to home plate. 2 swift outs, and that, my friends, we call a no-hitter....before you could even say the words, Jason Varitek had Jon Lester hoisted up off the ground in true team captain fashion, as we've seen him with Papelbon time and time again, and with our young Clay Buchholz last September.
Let's talk turkey, shall we? Because special moments aren't special unless you know what makes them special and the cold, hard stats are what really matter in baseball. First of all, let's take Jon Lester - he's had his share of mention in my rantings - he is, as everyone knows, a cancer survivor (as is Mike Lowell). Everyone knows he was the starting pitcher in WS4, an intergral part of the sweep against the Rockies. As if that's not enough for this young pitcher who only pitched 12 regular season games last year, won 4 and lost none....pretty good stuff for a young pitcher who is still considered a rookie by payroll standards. Oh sure, other pitchers have thrown no-hitters, some more than once - but this is only the 9th no-hitter in the history of Fenway, only the 18th for the Red Sox (4 of which have been in the last 7 years), it's been 52 years since any other lefty pitcher has done it. Jon had never thrown more than 113 pitches, but the 130th that left the arm of this southpaw last night was a 96 mph fastball. And, as for the Royals, the only other pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter to the KC Royals is, yup, Nolan Ryan. Our Mr. Jon Lester is certainly wandering in the path of greatness today.
This win is truly remarkable for Jon Lester, but it's also a remarkable win for our humble team captain, Jason Varitek. We all know what a cerebral asset Varitek is to the Red Sox, brilliant at what he does - it cannot go unmentioned that Jason is the common link between Jon Lester's no-hitter last night and Clay Buchholz's no-hitter just 80 baseball days earlier. This win makes Jason Varitek the first catcher in MLB to receive 4 no-hitters - Nomo, Lowe, Buchholz and now Lester.
My WS champs 2007 baseball cap off to both of you, Jon and Jason - most sincere gratitude for yet another special moment at Fenway! It was one of those nights when I'd wished I'd brought my camera!
Feelin' it in 2008,
Ann, the Red Sox fan
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